It was made in 1978. Believe it or not, back then a lot of people used the N-word quite casually. A lot of people considered it a very bad word that one should never say, but they didn't lose their minds and go running for a safe space when they happened to hear someone say it.
No, I don't see why they would use it when there hasn't been a black person in the movie, at least not one that Wheelock would have interacted with. Even in a world where it was casually used, using it here with no correlation makes no sense.
But, as the other poster mentioned below, it does have a purpose, which previously went totally over my head.
The point here isn't that you were confused by it. It's that you were obviously distressed by it. Distressed by a slur that was used in a movie almost 50 years ago. "omg so unnecessary and pointless!" You couldn't just shake your head and go about your day, you had to come and virtue signal about it. Get fucked.
it's sort of like chekov's gun...if it's in the movie, it's in there for a reason. i wanted to know the reason and the other poster explained it. I gather that type of analytical capacity is probably beyond your capability tho.
You couldn't just shake your head and go about your day
LOL then what are you doing here? what do you think the point of this website is?
It really is significant. It shows that this clone is going to grow up in an "appropriate" environment... Maybe not just what the Nazis had in mind, but something good for fostering a little Hitler.
Again, the point is there is no reason to put it into the script if it doesn't mean anything. As the other poster pointed out and now makes sense to me, it shows that Bobby was in an environment that would have encouraged thoughts of racial/ethnic superiority.