Whitewashing and brownface in one whole post? What the fucking— Damn.
This is Sheila from Aicosu, a cosplaying couple with massive online presence and a pretty hefty following, in her Korra costume. Sylar, the other half, is dressed as Tahno.
This is what Sheila usually looks like:
She describes the brownface picture as “messing around with makeup tests” for her Korra costume.
What’s startling about the brownface picture is that she didn’t even get the skintone right for Korra. As my friend pointed out, “she looks more like someone from Jersey Shore”.
If you’re unfamiliar, which I’m sure you’re not, this is Korra:
TayTay: I AM A HUGE TAHORRA FAN AND I’VE SEEN THIS COUPLE FLOATING AROUND AND I’VE BEEN SIDE-EYING THE HELL OUT OF IT. FUCK HER AND FUCK WHOEVER SUPPORTS THIS SICK IGNORANT SHIT.
fuck this racist brown face cunt
Why are you people so stupid? 1. So a white girl can’t cosplay a dark skinned character? That’s like saying a black girl can’t cosplay a white character. It’s stupid, 2. everyone should be able to cosplay who they want regardless of race. 3. And if we’re going to get really technical, then everyone but Asian people can cosplay anime characters unless the character is stated as a different race. 4. Really people should be happy that she is putting this much effort into making herself look like Korra, 5. people would be be bashing her if she went with her natural skin tone for being too white. 6. And if you’re going to complain that skin color isn’t an accessory for cosplay then what are you going to tell the Homestuck cosplayers who have to get gray skin paint? 7. Should they stay their own skin colors? 8. or would that be skin washing? 9. Seriously people, grow up it’s not that big a deal.
okay, there’s a fuckton of wrongness here so I’m going to break it down by numbers a little.
1. No one has actually said that right now. There are a fair few PoC who dislike white people cosplaying as PoC characters because of the atrocious double standard of white cosplayers being praised to high heaven and PoC (PARTICULARLY BLACK PEOPLE) being harassed and told that because of their skin color, their cosplay is wrong. So um yeah your whole “That’s like saying a black girl can’t cosplay a white character” doesn’t work because people already say that a lot. Not to mention that whitewashing and racebending a white character darker ARE NOT COMPARABLE.
2. that would be nice wouldn’t it but I refer you to number one. It doesn’t always work out that way, and for people cosplaying characters lighter than them it mostly doesn’t.
3. Huh? I’m assuming you meant that no one but asian people should be able to cosplay anime characters that weren’t specified non-asian? that’s been talked about and by people with more knowledge and thinking skills than you. shut up.
4. WHAT. THE. FUCK. ARE YOU SERIOUSLY SAYING PEOPLE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT SHE WITH HER BROWNFACE INVOKED CENTURIES OF OPPRESSION AND DEHUMANIZATION THAT IS FUCKING TRIGGERING TO MANY PEOPLE? SERIOUSLY? YOU THINK HER IGNORANCE AND RACISM SHOULD BE APPLAUDED? NO NO NO NO NO. SHUT UP FOREVER. REALLY I COULD STOP RIGHT HERE BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE YOU PROVED THAT YOU ARE KIND OF AN AWFUL PERSON
5. yeah, some people would be irritated that a white girl was cosplaying Korra, and you know what? THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO AND IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.
6.…
…
…
…
you are not fucking serious. you can’t be. are you real.
okay…
first of all: THE HOMESTUCK FANDOM IS NOTORIOUSLY RACIST. INVOKING HOMESTUCK IN ANY CONTEXT INVOLVING RACE AND FANDOMS IS SORT OF LIKE GODWINNING, OKAY, YOU JUST LOST BY DEFAULT.
SECOND OF ALL: TROLLS ARE NOT HUMANS. TROLLS ARE NOT POC. TROLLS… ARE… NOT… RELEVANT. PAINTING ONE’S SKIN GRAY TO RESEMBLE A TROLL HAS NEVER BEEN USED AS A TOOL FOR OPPRESSION LIKE BLACKFACE AND BROWNFACE HAVE. GRAY SKIN HAS NONE OF THE CONNOTATIONS ATTACHED TO IT THAT BROWN AND BLACK PEOPLE’S SKIN HAS. THEY ARE NOT REMOTELY THE SAME.
7. WHO FUCKING CARES. IT’S A COSPLAY OF SOME CHARACTERS FROM THIS WEBCOMIC. IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER UNTIL YOU GET POC INVOLVED.
8. Excuse me? Did you seriously just do that? YOU DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO THAT. YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH WHAT YOU JUST DID. WHY DON’T YOU GO SIT ON THE STAIRS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT ALL YOU’VE DONE. AND NO TALKING, TALKING ADDS ANOTHER TEN MINUTES.
