Yet Improving

Men in Black (1997) dir. Barry Sonnenfeld

I use this scene to explain implicit bias to people. his first instinct is to assume the aliens are violent and the girl is innocent, but instead of acting on those assumptions he takes time to recognize his bias, look at the situation again, and then act. 

I watched this with my dad when I was fairly young, and I remember thinking that this was why he got chosen; before he even really knew what was going on, he didn’t assume that aliens were dangerous monsters.

It goes even further. The Men in Black IMPLICITLY are pro-non-violent-aliens-living-among-humans.

Therefore Jay taking note of how each one seems menacing but notes the smaller details is exactly what the MiB are looking for. The other candidates fired at every nonhuman looking entity in the simulation.

Look closely and you’ll see the simulation is full of big teeth, dangerous looking aliens doing mundane tasks like crossing the street, preparing for a sneeze, hailing a taxi, getting a hot dog from a vendor.

The Men in Black SPECIFICALLY look for people who are perfect at sorting out what an actual problem is in a crowded situation. Zed must have been beaming on the inside. This man really WAS a perfect candidate.

I love pointing this out: the novelization confirms, yes, he was 100% right in his assessment there

More evidence that Hollywood has forgotten the best ways to truly be entertaining

Men in Black (1997) dir. Barry Sonnenfeld

I use this scene to explain implicit bias to people. his first instinct is to assume the aliens are violent and the girl is innocent, but instead of acting on those assumptions he takes time to recognize his bias, look at the situation again, and then act. 

I watched this with my dad when I was fairly young, and I remember thinking that this was why he got chosen; before he even really knew what was going on, he didn’t assume that aliens were dangerous monsters.

1997.  This was in 1997.  Seriously, why hasn’t every police department in America been doing this test, and if a potential recruit shoots the Black teenager with the pack of Skittles, that motherfucker gets kicked to the curb?  

(I know why.)  

That part ^

the scene in men in black where will smith’s character thoroughly explained why he shot little suzie, a cardboard cut out of a small child holding advanced physics textbooks instead of the scary aliens all around her is an excellent allegory to racism. will smith’s character, a black man, has no doubt had to deal with various authority figures assuming he is the threat when context clues could easily explain away his behavior and with that backstory in mind, it is easy to see why his character identified with aliens simply existing in the world and explained away the supposed cause for concern by using the context clues provided. on the other end of the spectrum, the white characters who all elected to shoot the aliens on sight did so for no other reason then ‘they look like a threat’, ignoring the fact that a 7 year old child out in the middle of the street alone with advanced physics textbooks should raise more eyebrows than a tentacled creature with allergies. in this essay i will

his understanding for these immigrant aliens is exactly why they made him an agent and why he did so well (in the next movie, which seems to be be set only a few years later, he’s already a very high ranking and we’ll respected agent) The job of the Men In Black is not to police the aliens on Earth or make sure there aren’t too many here; it’s to keep those aliens safe, keep their identities a secret and stop anyone who actually IS breaking the law from ruining things for everyone else.

brilliant

The best part is that the novelisation of the film confirms this is canon.

MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL - Official Trailer