mentally-ill-fish

[mentally-ill-fish]

"White-washing"

I just cannot take it anymore. If I have to hear one more person attack some poor fanartist with this term just because they drew a dark skinned character slightly lighter than they think that character should be drawn I'm actually gonna lose my mind.

I’m probably gonna get banned for saying this but I don’t care. “White-washing” should not be a term.

Hear me out here, I’m not saying I don’t think it’s weird/wrong when someone takes a prominently dark skinned character (especially if their ethnicity/race is very connected to their character/story) and make them super pale for no reason or vice versa. If a character’s ethnicity/race/culture is strongly tied to them it’s just weird and suspicious you want to erase it so badly

However I think the amount people throw this term around is absolutely absurd.

Sometimes I’ll see a piece of fanart of a character where their skin color will look near identical or sometimes even is the same as the base content but the artist will still get accused of “white-washing” because the fandom typically portrays the character as darker. Not because the character is, but because most people think they should be

Now one example off the top of my head is Starfire from DC

This is Starfire

Starfire is an Alien. Starfire is also orange

Despite this, the amount of fans I have seen rage because someone drew her as paler skinned because she’s “black-coded” is ridiculous

Now I’m not saying you can’t headcanon that, I am not even saying you’re wrong, but I am saying that the canon fact is that she’s an orange freakin alien.

this hate almost always occurs when someone draws Starfire either as an human or just in a AU kind of interpretation. I’ve seen some downright vile comments directed at an artist just because they made her just a shade too pale what is deemed “acceptable”

For reference this^ is also Starfire in the DCAU

I’m not saying I think she would be white or pale or whatever as a human, frankly I don’t really have an opinion because, as previously stated, she’s an an orange alien

But regardless of how I view Starfire, the fact of the matter is DC does portray her as orange and occasionally rather pale more often than not. That being said, chances are fans(new fans especially) probably only know Starfirs as such. Because that is how she is portrayed in the canon content they have seen

I’m not saying I agree, but attacking a fan who’s work you didn’t even have to look at cause chances are you saw it for free just because they drew her like the canon? Messed up and also entirely unhelpful. You’re not sharing your view, you're just being a hateful jerk

It is just so entitled to go around acting like the way you view something -or in this case someone- is a fact that everyone should agree with or be persecuted

Which brings me to my second point: The Double Standard

Another reason I think fandoms should drop this term is because of the blatant double standard in which it is often used

Now I already talked about how if someone dares to draw a character a mere .10 of a degree lighter than deemed appropriate, they will have an army ready to attack within moments

But if someone decides they prefer to draw a character a bit(or sometimes a lot)darker than the canon? No, that’s creative interpretation and in fact you can be attacked for just questioning it

Main example I can think of for this is Ravio from the Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

This is Ravio

He is the eccentric counterpart of the games main protagonist aka Link

This is Link

Note how both characters are quite pale

Ravio in particular is very often drawn/headcanoned to be much darker than he is in canon

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this! People should be allowed to headcanon whatever they like because these characters are fictional and they should be able to enjoy them however they like. Especially if the characters canon race/ethnicity has absolutely nothing to do with their character whatsoever

And most people agree with that sentiment…

Right up until a character is interpreted as lighter than they think they should be

You can not call one “creative interpretation” and the other “White-washing”, either both are wrong or neither of them are

I am sick of some artists being attacked for one while some are praised for the other

My final and most important point as to why people should just stop attacking artists with this term is -and I can not stress this enough- THESE CHARACTERS ARE FAKE

Their story and their struggles or successes aren't real. It should not trigger you so much just because someone chooses to interpret the fake thing differently. Especially when 90% of the time this is said, the character is still being portrayed to be that race/ethnicity, but just not as tanned/dark as “usual”

(Again this is specifically in regards to fanartists, attack DC/LoZ/whatevercoorparation to your hearts content, but leave the fans alone)

[mentally-ill-fish]

we should normalize just blocking people we don't like

It's just so?? much easier??

Like why would I leave a hate comment or start an arguemnet when I could just

"oh i really disagree/don't like what you just said. *blocks* Problem solved!"

[mentally-ill-fish]

When will we as a society realize it was never that kid’s fault for what happened to Harambe and was in fact the fault of his parents who weren’t watching their actual toddler at the zoo

[mentally-ill-fish]

True girlhood is always being considered a potential emergency babysitter by the time you reach like 10 despite having no experience or knowledge except that you were once a baby

[mentally-ill-fish]

👏 LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK👏

"A cishet person must have made this, no queer person would ever portray queerness in this way."

"This artist must be white."

"No SA victim would ever handle the subject in this way."

"No woman would ever write women like this."

"This creator is obviously neurotypical. Everyone with autism/ADHD/depression understands-"

Nope.

People who make these blanket statements are very frequently proven wrong when the creator comes out as a member of that group. And even when they aren't proven wrong, even in cases where the creator isn't from the group in question, actual members of the group who don't fit whatever arbitrary criteria are being expressed will see these statements and feel excluded and erased.

Not everyone in your group is going to share your experiences. No single individual gets to personally decide what does or doesn't count as a "valid" expression of trauma or being part of a particular group, and creators are also not obligated to out themselves in order to "prove" their validity.

If something doesn't resonate with you, all that means is that it doesn't resonate with you. You don't have to like it. But you don't get to decide what it means to someone else.

[mentally-ill-fish]

Top three most awkward moments

3: When someone is introducing you

2: Having to sit as everyone stares at you and sings the happy birthday song

1: The moment right before a group prayer ends when there’s this long stretch of silence to see if anyone else is going to pray and there’s just this moment we’re were all listening to each other breathe until the prayer leader says “Amen”

[mentally-ill-fish]

A spoon's only objective in life is to make soup go upwards, and it knows this. That's why when you put one under a running tap it blasts the water way high. The spoon thinks there's suddenly TONS of soup to deal with and it freaks out.

[mentally-ill-fish]

Everyone talks about how hard it is to try to figure how to use someone else’s shower meanwhile I’m just trying to figure out what secret technique I need to use to lock the bathroom door

[mentally-ill-fish]

Not to brag or anything, but my older sister has just informed that I’m the best.(I made her ramen cause she was sad)

[mentally-ill-fish]

recently held my nephew for the first time and have officially determined I’m glad I didn’t off myself when I was 15

[mentally-ill-fish]

Someone really should have sat 9 year old me down and told me that Spotify usernames are for life

[mentally-ill-fish]

Normalize actually acknowledging a characters character development even if you don’t like them

Especially when that character is a child

[mentally-ill-fish]

Graduating when you don’t plan to go to college but also don’t have a job sucks because people are always like

“What’s your plan?” Like girl idk I really didn’t think I’d live this long give me a minute to THINK

[mentally-ill-fish]

i feel like high school/middle school sitcoms set the unrealistic expectation of being able to have lunch time outside