This month the film “Suicide Squad” created a lot of controversy by hinting at racism. As a result, this film was very defining as to where we are as a society and how the media sees these groups and demographics in this way. The context behind every supervillain and the demographic assigned to them was chosen specifically based off of stereotypes.
Throughout the film people from different demographics were misrepresented and the only person with morals and ethics was a white soldier who got twisted by an African American woman in power because of his love with a white woman. The supervillain “Diablo” was portrayed as a Latino gangbanger who murdered his family because he could not control his anger. In addition, “Deadshot” was portrayed as an African American who used guns to get what he wanted. Lastly, the samurai warrior “Katana” was portrayed as a Japanese woman who did not know English.
Furthermore, the film portrayed minorities as peasants who were forced to serve a war that only really benefited the government. How they must be under strict control or else they will become violent. In addition, the way each demographic was assigned to each supervillain hinted at racism in an effort to make the film more entertaining for the audience.
As for women, Harley Quinn’s image was completely sexualized through her outfit and the way she used her body to lure men into death. For example, in one of her opening scenes Harley Quinn is performing on a strip pole and is asked by Joker to seduce a man by giving him a lap dance to lure him into his own death.
However, it still managed to sell more in the box office than “Django Unchained” on boxofficemojo.com which raises the biggest question of all, why? Well for starters, the Joker was heavily advertised and only received five minutes of screen time. The reason is because the Joker in this film is a McGuffin. According to Google’s dictionary, a McGuffin is an object or device in a movie or book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot. Although the plot was not well developed and completely formulaic, the Joker served as a tool to tie into the plot and get audiences to want to see this film. In comparison to “Django Unchained,” “Suicide Squad” revolves around an African-American’s marksmanship with guns. It also introduces other creative forms of racism, like a Japanese woman’s skills with a sword or a Latino man who used to be a gang member and a hot head can now control fire.
Unfortunately, this film deserves two stars, even though the actors did a good job in their super villain roles the overall plot did not meet audience’s expectation.Will Smith did an excellent job in demonstrating Deadshot’s marksmanship and carrying his reputation as the world’s deadliest hitman. One scene where Smith really shined was when he fought off an army of goons on the streets without missing a shot.
Another actor that really shined was Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. In every scene Robbie was able to personify Harley Quinn’s sadistic personality. The last actor worth mentioning was Jay Hernandez as Diablo. Although the media has a tendency of misrepresenting Latinos as “cholos” or laborers, Hernandez showed more character than any of the other actors. Sadly, Jared Leto’s appearance on screen was a disappointment, as the Joker he only got five minutes of screen time and even then was not able to nearly top Heath Ledger’s previous work as the Joker.
However, the soundtrack for this film was able to boost its overall value. The only exclusive song made for this film worth mentioning was “Sucker for Pain” by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Imagine Dragons, Logic, Ty Dolla Sign and Ambassadors.
Overall, this film angered fans due to a poorly developed plot and a mediocre Joker actor. In Leto’s defense he explained in an IGN interview how several of his scenes were cut by the director, David Ayer. As a result, Ayer is responsible for upsetting fans of the film but there is a possibility that the deleted scenes will be released on DVD and Blu Ray.