The 10 most offensive movie characters of all time
To be ‘offended’ in contemporary society means a whole lot more than it did at the start of the new millennium. In a world without social media, people could be offended all they liked about a particular movie, speech or political stance, but with nowhere to voice their frustrations, their anger led to little repercussions. Decades later, ‘offence’ is used as a tool for change, with modern culture responding appropriately to changing values and tolerances.
For an industry like Hollywood, contemporary times have led to a re-evaluation of each and every ‘classic’ of the past where values are rooted in the context of the time and place in which they were made. Though whilst this can often lead to the creation of invaluable documents of social history, it can also leave room for countless movies to be considered outdated and offensive to modern audiences.
Looking back, it’s easy to pick out several movie characters who are offensive to today’s modern standards and were indeed prejudiced and shortsighted at the time. Whilst unsettling, understanding why these characters were made in the first place helps us contextualise the media and zeitgeist of the respective time, acting as critical cultural waypoints to demonstrate how much values have changed over time since the largely bigoted attitudes of the past.
So, let’s take a leap back and glance over ten of the most offensive movie characters of all time.
The 10 most offensive movie characters of all time:
Christmas Jones – The World Is Not Enough (Michael Apted, 1999)
The James Bond franchise has never exactly been known for its sound attitudes towards female representation, with ‘Bond girls’ often being reduced to paper-thin characters who do little more than flaunt their bodies. Whilst Bond himself could be on this list, we’ve opted for the love interest in Michael Apted’s 1999 film The World Is Not Enough, Christmas Jones, a character named by many as being the worst Bond girl of the series.
Not only does Jones have a frankly offensively stupid first name, but the screenwriter Bruce Feirstein does an awful job fleshing her out as an authentic nuclear physicist, especially when she’s scantily clad half of the time.
Genghis Khan – The Conqueror (Dick Powell, 1956)
It doesn’t take a genius to understand why John Wayne (yes, that John Wayne) playing a blacked-up version of the former Khagan of the Mongol Empire, Genghis Khan, was a highly offensive casting choice. A white actor known for his Hollywood roles as an all-American cowboy, the casting of Wayne in 1956s The Conqueror was offensive at the time and most certainly is in the contemporary industry.
To make matters even worse, Wayne’s Southern drawl can clearly be heard throughout the film, making his impression of the infamous emperor all the more offensive.
I. Y. Yunioshi – Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Blake Edwards, 1961)
Blake Edwards’ 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s has long been considered a classic of ‘60s cinema, but whilst the romantic plot at the heart of the film is sweet enough, look closer, and the film has a streak that is quite simply racist. Playing the Asian landlord I. Y. Yunioshi, American comedian Mickey Rooney imitates a Chinese character by playing up to each and every offensive stereotype.
Casting a white actor as an Asian character is bad enough, but the film went even further when it gave Rooney a wig and buck to take the offensive character to new levels of insulting.
Jar Jar Binks – Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 1999)
Ask any fan of the beloved sci-fi franchise Star Wars who or what ruined the prequel movie The Phantom Menace in 1999, and most people will respond, ‘Jar Jar Binks’. Joining the two human characters on their cosmic adventures, Jar Jar is a towering CGI menace who adds nothing to the story, looks visually terrible, and is a borderline racist character, speaking in a bumbling Caribbean patois accent.
Offensive in several meanings of the word, there was a reason why George Lucas rightfully put Jar Jar Binks on the back-burners for the Star Wars sequels, Attack of the Clones in 2002 and Revenge of the Sith in 2005.
Long Duk Dong – Sixteen Candles (John Hughes, 1984)
Regularly cited as one of the most offensive characters of John Hughes’ divisive filmography, Long Duk Dong of 1984s Sixteen Candles is a gross stereotype, especially since the film is geared towards younger audiences. Presenting a gross stereotype of Asian men, the character, played by the Japanese American actor Gedde Watanabe, was used as a needless, offensive punchline throughout the movie.
It isn’t just audiences who reflect poorly on this movie, with even Watanabe’s co-star Molly Ringwald admitting in 2018 that the character was a “grotesque stereotype”.
Mark – Soul Man (Steve Miner, 1986)
Take one look at Steve Miner’s Soul Man, and you’ll quickly realise why the film is considered so extremely offensive. Telling the story of a pampered teen who poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship at Harvard and achieve his educational dreams, actor C. Thomas Howell is responsible for such an offensive character, taking up the chance to play the role from Carol Black’s script.
Applying black makeup for the role, Howell’s character is wildly racist, with the film not helping the actor with such dated lines of dialogue as: “This is the Cosby decade. America loves black people”.
Martin Lomax – The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (Tom Six, 2011)
Horror films have long been the most controversial genre as filmmakers push the boundaries of bad taste, violence and gore. Still, Tom Six would have a hard time explaining the artistic value of the abhorrent sequel The Human Centipede 2, a film that takes horror to new depths of depravity and senselessness. Needlessly provocative, the film follows a disturbed serial killer who creates a 12-person human centipede to fulfil his fantasies.
Protagonist Martin Lomax is simply offensive to the eyes and mind, carrying out acts of disgusting depravity that will do nothing for your own personal growth or enjoyment (we promise).
Music Gamble – Music (Sia, 2021)
Directed and co-written by the world-renowned artist Sia, Music follows the struggles of a newly sober woman named Zu (Kate Hudson) who is told that she has been named as the sole guardian of her half-sister named Music (Maddie Ziegler), a non-verbal-autistic-girl. Having to navigate the workings of her new reality, Sia’s film attempts to probe the themes of identity and personal ambition with little to no respect for the sincerity of its messages, lacking genuine coherence and authenticity.
The result is a terrible and misguided offensive caricature of an individual with autism, as performed by Ziegler, reflecting many of the unsettling, insincere and exaggerated stereotypical mannerisms often aimed against the autism community.
Prince Dastan – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Mike Newell, 2010)
Proper representation is something that modern Hollywood takes very seriously, with poor casting choices being widely criticised by audiences, hounding studios for casting Scarlett Johansson in 2017s Ghost in the Shell and Eddie Redmayne in 2015s The Danish Girl. The same criticism was aimed at actor Jake Gyllenhaal when he took the title role in the video game adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Whitewashing the Asian character with Western ideals, Gyllenhaal later regretted taking on the role, telling Yahoo Entertainment: “That wasn’t right for me…That didn’t fit perfectly”.
Rosemary – Shallow Hal (Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, 2001)
Thankfully, body positivity exists in contemporary life, with bodies of all shapes and sizes being celebrated in a tolerant society that once ridiculed plus-sized individuals. Proof of such can be found in the dated Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly movie Shallow Hal, which tells the story of a shallow man, played by Jack Black, who falls in love with a 300-pound woman named Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow) because of her inner beauty.
Making a clumsy attempt to celebrate everyone’s inner beauty, whilst making plus-size women the punchline of every joke, it is the portrayal of Paltrow’s Rosemary that makes her such an offensive character.
