Today's discussion was interesting to me; no one liked how the role reversal was portrayed. Complaints ranged from "it perpetuated the 'bad' sterotype that black people have to deal with.

That's not necessarily how I saw it. Yes, I was uncomfortable with the portrayal of the rich ethnicity--what would normally be white people--as cold and uncaring, but I didn't see it as placing another black actor in a role that demeaned his race. 

If Travolta was portraying the stereotypical black ethnicity and many of us were disgusted by his character, then the rich factory owner was portraying the stereotypical white person. I know the movie is slightly outdated, but I'm not comfortable with that. I'm curious as to if it still is a stereotype, and uneasy about all of the stereotypes out there that apply to me that I haven't heard of.