It's kind of hard not to internalize the stereotypical "ethnic markers" I got so used to growing up watching cartoons in America. And it's only now that seeing comments like, "But they don't LOOK [insert non-white ethnicity here]!" has occurred to me as kind of a dumb concept.
It's like you said--bizarre stylization which, in effect, results in a whole array of facial features. And yet somehow, given the Anglo status quo of the western world, those faces are just assumed to depict white faces. So depictions of NON-white faces basically get a very racially specific set of "icons" that are just shorthand for whatever Other the artist needs to depict. So restrictive -_-
"Normal" characters get to have angular faces, curvy faces, pointed noses, snub noses, flared noses, round noses, wide eyes, narrow eyes, droopy eyes, wavy hair, curly hair, straight hair, spiky hair.. But like, Other characters? ONLY get to have lips a certain thickness, or eyes a specific shape, and we're conditioned to register this as acceptable! As
( ... )
halcyonjazz did a bunch of busts of Hetalia characters. And didn't properly Orientalize the Asian characters. CAN YOU IMAGINE how perplexing that must have been to this person? And apparently to a lot of the Avatar fanbase as well.
I don't even.. maybe they think that the animu style exists in some limbo of.. of.. I don't know. (And there's no kawaii-Asian neko wai--don't you know all the anime characters are drawn white? No slanty eyes = no azn.)
Mmmmm. Makes One Piece's championing of the boxing black man's afro look subtle. And yet, has not quite approached the Dragonball Mr.Popo threshold.
Comments 7
(The comment has been removed)
It's like you said--bizarre stylization which, in effect, results in a whole array of facial features. And yet somehow, given the Anglo status quo of the western world, those faces are just assumed to depict white faces. So depictions of NON-white faces basically get a very racially specific set of "icons" that are just shorthand for whatever Other the artist needs to depict. So restrictive -_-
"Normal" characters get to have angular faces, curvy faces, pointed noses, snub noses, flared noses, round noses, wide eyes, narrow eyes, droopy eyes, wavy hair, curly hair, straight hair, spiky hair.. But like, Other characters? ONLY get to have lips a certain thickness, or eyes a specific shape, and we're conditioned to register this as acceptable! As ( ... )
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Mmmmm. Makes One Piece's championing of the boxing black man's afro look subtle. And yet, has not quite approached the Dragonball Mr.Popo threshold.
Reply
Leave a comment