If someone showed up to my Halloween party dressed as Pi in brownface, I would be offended and I would tell them to leave.
Intent isn’t magic. And historical ignorance doesn’t magically remove offensiveness. There is a long and sordid history in the US, particularly in Hollywood, of white people dressing up in blackface, or brownface or wearing buckteeth or something similar in order to ridicule racial minorities and portray them as stereotypically as possible. And that’s not ancient history. That Ashton Kucher ad was in 2012.
Same with Indian folk…I would be made uncomfortable to see someone dressed in brownface as the Pi character. I am totally on board with monstro’s post here, and I too would never dream of lightening my skintone or hair to play a “white” character. How could it be OK the other way?
If I had the most awesome Elvis clothing, hair, and moves, are you telling me I would only enhance my look if I slathered on some white face paint?
What if I wanted to dress up as Wonder Woman? You’re seriously telling me that my costume wouldn’t look good unless I paled up my arms, legs, face, and neck? That no one would recognize me as Wonder Woman unless I changed my skin tone?
You’re basically saying that people of color will always have the inferior costume unless they’re willing to look like a fool, since pretty much everyone looks foolish when they’re trying to look like someone of another race and most notable characters in our society are white.
This is a bit of a digression but it does relate …
That Venus Sailor Moon outfit? She choose to cosplay as a very White Sailor Moon, one who is really an Asian carictature of Caucasian. To some degree her skin color works for that costume … in a very meta or ironic way. White, specifically an Asian exaggerated stereotype of White, is a key part of who that anime character is. Anaamika, I don’t think you and monstro actually are saying the same thing at all. She’s saying that it not a requirement, that it is not needed, and that it would just look stupid. Specifically asked she does not think it would be offensive. You and BrightNShiny state it would be uncomfortable and/or offensive.
Why wouldn’t you whiteface? Because it would look dumb? Because it somehow offends yourself to cover up your skin color? Or because of sensitivity to an idea that Whites would be offended by it? If I understand monstro correctly her reson would be the first: it fails as a costume choice and just looks stupd without adding anything to the illusion desired. Is your reason the same?
The answer to this is the same as when people say “Why is it offensive for a white person to use the N-word, but not (as) offensive when a black person uses it?” “Why is a fake Scottish accent less offensive than a fake Chinese accent?” “Why is it OK to say ‘black pride’ or ‘brown pride’ but not ‘white pride’?” (That one comes up a lot on UFC forums – UFC Heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez has a “brown pride” tattoo.)
The answer is read a history book. You can’t divorce these things from their historical context. The whole reason any of these things are offensive is because of their historical association with discrimination and persecution.
That said, I’d avoid the afro wig, too. Including racial characteristics in Halloween costumes is just tacky.
I actually think the best impersonations are minimalistic. There’s something clever about simply showing up to a party wearing a certain style of shirt, a certain style of hat, and a cigar and suddenly “becoming” Charlie Sheen, regardless of one’s gender or race. In isolation, none of these items would lead someone to think of him, but put them all together and viola. That takes some creativity and thoughtfulness.
If someone goes through the trouble of coloring their skin a certain color to mimic someone, they are basically saying they see their skin color as an major attribute of their individuality and something that lends itself to parody. Receiving this visual statement can be jarring, particularly when the subject is a ethnic/racial minority that is often treated as “other” because of their skin color.
If I show up wearing a Charlie Sheen shirt, the implication is that this particular quality associated with Charlie Sheen is special and I’m being extra clever and funny by riffing on it.
If I show up to the party with my skin chalked white kinda sorta like Sheen’s, what the implication? That having light skin is special in a Charlie Sheen-like way? That there’s something clever and funny about simulating Charlie Sheen’s skin color? Neither of these things are true, but with my actions I would be sending the impression that I think otherwise.
Both are those are awesome because their make-up is very very very good. There’s nothing sloppy or weird about the way they look (the props really help).
They are also in full character acting mode. If they were doing stand-up, they could have done those impersonations without having to to put on make-up, and they would have been just as good. But if you’ve got a film crew to work with, why not go full stop?
If someone doesn’t look straight-up stupid in their costume, then in my mind, yes it’s “okay”. When it looks stupid, then I will think those people are stupid, but I won’t “condemn” them or be particularly outraged. The majority of people, IMHO, will look stupid since most people don’t have access to professional make-up artists. This is why I think most people would be wise not to go this route unless they really think it’s worth doing.
It seems like you want me to come up with hard and fast rules that explain why some costumes/performances get a pass but others don’t. I don’t think people’s sensitivities operate so predictably or rationally that you can come up with such a rubric. And since I’ve already admitted that I’m not sensitive in this way, I don’t even think I could specify what they are, even if I thought it was even possible. You’d have to ask someone who is offended.
It is complicated. Black face pre-dating Atlantic slavery appears in European Folk Lore- some Morris Dancers in England have a traditional black face as a Moor. Similarly in Dutch Christmas folklore, Santa Claus’ helpers are called Black Piet and are black faced- Zwarte Piet - Wikipedia. The latter may have been black faced from climbing down chimneys and later gained African characteristics and this may be the case for Morris Dancers (though less likely.) In Padstow, Cornwall, UK they also have a black face character thought to be from Celtic legend.
Unfortunately simple Black Face has merged with stereotypes of Jim Crow and its meaning becomes warped and potentially offensive.
Maybe a little leeway should be granted considering the number of people of African and other non-European descent appearing in historical dramas where such skin colors would not have been seen!
I usually find Black Face offensive but do wonder whether there is not some middleground.
Depends on how you look at it. Early minstrels imitated the successful Black entertainers of their day by singing their songs and imitating their style, mannerisms and look. In the long run they succeeded them(Black entertainers) because they(the minstrels) were more readily acceptable to the general population due to racism.
It’s an interesting discussion. I was in Stratford-upon-Avon a few weekends ago and came upon a group of Border Morris, who ‘black up’ for their performance. Seem there is some debate about whether or not it’s an explicitly racist thing.
I understand the history plays a huge factor in people’s reactions to white people putting on makeup to look like black people. Yes, it’s naive for Julianne Hough to dress as Crazy Eyes and not expect it to be controversial.
I would argue though, that this is really a shame people can’t express themselves a certain way that may actually be complimentary to the person they’re portraying, because of it’s blatantly offensive past. If I were the person that played Crazy Eyes I think, (I can’t say for sure, because I’m not her), I would be flattered that someone likes my character enough to go as her.
Without the makeup, it just wouldn’t work on the same level. At least, I would find her to be less recognizable.
Despite whether or not it IS right, I would say it sucks that people can’t do something like that if they don’t have the intent of being malicious.
As another brown (Indian) person, I wouldn’t be offended. I’d probably find the Apu costume funny if it was done properly (though frankly there are things they’ve done with Apu on The Simpsons that I found incredibly offensive.)
“Wearing makeup to make you look like a darkie” and “wearing blackface” are two totally different things to me, as other people have said. Blackface - as in shoe-shine black - comes with all sorts of negative connotations that are better avoided.
To suggest white people can’t wear makeup that makes them look like dark-skinned people is just silly, though.
Let us not forget about Ted Danson doing blackface at a roast of his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg, who wrote much of his dialogue and was filled with the word “nigger” and watermelons and such.