9. Brownface is a big deal. Sorry, that’s just how the world works. GET OVER YOURSELF.
I just love neatly separated points, because they can be refuted one by one! Let’s get started without any further ado:
1.) Cosplaying is all about resembling a character as accurately as possible. And you know, skin color is a significant part of that. Whether you naturally have the appropriate skin color or have to use skin paint is irrelevant. Yes, a white person can cosplay a black character, but for authenticity (which is the WHOLE FUCKING POINT of cosplaying), skin paint is recommended. Same goes for a black person cosplaying a white character.
2.) Again, it can be merged with point 1.
3.) Gotta love how you have no valid arguments about that, so you just try to invoke a fallacy. Claiming authority or attributing authority to a certain point of view to support yours only works if you have sources. And I don’t think cosplaying is a science, so claiming objective authority is likely impossible for anyone. In simple terms, either make a point or shut the fuck up, but don’t try to dodge the point; it’ll catch up with you anyway.
4.) Aww, you really are a poor little bleeding-heart moron with a victim complex, aren’t you… Newsflash: neither you, nor anyone currently alive had experienced what you’re whining about, and as such, none of that is capable of “triggering” anyone. And again, the point of cosplaying is authenticity. She made an effort to be more authentic. She’s doin’ it right. If you are offended by it, that’s your own personal problem, not anyone else’s. And nobody is obliged to give a fuck.
5.) Oh yeah, you have a right to be offended by it. You also have the right to dip yourself in glue, roll in feathers and go around imitating a chicken. In case the point went over your head (which it probably did), point is, things you have a right to do may still be extremely ridiculous and stupid.
6.) I’ll ignore your rambling about the Homestuck fandom as I can neither confirm nor deny your accusations of them… however, the trolls themselves are perfectly relevant. It’s not about some enormous fucking race issue no matter how much you’d like to make it about that; it’s about a cosplayer cosplaying a character of different skin color, be it brown, grey or fuckin’ hot pink.
7.) “It doesn’t really matter until you get PoC involved”, huh? Hey, thanks for proving just how fucking egomaniacal and self-centered you are. It doesn’t matter unless it’s about you, right? Well, why should anyone else care about your butthurt whining then? It’s not about them, after all!
8.) Your temper tantrum is amusing, but there’s a little problem with it; you aren’t making any actual points or responding to the question in any way. Also, it’s funny how you think you have the authority to send anyone into timeouts or anything. Once again proves that you are a narcissistic, egomaniacal fucktard. Just leave your house for once, and go talk like that to someone in real life. Having them laugh in your face is the best case scenario. You know why? Because your fucked-up sense of entitlement doesn’t actually entitle you to push anyone around.
9.) No, to most of the world (read: everyone save for whiny retards like you) it’s not. THAT’s how the world works. Go get a straw and suck it up.
wait so now it’s offensive to apply fake tan to yourself in order to portray a character?
is fake tan offensive now?
I don’t get the big deal.
It’s not like she gave herself stereotypical features.
She just messed around with makeup/tanning
really
i mean really
clearly you fags haven’t seen whitewashing
fucking STOP
STOP IT RIGHT NOW
IT NEVER FUCKING ENDS
MAYBE LOK WAS A LITTLE TOO EARLY FOR ITS TIME PEOPLE WILL NEVER STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT WHITEWASHING AND RACIAL SHIT JESUS F U C K I N G CHRIST
Welcome to tumblr.
We get offended by the stupidest shit here.
I’m gonna be try to be brief. I don’t really care what ethnicity you are and whether you’re cosplaying a character’s skin tone accurate enough (excluding really un natural tones such as green purple, dark gray, etc). But one thing I don”t think should happen is anyone attempt to change their skin tone when it comes to actual human ethnicity’s. This particular one to me isn’t something to get overly worked up about, however I feel everyone should come as they are in these situations.
Why? Well lets think back to how it’s mentioned earlier darker skinned individuals get shit for cosplaying lighter toned characters. Meanwhile Here we have this chick who actually can throw on a tan and everyone’s (well most people anyway) are okay with it. Let me tell you why -I- don’t think it’s necessarily okay. How many POC cosplayers dress up as lighter toned characters attempt to get lighter skin? What do you want them to do? Throw flour on themselves? Or go out of their way to get skin bleaching soaps and creams that can ultimately damage and poison their skin? I don’t think many try. Either way it looks bad or it is bad and.. really it’s just not fair. This is ultimately why I think people should come as they are for these types of characters. At the end of the day nobody should get shit for who/what they cosplay as. Nobody.
P.S. Cute Cosplay. These things are just something to keep in mind.
(via there-is-no-pumpkin)
