“Top Model” Biracial Shoot Creates Uproar
When I posted a blog about Harry Connick Jr. objecting to a group of Australian performers wearing blackface, many readers suggested that it was silly to take offense to the Jackson Jive's performance because group members were of Indian and Lebanese descent and, therefore, couldn't be racist. I tried to explain that the ethnicity of the performers was irrelevant, as people of color are capable of racist behavior as well.
Tyra Banks of "America's Next Top Model" is a case in point. The supermodel-turned-television personality created an uproar last week when her show featured white contestants in dark makeup. The goal was to make the girls appear to be biracial. Banks called it a "fashion interpretation" of culture.
But Dodai Stewart, deputy editor for women's site Jezebel.com, took issue with the "biracial" shoot.
"Race is not silver eye shadow, a bubble skirt or couture gown," she remarked. "It's not something you put on for a photo shoot to seem 'edgy.' Race is not trendy."
Although Stewart, who is biracial, hoped the fact that Banks is black would make her more racially sensitive, Stewart did not completely vilify the television star.
"I have to assume her intent was probably to showcase biracial beauty," Stewart said. "Is this a case in which the action can be forgiven if the motive comes from a good place?"
I'm not sure the intent matters if an act proves to be racially insensitive. Those hurt by racist behavior likely don't care if a perpetrator meant no harm. Take the Jackson Jive, for example. I doubt that those performers had any clue that wearing blackface would offend Harry Connick Jr. and other Americans. The fact of the matter is that their behavior hurt nonetheless.
These recent displays of blackface in fashion--from "America's Next Top Model" to Vogue--do raise questions about whether there can ever be an artistic reason for a white person to don dark makeup. Do these fashion shoots challenge the construct of race for both models and their audiences, or do they simply reduce race to costume?
Comments
Would it be faulty reasoning to see the idea of artistically “taking up” a different race than your own as an exercice of empathy?
No offense intended, but a completely centric point-of-view has become a tiresome societal dead end. How about walking in someone else’s shoes for a change? It’s an exercise in: broadening our horizons and identities, letting go of our own prejudices, seeing how the world doesn’t revolve around our particular life experiences. I see no offense in Tyra, no matter her race, further exploring these issues. Or better yet, choose to turn off that television (spoon-fed opiate) and expose yourself to a book instead.
Exactly my point
The author of the book Black Like Me wore blackface in order to better understand racism. I think the counterargument here would be that rather than have a white person dress up as a black person, the white person could just listen to the experiences of blacks themselves. I didn’t see the episode of “Top Model” in question, just a clip from it. But it doesn’t appear that Tyra delved deep enough into racial issues for the models involved to have a sense of empathy for other races. Under the right circumstances, though, I believe this does have the potential to happen.
I think listening to the blacks and wearing blackface are different and not interchangeable ways of building empathy. How much she actually delved- that I don’t know either but my feeling is that she is proposing an exercice of empathy and also a demonstration of how irrational racism is.
I’ll give you a parallel example. I live in Romania, where there’s quite a lare minority of rroma ethnics (gypsies), which unfortunately face a lot of racism and hate speech from Romanian people. In appearance, they’re not blattantly different from Romanian peole (well, not as much as african americans from caucasian americans).
So one of my university professors wrote on her blog:
“I’ll tell you something: I’m a gipsy. How does your perception of me change? Well?
Then I’ll tell you something else: I just lied- I’m not a gipsy. How does your perception change?”
I really have the feeling that the message that a picture of a white person taking up the role of a black-one conveys the same message. I also remember there was a website where you could upload a picture and have your face traits changed to resemble a different race/ethnicity or age group. It did make you think about things in a very empathic way- or at least I have perceived it so.
I think this is more about aesthetic drama than an attempt to emulate black cultural experience…more similar to “Othello” than “Black Like Me.”