FAQ

Sunday, January 10, 2016

[UPDATE] Blackface: What it IS and What it IS NOT



Enjoy this gif of Hyosung while you can because the rest of this post has some pretty nasty pictures.


Blackface is a hot topic in k-pop for both interesting and vapid reasons, and today we're going to cover what blackface is and isn't within the context of K-pop (and pretty much everywhere.)

WARNING: this post contains some frightening images, I will try to make it up to you towards the end.


Now before any SJW's accuse me of being a "jar of mayonnaise" *shudders at that idiotic insult* that doesn't know what the fuck she's talking about, I'd like to say this: that's a pretty racist thing to say. Not only am a black girl from Chicago for fucks sake but you automatically assume that just because a person is White means they can't be knowledgeable in other cultures and the history of other cultures which I have to say, is pretty fucking racist. And you're also assuming that people that come from a certain culture automatically know everything about that culture and it's history which is ridiculous. Sure trying to tell a whole group of people how to feel about something is dumb as fuck when you don't come from that group of people, but aren't you SJW's technically doing the same when you bombard people with your views and tear them down when they don't agree with you? Talk about being a hypocrite. (Side not: why do SJW's refer to White people as "jars of mayonnaise?" Why did they do that? That's so fucking bizzare, sure mayo is white but there are so many other options of white food that are way more clever to use than fucking mayonnaise. If anybody has the answers to this please let me know. I digress.)



Moving on...


[UPDATE] My article had a major flaw in it: I forgot to include the definition of blackface!


There is the definition right in your face. If this is misinformation contact the people who write the dictionary and try and tell them how to do their job.

Way back when racism was acceptable in American media (okay more overt racism) there was this thing called "blackface." What that did was that White actors would often times paint their faces black in a way that was obviously intended to be racist and offensive as well as act in a way to make Black people seem uneducated, lazy, and just about any other racial stereotype you can think of at that time. This was of course, pretty offensive and it is for the most part over with however it has left scars so deep that people will see anyone who has darkened their skin for a performance is considered a hideous blackface-wearing racist without looking into the deeper context of what the performance is conveying.


For example: if someone is playing a role it is in their best interest (especially now a days) to be as accurate as they can with that role. People lose and gain weight all the time to fit the characters they play as accurately as possible, so therefore sometimes you have to darken your skin a bit, if not then it becomes "whitewashing." Sometimes applying black paint to face is for more artistic purposes (you'll see later in the post.) If a person is simply playing a simple role that has no racist ties what-so-ever then getting offended over them trying portray a role accurately isn't necessary. There is a pretty big difference between portraying a character and being purposely racist and/or offensive, and lately a lot of people have been getting the two mixed up.

The rest of this post will be doing simple comparissions between actual blackface and wrongly accused blackface specifically in K-Pop. Get your eyes ready



ACTUAL BLACKFACE:




How fucking scary is that? I don't know about you, but I don't know a single Black person that even remotely looks like that. This was clearly drawn on the be just about as nasty as possible.

NOT BLACKFACE:


This is a picture of After School's/Orange Caramel's Raina. She did a play called for "I Love You Tonj" which is based off of a Korean documentary called "Don't Cry For Me, Sudan." She along with a lot of people had to darken their skin a bit because they were playing Africans and when playing any role you want to be as accurate as possible otherwise that can be taken as offensive to the role you are trying to play. People consider the above picture to be blackface, but Raina only looks like, five shades darker. In fact she looks like she just went out into the sun for a few ours. That's actually about my complexion right now since it's the winter and there is zero sun in Chicago. The most offensive thing about this is that according to the roll her skin should actually be darker. Simply darkening your skin is not blackface. If that were the case, then anybody who tans or applied bronzer to look tan would be considered blackface.

ACTUAL BLACKFACE:


Here's a picture of the Bubble Sisters which were some flop nugu k-pop girl group a few years back that did some performance like this on some show. Everything from the awful makeup to the awful hairstyles is pretty much old school style blackface.

