It’s been derided as racist. And I can see why, some might say that. But, I don’t think it is, since it references an actual person and an actual event. I cannot seen any suggestion that it puts forth the view that Serena acted the way she did because of her race.
Yeah it exaggerates her looks. It’s a caricature, that’s what it is supposed to do.
Here are pictures of the actual event for comparison.
I would count myself as someone who is sensitive to and cognizant of the unintended possibility of racism in imagery, so my interest was piqued when I heard about this controversy. But I have to agree with you, I’m not seeing racist caricature. As you state, caricature exaggerates features, that is what I see.
Agreed with both Icarus and AK84. I think some people are seeing what they want to see. For instance, I’ve seen a number of comments about how Naomi Osaka was depicted as a blond, white woman. In the cartoon, she has a similar skin tone to Williams and you can clearly see from photos of the event that from a distance all you can see of her hair is her blond ponytail. In a possibly unconscious reaction, these people make an assumption not borne out by the image.
Yes, IMO it is racist. I couldn’t open your link to her real live pix, but I saw on the news some shots of her talking to the judge. She was angry and maybe a bit rude. She was right, and had a perfect excuse for being mad. Tennis has some archaic rules. They need updating.
:dubious: I’m not a caricaturist, so I’m not really in a position to speak on what type of alterations are required for a drawing to qualify as a caricature. But suffice to say if a particular artist can’t think of a way to draw a person that doesn’t end up looking like a racist caricature, then perhaps they should rethink their approach entirely.
I’ll confess that seeing that picture, though, I think avoiding racism wasn’t high on the artist’s list of priorities.
Yes, the cartoon is absolutely racist, and depicts Serena in an ugly, stereotypical way. For contrast, here is another cartoon depicting the same event that shows her accurately, but not as a racist stereotype.
The real problem is the reflexive accusations of racism, sexism, whateverism, whenever a member of a pet class is treated uncharitably but equally. In the eyes of the Uber-pc mob there is literally no caricature of Serena Williams that would not have been labeled racist. I had a caricature of me and they gave me big ol’ lips.
And before people bring up slavery and all that or minstrel shows, you do realize that the same act can be racist or not depending on motive? A caricature of a pro athlete acting the fool is different than drawing Serena Williams as a caricature merely because she is black.
I have no problem with the idea that the author might have considered the reaction more, and perhaps he did. This doesn’t address the supposed racism though.
I don’t consider you to be a spokesperson for “the Uber-pc mob”, and don’t consider your assertion about their inability to detect intended racism to be based in a true ability to read their minds.
Why do you need to draw a caricature? What point do the large lips and ugly depiction make that the drawing in the cartoon I posted does not make? There are two purposes to a caricature - to make the person identifiable, which Serena clearly is in the cartoon I linked, and to exaggerate an aspect of their appearance to make a point. What point is made by making her look like a racist stereotype from a hundred years ago?
If you want to use a term like “good”, who was quiet during the whole match, and who wasn’t? As for her being depicted as blonde and white, in the cartoon Osaka’s skin tone is very similar to Williams, and her ponytail is blonde in real life!. And look at actual photos of Williams from the day. She had frizzy hair, she is very muscular and not depicted as fat, screamed at the judge more than once, and the exaggeration of her features is typical of caricature.