I have a bit of sympathy for Megan for how she stepped into it, but in regards to point on "portraying a character," the question should then be asked, how much of a person's "character" and not "identity" then is defined by the colour of their skin? An easy example would be smurfs or blue man group or avatar, no one will have a problem if you colour yourself blue as that is part of the "character's" identity. But regarding blackface… maybe if oppression & slavery never happened then blackface wouldn't be offensive, but it did. and skin colour was an attribute of an identity which was mocked and discriminated against precisely in the form of blackface.
The fact is that all the bad shit did happen and it is part of the history, meaning you have to deal with the real baggage that comes with it. Therefore ignorance of the history behind it, or arbitrarily deciding it doesn't matter anymore, especially in the current racially charged atmosphere in America, it can only be seen as offensive. You should no more dress in blackface than you would dress as a pile of rubble and call yourself the world trade center after 9/11.
As to whether it possible to portray Diana Ross without resorting to blackface to get the point across, I think that's easy enough. Wear a classic fro + iconic outfit and you're done. Everyone will get the point. If you wanted to portray Michael Jackson for example, just wear your hair in Jheri Curls and wear the thriller outfit and ppl will get it.
Another example would be Bruce Lee. Let's face it, everyone who knows Bruce Lee knows Game of death's iconic yellow jumpsuit. As soon as you see someone wearing it, you'll think Game of death. As soon as it appeared in Kill Bill, you should have thought – Game of death (unless you were too young to know about Bruce Lee). Point is, everyone should know immediately what you were going as without it being necessary to colour your face or sticky-tape your eyes to make "slant eyes" because you're playing the character – which doesn't require you to also co-op the character's identity. Copy that hairstyle and you're Game of Death's Bruce Lee, alternatively wear a blonde wig and you're "The Bride" from kill bill, but neither of those requires you resort to "[insert-colour]"-face to pull it off.
how is painting your face black racist?…and if yes…is racism really the worst thing on the planet?…I mean…if someone muggs you and beats the shit out of you…would you be like "oh at least he didn`t make a racist remark!"
they did that on HBO where Bill Maher had an all black panel after saying the n word
She looks like a thalmor In the thumbnail
I have a bit of sympathy for Megan for how she stepped into it, but in regards to point on "portraying a character," the question should then be asked, how much of a person's "character" and not "identity" then is defined by the colour of their skin?
An easy example would be smurfs or blue man group or avatar, no one will have a problem if you colour yourself blue as that is part of the "character's" identity. But regarding blackface… maybe if oppression & slavery never happened then blackface wouldn't be offensive, but it did. and skin colour was an attribute of an identity which was mocked and discriminated against precisely in the form of blackface.
The fact is that all the bad shit did happen and it is part of the history, meaning you have to deal with the real baggage that comes with it. Therefore ignorance of the history behind it, or arbitrarily deciding it doesn't matter anymore, especially in the current racially charged atmosphere in America, it can only be seen as offensive. You should no more dress in blackface than you would dress as a pile of rubble and call yourself the world trade center after 9/11.
As to whether it possible to portray Diana Ross without resorting to blackface to get the point across, I think that's easy enough. Wear a classic fro + iconic outfit and you're done. Everyone will get the point. If you wanted to portray Michael Jackson for example, just wear your hair in Jheri Curls and wear the thriller outfit and ppl will get it.
Another example would be Bruce Lee. Let's face it, everyone who knows Bruce Lee knows Game of death's iconic yellow jumpsuit. As soon as you see someone wearing it, you'll think Game of death. As soon as it appeared in Kill Bill, you should have thought – Game of death (unless you were too young to know about Bruce Lee). Point is, everyone should know immediately what you were going as without it being necessary to colour your face or sticky-tape your eyes to make "slant eyes" because you're playing the character – which doesn't require you to also co-op the character's identity. Copy that hairstyle and you're Game of Death's Bruce Lee, alternatively wear a blonde wig and you're "The Bride" from kill bill, but neither of those requires you resort to "[insert-colour]"-face to pull it off.
how is painting your face black racist?…and if yes…is racism really the worst thing on the planet?…I mean…if someone muggs you and beats the shit out of you…would you be like "oh at least he didn`t make a racist remark!"
Quit saying "The Academy".