I want to phrase this post very carefully because it has the potential to offend a lot a people. Let me start out my saying that if any offense is inflicted, it is purely unintentional. I apologize in advance.
Lately, I’ve been noticing a criticism of showing protagonists of different skin colors (African American, Asian, Indian, etc.) and putting or highlighting traits that are commonly more found in Caucasians (straight hair, lighter skin) while the villains tend to show more stereotypical traits (such as curly hair, darker skin tone, etc.)
This isn’t a new argument. Roger Ebert, back in 1992, mentioned this in Aladdin.
One distraction during the film was its odd use of ethnic stereotypes. Most of the Arab characters have exaggerated facial characteristics - hooked noses, glowering brows, thick lips - but Aladdin and the princess look like white American teenagers.
I understand fighting stereotypes is a goal towards progress, and one I support. But, how is it that negative traits are still considered “black traits”? For example, in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, we are introduced to two characters considered racist: Mudflap and Skids. Technically, they aren’t black: they’re cars that are green and orange. But, they have features: gold teeth, monkey features, talking in slang, that we associate with black stereotypes and are the main source of ‘comic relief’ in the movie (I used quotes because that would be the intent even though I and many others didn’t find them funny).
Another issue is the idea that a character, if he/she chooses to adopt traits associated with Caucasians, they have “sold out” or considered “oreos” (Black on the outside, white on the inside). In the film, “Undercover Brother” when the titular character eats mayonnaise, he starts acting in an unfashionable manner and has sold out.
In Tyler Perry’s “Good Deeds”, the main character is an educated African American, but is considered out of touch when it comes to black culture (At one point, he asks who Tupac is).
So, in between these two extremes, how should fiction depict characters of ethnic origins? In the idea of ‘selling out’, why is considered bad to be educated?
And most importantly, how do we highlight traits not considered ‘white culture’ from other cultures?
Retour en haut
