THe first movie, Set It Off, was very reflective of our times, or realistic for just about any time in our nation’s history. But when I saw T2 back then and even on rewatch a decade later, I thought it was sad to to see this black genius die and I had sympathy for him. I felt god about his casting, and as I white college student I thought it was a good movie to not choose another white guy as the genius mogul. I thought it made his death that much more tragic in the movie, as watching a good person die who was fascinated by the tech and treated his family well was sad. It was a bold move and drew a type of empathy from (some) of the white audience that would normally go to a white man inventor and his family. We actually didn’t feel sorrow or empathy for Sarah O’Connor or the Terminators in the same way. To cast a black man in the most sympathize role in the movie was a good directorial decision I thought. No question the first movie was also deeply tragic, but it wasn’t sci-if but reality, maybe too real.
Thanks for contrasting these movies. It is definitely worth it to look back like this.