Blackface Controversy Splits Cosplay Community

[derpmonster 22,412]

  On 10/14/2019 at 5:36 AM, River said:

ooh sorry, it's my bday, I'm sensitive today because I don't want it to be destroyed and I felt like attacked

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Happy birthday love  I know you have good intentions. Sorry for being accusatory. It just looks like blackface in the avi. Maybe edit the contrast or upload a different pic . I don't mind it too much but everyone doesn't know the context.

[River 111,269]

  On 10/14/2019 at 6:31 AM, derpmonster said:

Happy birthday love  I know you have good intentions. Sorry for being accusatory. It just looks like blackface in the avi. Maybe edit the contrast or upload a different pic . I don't mind it too much but everyone doesn't know the context.

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Thanks I did it with paint lol I don't have photoshop in the new computer so I can't edit too much

[derpmonster 22,412]

  On 10/14/2019 at 6:06 AM, witchcocktor said:

If you don't paint your skin dark, you are whitewashing.

If you do paint your skin dark, you are doing blackface.

It's nonsense. Take one rule and stick with it.

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Please

Whitewashed doesn't mean you have to paint your skin dark. Whitewashing refers to ignoring the cultural contexts of things or casting a white character for an Asian role (for example) - and no, no one wants that white actor to modify their face to look Asian  Instead, they just want an Asian actor to be cast.

For cosplay, it really doesn't matter as long as you're respectful and don't change your skin color just to look more like a different race. That rule always applies

[hELXIG 42,516]

  On 10/14/2019 at 4:55 AM, Zander said:

As they should. You can’t cosplay as a character of another race whilst changing your skin tone, do it without doing that.

On a slightly related note I remembered the other day a well known British designer (Craig Green) painted white models black for one of his shows.

Nobody batted an eye about it, it’s crazy. He could have literally used black models to the same effect. 

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Okay in this example it isn't blackface because they aren't supposed to portray black people. But it is definitely in bad taste.

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

Hm. It's an interesting dilemma at the least  What if I make a suit of someone's appearance and because they are brown the suit is brown...

At its core the intent to look the most accurately like someone who is brown for gain is still there, but there are worse instances of black face than in the cosplay community so I don't care much

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

To me this looks like a black action hero who skin looks like rocks or something 

[PartySick 151,998]

I don't see the big deal.

It'd be one thing if she was trying to be this:

But she's not? She's trying to be this:

So...I think it's an overreaction and it's things like this that give the "other side" ammo to call us ridiculous when we call out some legit bs.

A lady from a place where blackface isn't seen as problematic as it is here putting on some prosthetics, makeup, and a costume to pull off a badass video game character look =/= racism or offensively impersonating a race in order to mock them.

Just my two cents

[IcePrincess 2,787]

That is so stupid. This whole blackface thing. I just can't write anything... Society is getting dumber on some issues. People have nothing to do anymore so they make up some ****. If someone wants to punish this girl then he's stupid.

[Seeka 12,372]

  On 10/14/2019 at 8:30 AM, PartySick said:

I don't see the big deal.

It'd be one thing if she was trying to be this:

But she's not? She's trying to be this:

So...I think it's an overreaction and it's things like this that give the "other side" ammo to call us ridiculous when we call out some legit bs.

A lady from a place where blackface isn't seen as problematic as it is here putting on some prosthetics, makeup, and a costume to pull off a badass video game character look =/= racism or offensively impersonating a race in order to mock them.

Just my two cents

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Well another thing to consider is that she is probably a professional cosplayer, and getting paid to do this. Like tournaments offer cash prizes. 

I mean like I understand that they're not doing intentional harm. 

But black people cosplay white characters all the time. The reason why cosplayers have the unspoken rule of "Cosplay anyone you want, just don't do something stupid" is because a majority of characters to cosplay are white or Japanese. 

This isn't really to effect the bigger world. Like honestly, how many people care of about professional cosplay? 

But this is a question for the community as whole, which has non-white and non-Japanese people within it. Who are faced with the problem of never looking exactly like their favorite characters because a majority of them are white or are Japanese but can definitely be seen as white. 

It seems like "Oh, there's no problem here." But there sorta is. A lack of characters in geeky media who represent other races, people who are making money from cosplaying someone of another race with what is essentially black skin, and probably other things I don't even know about. 

[Seeka 12,372]

  On 10/14/2019 at 8:42 AM, IcePrincess said:

That is so stupid. This whole blackface thing. I just can't write anything... Society is getting dumber on some issues. People have nothing to do anymore so they make up some ****. If someone wants to punish this girl then he's stupid.

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See my post above. She is making money from a cosplay when essentially professional black cosplayers and others with saturated skin tones will never have a 100% accurate cosplay unless they take drastic measures. 

Plus also, I doubt this is really a care for society. I got this from a geeky website. Most people won't even know this is happening. 

[Ikvs 2,576]

This is NOT blackface and that's that. A shame such a talented cosplayer is being criticized because some people want to be offended.

[lego 44,165]

Skin is not a costume. 

[Seeka 12,372]

  On 10/14/2019 at 5:07 PM, Ikvs said:

This is NOT blackface and that's that. A shame such a talented cosplayer is being criticized because some people want to be offended.

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If she's so talented why did she need  to create a prosthetic skin suit? 

It says in the article she contacted people, who shown concerns that she ignored. 

She is walking a blurry line. That's why there is an argument. 

And honestly I believe her talent is working against her. There are plenty of people who have cosplayed against their race and gender who didn't rely on a skinsuit.