[ SECRET POST #3249 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3249 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 018 secrets from Secret Submission Post #464.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

11. http://i.imgur.com/sJPen5q.png

Transcript by OP

[fscom]

Transcript "I understand that the use of blackface in cosplay is
complicated. On one hand you have people insisting that it’s meant to praise not mock, and that there’s unfortunate implications to saying the act of trying to look like someone of another race is disgusting and wrong. On the other you have people pointing out that real life cosplayers of color are getting discriminated against, told to leave photoshoots, harassed, mocked, etc. Real life blackface meant to hurt is still a thing.
And, like a swastika, once something has too strong a negative association it can’t really be reclaimed that fast.

But I can’t comprehend why fandom’s posterchild for the debate was a white girl painting herself brown so she can look like she’s a black girl cosplaying a PINK ALIEN without any pink bodypaint?"

[(Anonymous)]

Is this going to be another discussion where people don't understand racial coding.

[(Anonymous)]

Yes

[(Anonymous)]

I don't care how coded (stereotyped) something is. Still pink.

[(Anonymous)]

So people shouldn't paint themselves pink when the want to cosplay Garnet? Then I suppose they shouldn't paint themselves purple when they want to cosplay Amethyst either?

[(Anonymous)]

If a black cosplayer wants to leave their skin tone when cosplaying Garnet, I wouldn't argue with them. But she is actually sort of light burgundy.

[(Anonymous)]

I am not in this fandom, but I'm confused, are you trying to tell me that a pink alien (?) is black?

[(Anonymous)]

It's really too bad that there's so much drama surrounding Garnet cosplays, because she reperesents things other than color that means something to many people, like never giving up on your love even when society/your culture wants to tear you apart and being strong and confident in your relationship even when others say it's wrong.

[(Anonymous)]

Isn't every conversation like that on F!S these days?

[diet_poison]

I never really process that she's literally pink. I just sort of think of her as black. Oops?

Like I get that Amethyst is purple. But Amethyst isn't as heavily coded as Garnet, plus Garnet's actual complexion looks pretty close to a real human skin tone, rather than being some kinda out there color like some of the other gems (Amethyst, Peridot, Lapis).

[(Anonymous)]

Some of the art literally does show her as brown, when she's in her first form when she's supposed to be more... actual garnet-colored rather than pink. I think sometimes it's the lighting that makes her appear brown on the show, but I also have the Crystal Gems Guidebook with plain old images of her where there should be no lighting... and she's still brown in some of them. So it's not just you.

[(Anonymous)]

I code both Garnet and Amethyst as black. I thought Amethyst was voiced by Cree Summer at first. But I don't understand why blackface would be deemed necessary to portray an ALIEN.

[(Anonymous)]

I wish people would stop treating dressing up as a political statement, because it's not.

If a black cosplayer wants to lighten their skin to more closely resemble some popular character then they should go for it. And a white cosplayer should be able to make themselves up too. It's all good.

And finally, no one should be chasing, shaming or hurting anyone else participating in cosplay or any other fandom activity.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with this.

[(Anonymous)]

Thirding this. Thank you.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel it should be noted Garnet technically has two skin colours. before the season 1 finale she's a reddish-brown that looks like an actual human skin tone, post-season 1 she's the pinkish-purple shown in your secret, a tone that does not naturally appear on real people.

...'kay, I'm done being pedantic now.

[ketita]

Wait, so it's not that she colored herself to look like Garnet (who is, arguably, pinkish), but she colored her skin dark to look like a black person cosplaying Garnet?

[(Anonymous)]

Why cosplay with brownface if the character is pink? I get the racial codification deal, but aesthetically, if the character is pink - your cosplay should ideally be pink? (Not, of course, to say cosplayers should stick to characters of their own race. I think that's unnecessary.)

[gobbledigook]

This cosplay is from the S1 design, where Garnet had a mostly red color scheme and her skin was more similar to brown, not pink. That's really all I have to say about this though :0

[rbhudson]

Ummmmmmmm how is the issue complicated though? Blackface=wrong, end of story. You're welcome.

[(Anonymous)]

Coming from someone of multiple minority status, I am surprised no one's bringing up the PoC being mocked and told to leave photoshoots aspect of this post. Racism is a problem in cosplay, it's a problem everywhere. But I find it really hard to believe that sort of thing could just happen. I mean, I know it's really trendy to act like we're living in a pre-civil rights act dystopian hellhole America, but no one could get away with that. Not quietly. Not without convention boycotts and outraged petitions and all-out mob style riots at the very instant someone tells a cosplayer to leave because of their skin color. It's not even a matter of standing up for oneself or not. If I were ever mocked publicly and kicked out of a gathering for the way I looked, I would eat my hat (or wig) if the people within earshot didn't immediately shut that shit down and have the offender keelhauled over a balcony or something.

I'm sure y'all have an anecdote or two that blows my anecdotal experience out of the water. But just think before you type. Social Justice is great and all, but no one is doing any good by big time exaggerating what's already pretty rotten. You just make it seem hopeless. And it honestly weirds me out to see people just accepting these so-called extremely overt injustices as fact, because it's taboo to question it.

As for the cosplayer and blackface subject, I don't have too much to say. I don't watch this show, but the version of the character I was familiar with was much less pink than pictured. I think it's a little dishonest to use the very non-black photo as an example if she didn't always look like that.

[sachiko_san]

And here I thought black face was a white person putting black makeup on their face with big red lips with the intent to mock actual black people, not someone darkening their skin some to look like a character with darker skin. This shit happened with LoK, even though Korra isn't even an Earthling.

That deleted post was me, I misfired.

[(Anonymous)]

If I could whiteface myself when I cosplay white characters I would do it, I want to look as accurate as possible. But unfortunately my skin is pretty dark.

I never understood why some people don't see the difference between blackface to dehumanize a race and giving yourself a dark skin tone to cosplay a character.

[(Anonymous)]

IMO I think K-o-u used a wrong shadow for Garnet, and it doesn't look like if was the red-brown or the pink one. But the backlash she got for the photos? Unacceptable.