"That's the Black one!"- Imagery and "Black-Coded" Characters
Now, you see me writing it!! I'm writing the lesson on Black-coded, non-human characters!! Y'all better go tell your friends and reblog, y'all been asking me forever about it!
This one was a bit hard for me to write. It didn't feel⊠New. It felt like a regurgitation of everything I'd already discussed. I was honestly confused every time people sent me questions; I thought we all understood how it worked. But I realized: that's not a bad thing! We can consider this an application of everything we've learned so far, because thatâs all coding is, is an application!
Coding (in media): giving a character or a group certain traits (physical or cultural experiences) that are similar to/that of a real-world specific group, without explicitly saying this fictional group is the real-world group. One may or may not mean to do it in their writing (which is where the opportunity for racist stereotype can leak in).
E.g., âqueer-coded charactersâ gets used a lot on Tumblr; whether accurate or not, it is understood to mean that the blogger sees their/a queer identity portrayed by that character, or that the character was written with âqueerâ traits in mind. Another example; Darwin Watterson is a goldfish in a world with no humans, but Darwin is Black-coded. The Fishmen in the One Piece Live Action are fantastical creatures, but they are Black-coded (of a very specific type of Black person; even!)
Youtuber KermitCurry explains and reinforces what Iâm also going to explain here, but with a cool drawing of (the gorgeous) Grimmjow. Sheâs a Black artist and animator; go check her out and support her!
Here is a list of a few characters both canonically and Black-fanonically Black-coded:
When Coding Characters as Black
To keep it simple: if the rules apply when designing and writing a Black character, the same rules apply when designing and writing a Black-coded character! The moment you decided that this nonhuman entity was going to resemble a human group of people, you were obligated to be aware of the cultures and stereotypes of those people!
You canât have a Black-coded character, emphasize a stereotype of Black people, and then say âoh, well, itâs not actually racist because theyâre actually a cat-wolf creature!â Yes, it is. Youâre still being racist, and upon noticing or being told, thereâs no need to be defensive about it- just acknowledge âah yes, Iâve messed up, I'm sorry for my actionsâ and then actively work towards a better design or writing that does not include those things.
Letâs say you want to draw hair on a fish-like Mer species, and you want them to be Black-coded. It would still be racist to give that Mer-woman pickaninny hair, even if "well they're not really Black!" You could find fancy fish scales or seaweed or something fish related to draw âBlack hair texturesâ, so that we understand what itâs visually supposed to represent while still being fantastical. Or a robot! Someone mentioned tubes for locs, and you could do curly wires for twists. It's possible! Get creative!
Iâve been asked numerous times about Black hair on furries. Not that Iâm the most educated on furries or furry culture- I am not- but theyâre already anthropomorphic animals that talk, have human hobbies and habits, and often have pretty rainbow colors. It should not, then, warrant a complaint of âunrealisticâ if you respectfully add Black hairstyles to them.
The point about furries actually brings up another good point. Watch out when you're coding Black characters on animals or animal-like species. Often people will have the âdark-skinned, struggling with balancing their humanity monsterâ Black/Black-coded, and the âpale skinned monster that somehow understands this battle more than them and can save them from themselvesâ. This is rooted in racist imagery.
I have mentioned it before in response to an ask, but if the only people you find yourself coding as your âmonkey/animal/monster/beastâ creations are Black and/or dark-skinned, you are- however intentional it is or isnât- replicating a racist, dehumanizing pattern in league with King Kong and âravishing the white woman/bodyâ. Iâm not inherently ârugged and masculineâ as a queer Black woman, thus meant to be pushed into the werewolf role. Black men arenât beasts that canât control their violent impulses, thus meant to be pushed into the animalistic role. Why do you think Black bodies being beast-like is sexy? Why do you think we are not physically capable of delicacy? Of gentility?
This doesnât mean that Black characters canât be werewolves or those sorts of creatures- but you need to be writing/designing with intent, and that means recognizing when you just âthought it looked coolâ, and that thought turned out to be a racist belief upon further reflection.
Letâs say your demon species has dark grey skin bc they're rock people or something- yes, the grey skin is because it's a demon species, we recognize that it's not desaturated brown skin. Fine. But God forbid that this grey-skinned ashen group of Black-coded characters are the unequivocal villains? And everyone else that isnât Black-coded are the âgood guysâ? But âitâs okay, because theyâre not Black, theyâre grey!â? Yes, this is still racism. Thereâs no getting out of it.
If your Black-coded species is the one that is âless culturedâ, âtalks funnyâ, supposed to be âstupidâ, or in need of some good (white) character to âchange their ways and become better peopleâ⊠Just don't do that. I should not have to say this. Black people are not less intelligent, or âmore inclined to brawn over brainâ, 'more likely to act out of instinct', âin need of more education/directionâ, or every other reason that was used to justify our enslavement and now, present arrest and imprisonment rates.
This segues from my last point on intelligence. Thereâs arguments on coding species that are meant to be "savage" or "inhuman", giving them stereotypical loin cloths or tattered clothes and having them "need to be saved". Now, I'm not informed enough about D&D to make valuable commentary on the existence and history of orcs. However, if you've decided to create an Orc culture, and it's clear that your imagery is taken from Black and/or Indigenous cultures, in addition to the language of savagery and white saviorism itself⊠That's extremely racist. And if you're thinking "Ice, of course no one would do that in 2024", Yes. Yes, they would. The bar is low, but don't ever assume people can't, don't, and wonât find a way to limbo under it.
Black and Brown people donât need to be âsavedâ from our own cultures or âintroducedâ to anything. We don't need to be 'made better'. If thatâs the narrative that you find yourself buying into while you write your story, Black or Black-coded characters, you need to step back and evaluate.
Jim Crow Museum- Racist Cartoons and Anti-Black Imagery
This is obviously not everything I could put here as a example, but I wanted to offer a small example of how heinously racist imagery has made its way into the present. From depicting Serena Williams as an overgrown, childish, large-lipped Black woman (and whitewashing Afro-Japanese woman Naomi Osaka into the ideal, victimized blonde white woman), to Lebron Jamesâ Vogue photo (this Black, married man now suddenly slave to the intensity of ball and white women for this cover), to the entirety of the Black Pete festival in the Netherlands.
This is imagery and behavior that evolves and lasts. What you put to paper will have an effect on someone else's ideas. You might not even think you believe these things, but someone looking at your art or reading your work will think you do! You should not want to be evoking any of this, coded or not, regardless of âif thereâs a human involvedâ because frankly⊠well, people already donât see Black people as humans. We need to be treating our Black and Black-coded characters with care, and that means doing good research and avoiding replicating caricatures.
