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
I love this movie
That kid stares at Will with dead eyes and they read, “Don’t fuck with me”. He knew.