NOT BLACKFACE:


Here's a picture of 4Minute's Hyuna back during her days of bubble popping and when she didn't look carved from clay. A bit of a more unknown issue but I remember reading that her getting her skin tanned that dark and and shaking her butt was her mimicking Beyonce and comparing it to her making fun of black culture. Little do they know that practically almost all female k-pop soloist are in one way or another always getting inspiration and becoming different versions of Madonna or Beyonce, case in point Hyori, buts she's everyone's "kween." it all worked out for Hyuna in the end, since everyone calls her "kween" these days anyway so she must have done something right.

ACTUAL BLACKFACE:


Here's an actor back in the day wearing traditional blackface. In the name of Suho that is pretty fucking terrifying. 

NOT BLACKFACE:


Here's G-Dragon from his "Coup D'tat" music video. If you've been following GD (most people on here don't but still) you'll know that mv is chocked full of symbolism from his career over the years along with some evolution symbolism. For those of you who don't know, his first album had that creepy 3D white skull/face on it for it's special edition. And him removing that creepy pure white face to reveal a sinister all black face with no features but his eyes being enhanced is hinting more shade at the K-pop industry than anything else. (You could also interpret this as anything really, but that's the most obvious interpretation, but on the surface this is nowhere near to being actual blackface.)

Non-K-Pop Example for Reference:

ACTUAL BLACKFACE:


Horrifying. Looks like something Stephen King would try to make a threatening villain out of in one of his novels. The lips and hair are especially ridiculous here. Again, I don't know a single Black person that does or ever did look like that.

NOT BLACKFACE:


The picture above is of Julianne Hough (right) in a costume as Crazy Eyes (left) from Orange is the New Black for Halloween. While this isn't anywhere near blackface it's just a pretty shitty costume of Crazy Eyes in general. She has the skin color, hair style, and get-up down but she could have at least sprayed some black dye in her hair and put some brown contacts on. Commit to your Halloween costume you lazy fuck.


This is a picture of Hoshi from Seventeen. No real relation to anything in this post other than the fact that I think he's adorable and hot and I need something in this post that actually pleases my eyes. 

So there, I hope I cleared up some stuff about this subject and I hope I helped at least one person understand what blackface really is and isn't. If you're wondering why I didn't include Truedy is because she did something outside of blackface (lied about her heritage) that would require a whole different post. 

If you made it this far and need to clean your eyes out here are your treats: 



41 comments:

  1. role not roll

    that spelling error really takes away from a good article

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    1. Damn, I'll fix that. Major brainfart there.

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    2. Don't worry about it. I type there instead of their all the time. Sometime I type are instead of our....go figure. The grammar police are sometimes just as annoying as the SJWs.

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  2. Some SJWs accused an actual African-American, JOEL (조엘) of being a Korean man doing blackface in GsD's Ring My Bell music video. Oops.

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    1. To be honest, I thought it was a Korean man doing blackface, but I thought it was funny. The lighting in that video makes it look like his skin tone isn't natural.

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  3. Was going great until I saw the screen cap of that fug face Jimin. That's one ugly ass fucker.

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  4. Seohyun is functionong perfectly

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  5. I agree with most of this article. The only thing I disagree with is the part about being racist towards white people. I don't think that's really a thing, you can discriminate, sure, of course. But racism is much more than discrimination IMO, it's more of a socio-economic hold back based on skin color and culture. Just my two cents. I wouldn't consider myself a social justice warrior, but I never really understood peoples problem with them anyway. Every group needs its extremists to get across the message and enact change. A lot of people benefit from social justice, whether they make fun of it or not, and I believe it has helped, even if a little. Sure, a bunch of people trying to make others feel guilty about something and expect results immediately is a long shot, but as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't really hurt anyone (just their pride).

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    1. When I say SJW in this article it's a generalization of a ceryain type. On the surface I have no problem with them it's just those extremist that I havr a major problem with because like all movements, the extremist do more harm than good because it damages the reputation of the movement and makes more people reluctant to join or attempt to understand that movement.

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    2. That may be true with extremists that they force more reluctance onto the movement, but extremists have a very important place in every movement. They vocalize the movement more than any other member of a movement. They bring attention to movements that although sometimes negative still begin to shine light on the issues. The extremists know what they're requesting is not exactly possible, but they still vocalize themselves because they also know that regardless of the effort, there will still be attention gathered from their actions. PETA is an excellent example of this, although most people HATE PETA, for their weird methods and even weirder extremists, without PETA shedding light on most of the animal cruelty going on there would still be animals that suffer, even more so than now. PETA's goal isn't for everyone to go vegetarian, although it may seem like it, their goal was to shed light on what happens when people refuse to look. PETA forced people to look at animals in a light they weren't being looked at. And there's already been governmental change regarding the treatment of animals.

