MovieChat Forums > Short Circuit (1986) Discussion > Not really an Indian?

Not really an Indian?

posted 19 years ago by o1977jp
49 replies | jump to latest

I just found out that Fisher Stevens, a white guy, played Ben. That's insane! Did he have to go tanning to get his skin so brown?

[–] ZabyPS3 12 years ago

The Ben character is so not racist. He's just a white guy playing an Indian who butchers his English. It's no different to Apu in the Simpsons.

'Her pants are blazing for you Newton Crosby!!!!' was always favorite of mine lol

'then, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forrest, wiiiiiiiiiiiiith.........a HERRING!'

[–] Hippo9 10 years ago

It's a brown face Step and Fechit role. Apu is a racist Step and Fechit/Amos and Andy character too but that's okay because most viewers are ignorant just like they were to Amos and Andy back in the day.

A Apu or Fisher Stevens type role would probably not fly if they were black and cause some massive protests.

[–] franzkabuki 10 years ago

He seems to have based his accent on Peter Sellers's in The Party - or maybe that's how the Indian accent actually sounds like, idk. One has to wonder though why he had such a thick accent to begin with since even his father was born in the States - besides it being supposedly funny (which it very rarely is; mostly, it's just crude and inane).

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] DeadpoolsLeftovers 10 years ago

Me, too. I saw this movie for the first time in the mid/late 90s and then I saw that very same dude in an episode of Friends. I can't believe it is the same guy, I thought he really was Indian, very believable. Unlike 'some' people, I don't think it is racist. To those that want to know what is racist? Go watch Tiffany's Breakfast... yup, that fake-Japanese-guy, the actor that film is so f--ked up.

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You're welcome.

[–] BlelbPhrobb04 9 years ago

All the outrage police need to quit their boo-hooing. It was the 80s before PC douchebaggery took over. Nobody gave a *beep* back then and thought to themselves "what are the oversenative millennial jerk-offs 30 years from now gonna think????"

[–] SerDarioTaranFulci 8 years ago

Yup, racist as hell.