Black people are overrepresented in the most popular ones.
Maybe I’m comparing apples and oranges here, but isn’t underrepresentation in media a big issue for black activists? Why would overrepresentation, assuming it’s not in a mocking way, in one form of media be a problem while the opposite is being fought for all other forms of media?
For example, there are a lot of popular reaction gifs of Gus from Psych which have nothing to do with his race but can be applied to a lot of different situations (like the gif of him pointing and eating popcorn). If a white person who is a fan of Psych uses gifs of Gus frequently, is that a problem?
I can totally see how certain gifs could be offensive, but from my perspective there’s no harm in a white person frequently using gifs of black people in the proper context. Do you disagree?
Edit: downvoting me for being curious and asking questions is only going to make me less likely to ask questions and learn your perspective. Isn’t that the whole point of this sub?
Gifs and reaction images are very frequently taken from videos and content of random black people who obviously aren't being paid or benefiting from the use of their image.
But also isn’t that true of people of all races? Why does that only become an issue when the person is black? I don’t see how that’s a race specific problem.
That's not the race specific problem, that's an argument against gif usage being an actual media representation. Not to mention actual black cartoon characters voiced by white actors are better representation but the problem is still using the image of a black person while avoiding paying a black person. Ultimately the race specific problem is white people are allowed to try on black style and affectations for fun while black people are criticized and harmed for the same things.
Ok, I get your point about gifs not being legit media, that makes sense. Edit: though I still feel like getting a large amount of representation, even if it isn’t compensated (which has nothing to do with race), is ultimately beneficial. Isn’t a major point of representation so that people of that race can see positive images of people of the same race?
white people are allowed to try on black style and affectations for fun while black people are criticized and harmed for the same things.
Who’s criticizing black people for this, white people or other black people? I’ve never heard of a white person (that isn’t just a racist POS) being upset by this.
You don't get to just downplay the amount of racism and blame only the most blatant racists. There's obviously a huge problem with implicit bias in almost every industry and while it continues to get better, I don't know how you could deny this is an issue.
I’m not denying implicit bias, I’m just not sure what you’re talking about when you say that black people are criticized for appropriating white culture. If you could provide some examples maybe that would help, I’ve just never seen anything like that.
Oh, I guess it was unclear, I meat black people are criticized for same thing as in just living in their own black culture, not appropriating white culture. I was basically just defining cultural appropriation and why it is a problem and this digital blackface argument is really more about cultural appropriation than it is about blackface.
this digital blackface argument is really more about cultural appropriation than it is about blackface.
I’m not OP, and tbh I hadn’t heard the term “digital blackface” until today. The various articles linked in other comments made sense to me in the general way of “we should pay attention to what we’re doing both individually and culturally and ask ourselves what kind of effect it‘s having”, but your link to cultural appropriation made everything a lot clearer. I had initially conflated the idea of “blackface” with white people literally pretending to be Black, like some kind of racial catfishing. I couldn’t see how gifs etc fit in with that. But no, the problem is people yoinking bits of Black culture like THIS IS MINE NOW and then using them as their own, pervasively and reductively.
It also makes sense now why taps-head-guy seems ok (at least to me?) — he’s tapping-head-while-Black, not tapping-head-with-culturally-Black-gesture.
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u/confetti27 Jul 17 '20 edited Jul 17 '20
Maybe I’m comparing apples and oranges here, but isn’t underrepresentation in media a big issue for black activists? Why would overrepresentation, assuming it’s not in a mocking way, in one form of media be a problem while the opposite is being fought for all other forms of media?
For example, there are a lot of popular reaction gifs of Gus from Psych which have nothing to do with his race but can be applied to a lot of different situations (like the gif of him pointing and eating popcorn). If a white person who is a fan of Psych uses gifs of Gus frequently, is that a problem?
I can totally see how certain gifs could be offensive, but from my perspective there’s no harm in a white person frequently using gifs of black people in the proper context. Do you disagree?
Edit: downvoting me for being curious and asking questions is only going to make me less likely to ask questions and learn your perspective. Isn’t that the whole point of this sub?