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    3. That might be true and all but I still don't have to like or accept it. We're coming into a different age now where those tactics will eventually fade and there will have to be better and less vengeful ways of getting people into a movement.

      Take feminazi's for a moment. As a feminist I am repulsed by them more than any menimist or anti-feminist could, because they have spread nothing but lies about the movement. Just because I don't go around spitting in men's faces and shitting on any woman who dares show skin doesn't mean I'm not passionate about what I fight for nor do I not know what I want out of the movement or what the movement actually stands for.

      Say what you want about extremist. Maybe I'm wrong but I haven't been convinced one bit. Extremist could actually be anti's of that movement that want to draw people from that movement by acting as embarrassing as possible for all we know. I still think they practice poisonous mentalities and need to stop warping the actual meanings of movements making them look like jokes and not something that is to be respected.

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    4. Extremists are a disgrace to whatever cause they're pursuing, it makes them look like vile, hateful, pathetic trash throwing a tantrum for the sake of drama. How ridiculous is it to take an opportunity to educate someone who could honestly be misinformed or ignorant on a certain matter, and instead choosing to perform a witch hunt to tear them apart? What does that accomplish, going from zero to full asshole to someone who might not have intended harm?

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    5. I hate SJWs and other "-ists" because they only care about their agenda and advancing it while not giving a shit about the detrimental damage it does to everyone, especially the group they are trying to help the most.

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    6. You can be racist to white people and saying otherwise is just trying to shove under the rug a horrible, horrible thing that people do. You saying you can't be racist to white people is in fact, racist to white people. Your view is racist and very North American-centric. Or rather, Former-British-Colonies-Centric.

      You don't get to redefine the definition of race to suit your political agenda.

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    7. Forgot to mention, it doesn't matter what the fuck you call it, it's still horrible, and the fact that you want to change the definition of racism so it excludes white people is extremely suspicious and disgusting. You disgust me.

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    8. People love to twist the definition of racism so it only applies to forms of institutionalized/systemic racism. Apparently white people aren't allowed to face individual/personal racism and that treatment is acceptable. How do we ever actually reach racial equality if we maintain this dividing line of, "My oppression was worse than yours so whatever you face is irrelevant." It's like people don't actually want racial equality, they want to get even and be superior.

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    9. Many current sociological definitions of racism focus on a central idea of racism as requiring not just racially-charged beliefs, but also the power to affect races differently. So no I'm not personally changing the definition of racism to fit an agenda. And besides, my ethnicity is Caucasian, not that it should bring any change to the opinions you hold of me. Secondly, it's no secret that Caucasians are the standard of beauty, and just about every other thing on this planet due to European, specifically English, advances in the world. So, no, I still don't think you can be racist towards "White people". White people at most get discriminated against. I'm glad I disgust you though, I mean I'll leave you gagging on my eleganza.

      White people even by the dictionary definition of racism do not face racism. Individual people being affected by ideals is discrimination, a group of people who are seen as inferior is racism. Who is it that sees white people inferior in any place of the world?

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  6. I think the most ridiculous example is when people claim tanning is blackface, whether naturally, or for the sake of fashion or a role. As if darker skin and the ability to tan or brown somehow solely occurs in black people, like there aren't darker skinned people of other ethnicities, Asians and Europeans included…

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    1. It saddens me that people of my own race don't know the fact there are dark skinned people on every continent.

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    2. It's just Americans I'm afraid to admit. It doesn't seem to matter what ethnic background, a lot of Americans seem to believe that their "feelings", experiences and opinions are more valid than anyone else's. Then we wonder why people from elsewhere think we're arrogant. I've seen Africans try to weigh in on the blaceface thing and be shut down. So it's not just about race.

