case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2018-05-08 07:16 pm

[ SECRET POST #4143 ]


⌈ Secret Post #4143 ⌋

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

01.



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02.
[Hank Azaria, The Simpsons]


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03.
[Paul Hollywood, Great British Bake Off]


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04.
[All for One]


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05.
[Plato, philosophy(slash?)]


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06.
[Fear the Walking Dead]


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07.
[The Nanny]












Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 32 secrets from Secret Submission Post #593.
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.

(Anonymous) 2018-05-09 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
There's nothing inherently wrong about it, but any kind of impression/mimicry of one group of people by a member of another group of people can veer into mockery (caricature), especially if it plays up or exaggerates stereotypes, and especially if the entertainment in question is done by a hegemonic/powerful group and intended to be consumed by other members of that hegemonic group. Caricature/mockery can happen with actors (for example, this is what blackface was, and why it's still such a touchy thing to do today -- because it was used by white people to mock a marginalized group and play up their stereotypical characteristics to entertain other white people). That goes for voice-acting too, as well as comedians' accent impressions. Also, interestingly, caricature is a really big part of cartooning/comics, and is why they can be so funny and also so offensive. When you punch up (by caricaturing a politician, for example), you probably won't encounter much controversy, but when you punch down (by caricaturing black people with monkey-like features, or Jews with big noses, etc. etc.) you're likely to run into pushback. Mockery/caricature, in addition to being hurtful and mean-spirited, also serves to reinforce power structures by putting minorities "in their place" and portraying them as unpleasant, gross, criminal, untrustworthy, culturally other/unintelligible/barbaric, or any number of negative attributes that justify discrimination, violence, or disqualification from positions of power.

So yeah, I don't think framing the issue as "can people not portray people of other races??" is the right way to think about it. Instead, think about it like, "Is this mockery? Is this mockery that reinforces existing power structures and marginalization?" Apu may not be that, but certainly veers into that territory.