Yeah, I was definitely taken aback by all that. Like if their interpretations of Clark were correct, then yeah, that's a racist character. But those interpretations of the character of Clark are so off base it really comes across as almost bad faith. This whole thing feels kind of like the perfect storm of media illiteracy and the demand for moral purity.
My main issues with those conversations is people making that argument seem to be acting like how Clark was at the end of the movie as his true character somehow. Like I keep seeing people say Clark is a violent psychotic abuser, and that's what makes it a racial stereotype. But he wasn't?
After being trapped in the backrooms for who knows how long, he's clearly cracked up, but that's kinda understandable given the whole trapped in a liminal space thing. Like, even him attacking Mary wasn't that violent; he subdued and restrained her, but the tension of that scene came from the way this was completely different from how he acted before being trapped. This violence was out of character for the Clark we had seen so far, and that's why it was scary. And there is an argument to be made that he choked her out because she was making so much noise/not listening to him and he was scared of her attracting entities.
And I disagree with the framing that this was misogynistic violence, which is another thing some people are saying to argue the character is racist. Nothing about that scene indicated misogyny; it wasn't gendered violence at all.
I've also seen people using Mary saying "that's just how your brain is wired" to Clark as proof of racism, that the movie is saying the black character is just inherently violent or whatever. But that's a real literacy crisis in action take. She says that while mocking his argument that he is how he is and there is no changing it. Like the next line is her insulting him for refusing to put real effort into changing.
This also leads into me not being convinced he was abusive to his wife. Like he was a shit husband sure, but when Mary is dragging all his flaws up she never says he abused his wife. I feel like a lot of people are jumping from borderline alcoholic with anger issues to abuser, which given what we saw of how his anger issues manifest in the rest of the movie doesn't make sense to me. Also she's literally listing all the reasons he thinks his wife left him, why wouldn't she say the abuse if that was happening? And then there is the part where she says the real reason his wife left him is that he is a whiny baby who refuses to take personal responsibility for himself.
Which is the real tragic flaw of the character to me, not that he's this abusive, violent person. He's just an insecure man who isn't brave enough to force himself to grow and instead wants to wallow in the past and be told nothing is his fault.
Also I saw one post saying it was racist because he was cannibalistic! First of all the still lives aren't people; they are made of literal stuffing. We don't know if they are conscious or even technically alive. So I don't think that counts as cannibalism. But even if it does, he was trapped without food or water for who knows how long. I wouldn't call him cannibalistic for going to extremes to survive that.
Lastly, I do want to say I think it's a bit unfair to blame him for Bobby and Kat's deaths. They were adults who could have refused to follow him into the backrooms. And Clark also only got captured by the entity because he was trying to free Kat. He could have just kept running but he stopped to try to help her when he heard her voice.
I find Clark to be a wonderfully flawed character who is his own worst enemy. But his flaws are painfully normal flaws. He's an everyman and Chiwetel Ejiofor portrays that masterfully.
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