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    3. From what i can tell for pretty much all of them it's wanting to be seen as right in addition to protecting their precious online social justice... and really, yes, Americans mostly are the ones behind it, but I won't say exclusively because I've seen quite a few canadians and other people from other countries get into it, but really through their american friends more than anything. I was online friends with a perfectly normal teenage girl from Hong Kong, and she was fine until she got swindled into the rhetoric by her american followers and mutuals. Now she's one of them 'nonbinary' whosiwhatsits with an attitude going.

      What really sucks is that just when I can't think America isn't enough of a laughingstock people in this country make it look even worse with every mind numbingly irritating tiny aggression or mishap against sjw types being perceived as an attack, and them retaliating through pansy whining, again, and again, and again.

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    4. I once saw someone claim that it's impossible for white people to have black hair or brown eyes (or both at once) because "only blonde people are white". I then directed them to Ireland and all of Southern Europe since they seemed to be geographically and genetically confused and probably on some crazy shit like stupidity. I mean shit, for the Irish example I know a man from Ireland who has straight up jet black hair and black/brown eyes and considerably tanned skin for a white guy. It's not at all impossible. It's like once people start thinking their opinion is fact they get further and further away from reality.

      There's actually this actor who looks straight up middle eastern, especially with his very (naturally) tanned skin and black hair and eyes, but he's also 100% Irish. I can't remember his name though, but I remember he looks like Jesus or Moses or some shit. He looks like he walked out of the bible.

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    5. I mean for fuck's sake my best friend is from Norway, 100% Norwegian, and her hair color is this dark brown almost black color and she has naturally tanned skin, though she does have dark hazel eyes. She looks like she has some native american blood in her tbh, but she doesnt at all.

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    6. lol, as someone who has had dark hair and brown eyes for essentially my entire life, it's ridiculously fucking stupid that someone would even consider using the "all white people are light haired, light eyed" excuse. Speaking of Ireland, people sure love to forget the fact that there's the "black irish" group- they have darker features and sometimes darker/tanner skin.

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  7. Excellent post! [Also, please do that Truedy post you hinted at.]

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  8. What do you think about the thing that blew up several months ago between Amandla Sternberg and Kylie Jenner btw (I know it's not blackface)? [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/kylie-jenner-criticised-by-hunger-games-actress-amandla-stenberg-for-appropriating-black-culture-10384632.html]
    Was Amandla right in her criticism or was it too much?

    Also, in the Raina section, I think it's supposed to be 'a few hours' not 'a few hours'..... :P

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    1. Sorry for the late reply: While I love Amandla I think the whole criticism thing was too much as it's a fucking Kardashian and they don't think about anything. She should have went in on those ''viners'' who constantly put up offensive shit and constantly get away with it.

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  9. What do you think about the thing that blew up several months ago between Amandla Sternberg and Kylie Jenner btw (I know it's not blackface)? [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/kylie-jenner-criticised-by-hunger-games-actress-amandla-stenberg-for-appropriating-black-culture-10384632.html]
    Was Amandla right in her criticism or was it too much?

    Also, in the Raina section, I think it's supposed to be 'a few hours' not 'a few hours'..... :P

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  10. I saw that Jimin fancam way before I saw this post and to see it again brings me joy~

    Oh and I feel really ignorant... I wasn't entirely aware of this 'blackface' issue or the term itself being used in K-Pop. It's rarely mentioned in the communities I'm in (which are more focused on shadism, bc of Yuri and [mostly] Kai).

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  11. Great articel. The language style and tone gave Me a kpopalypse feeling

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  12. Girl, how you gonna do our people wrong like this and misinform all these people. As a Nigerian-American, yes black face is upsetting because my body and features are NOT a costume. Hyuna getting a tan is not black face, correct. GD wearing black is not blackface (although it is weird) but the Julianne Hough and Raina examples ARE in fact blackface BECAUSE their intention was to look like a black person. Especially Raina. I find hers especially annoying since she sat there trying to be an actual African woman. smh The whole "they needed to look the part" argument is weak sauce because that's the 1st (and only) issue with blackface: trying to look like/imitate and subsequently ends up insulting black people. Did Raina and Julianne have racist intentions? No. Are their costumes poised to rile up the black community? No. Are their actions justified? No.
    I get you're not trying to get hated on by AKF or whatever, or that you don't find blackface images offensive because it isn't something you relate to, but please don't speak as an authority and misguide people. Long story short, no you should never darken your skin to pretend to be black because it's not cool. That would be like me using make up to make my eyes look less wide and pretend to be Asian, even though yellowface doesn't have as extensive a history as blackface, Asians would be like "That's crap."
    Now someone's gonna dress up like Kanye or Nicki Minaj and paint their skin brown and we're back to square one with the "blackface is not okay" bullshit.

    Side note: Jar of Mayonnaise is a joke that I'm pretty damn sure black people came up with to make fun of white supremacists. The general idea is that mayo is nasty, but white people put it on their tasteless food and swear it's an all purpose seasoning. Not because they're white like mayonnaise is white. Tumblr SJWs do what they do best and overstep boundaries and now it's just thrown at everyone white.

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    1. I stopped reading when you said ''it isn't something you can relate to.'' Did I not state in the article that I was African American? Did I not state that actual blackface is repulsive to me? Did I not state that actual blackface should be shat on? You clearly didn't read the article.

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    2. 1. I wouldnt have commented if I didn't read anything.
      2. You must have misunderstood me, granted, it wasn't the best sentence.
      I didn't mean that you "can't" feel offended. But rather, I understand if your emotional response to acts of blackface today isn't as deep as others' (because I do know black people who aren't offended by it much anymore, but definitely understand it is wrong.)
      However, that is no excuse to dismiss blackface just when you don't find it particularly unsettling, especially when trying to inform others. Even the fact that you're saying "actual" as though there's a subcategory of fake blackface, is indicative of you having a certain idea or bias to excuse acts of blackface just because there are more extreme examples. Maybe you should've kept reading, y'know, like I did.
      Bottom line, bronzer is not melanin and Africans are not outfits.

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    3. People make comments without reading articles ALL THE TIME. I never said you can't be offended by anything. You can be offended by whatever you want but expect me to defend why I find certain things offensive and others not. I never hear conplaints of people wearing gheisha or european milk maid costumes for halloween (which are stereotypes) yet it appears that it's terrible on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Do I think you can pull of a costume without changing your skin color? Sure in fact I find it better looking when others don't. But if you're going to commit to a role or a costume in that way then I'm not going to throw a hissy fit because someone wanted to look exactly like the person they're portraying. Rather you want to or not, is not my decision just be able to defend it. However there sure should be a line between: obviously changing yourself to portray a racial stereotype and not.

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    4. 1. I don't know what's going on in your neighborhood, but the Japanese people I know are not okay with their culture being turned into a costume. The same thing with Native American halloween costumes.(cough T-ara cough) I don't find any of them cool or interesting at all because they offend the people theyre imitating.
      2. That's exactly what I said. Just because YOU aren't upset by it does not change the fact that it is what it is. The "line" is not doing it at all. The super revolting cases of blackface were designed to intentionally insult black people. When people don't honor that, and continue to demean black people by painting themselves darker or making their hair kinky, in order to portray a black person, that is an issue and offensive to black people.
      You might be fine with it, but you do not get to define what you 'think' blackface is based on your ideas. And this isn't "my opinion" versus yours, this is the definition of blackface versus "your take" on the matter. Julianne shouldve just used the prison jumper. Raina (I still don't know why she was playing a Sudanese woman) shouldve put on her wrapper and head scarf and called it a day. No, neither of them are racist; No, we aren't going to protest and crucify Raina, but, it was inconsiderate and ignorant of them.
      Blackface is the use of makeup to portray black people and it is problematic because it subverts black people and trivializes black features.
      When is it okay? Never. Where is the line between harmful and playful? There is none. Just don't do it.

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    5. I never said blackface is what ''I think'' I stated in the article what blackface is and it is an intenyionally racist thing. When someone is simply playing a role like Raina (who was playing a Sudanese woman because the play was written in Korea) it's no intentionally racist therefore it is not blackface.

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    6. Okay, miss thing
      You're still wrong but okay lol
      Bubble girls probably thought they weren't racist either.

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  13. Yes, the blogger is bit of a Koreaboo, Korea can do no wrong. If this person is black then they are a blackaboo, she is just whimpering that her dumbass "unnies" or whatever the Koreaboos call them are ignorant.

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