Revisiting the whole situation after a few years
Well I’m back with less attitude. Lets refresh the memories together. I made Isabela cosplay from Dragon Age 2 and I used some darker fondation and water-based bodypaint to look closer to the original. I posted it on tumblr and I’ve recived massive backlash for it. You can still read some of it on my blog. Some people considered my cosplay to be racist and “brownface”. I disagreed with them like any wild child raised by internet trolls would do. My words were harsh and aggresive, but everyone has to be an angry teenager at a certain point of their life. It is true - I am a bit ashamed of the way I handled the situation back then. I should have been more careful with my choice of words for people who disagree with me. But I still stand by the point I made back then. I don’t think I did something racist. I’m planning to keep doing cosplay and I know this shit will resurface someday, so lets talk about the whole situation. 1. Brownface is a type of makeup, used to portray a person of latin american/middle eastern/south asian ethnicity, by a person who is not a pert of this ethnicity, usually in some sort of mockery and a caricature. 1.1. Isabela is not a part of any exisiting ethnicity and she does not share any specific, easily recognisable physical features with any race. Her skin is just dark. 1.2. Cosplay is never intended as a caricature or mockery, it’s always comes from a place of love and respect. It is an art form - can people draw dark-skinned people when they are white themselves? Can they write songs about them? Can they add non-white characters into their fictional stories? 1.3. Where is the edge between brownface and not a brownface? Can a person just screw up their foundation choice? Can a person get a spray tan? Can a person go to a tanning salon? Can a person have a nice vacation somewhere on the beach while neglecting sunscreen? No racial group owns the copyright on melanin. My general point: Cosplay in most, if not any case can not be considered “brownface” at all. 2. Racism - prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.(c) Oxford dictionary. 2.1. Isabela is not a part of any real world race and doesn’t even seem to be influenced by them. She can even be just white person with a lot of tan - this version is just as valid as any other. She is not portrayed as inferior subhuman - not by creators, not by me. 2.2. My cosplay does not influence lives of people of any race. It does not promote the idea of racial superiority. It’s not antagonistic towards any race. No one can look at any of these pictures and think “hmmm KKK has point...” A couple of times I heard an argument “you can take the makeup off and poc can’t” and “you can portray yourself as a different race” regarding this matter. Couple of layers of bodypaint can’t make me a different race. I do not suddenly belong to any ethnic group and I don’t claim to. No one will think I belong to any ethinc minority when I wear this makeup. I am just person with bodypaint on. 2.3. Offending a person of color does not equals racism. Being offended is not a valid point or argument. Everything can be offensive to someone. If something offends you it does not really mean anything - does not even mean it’s causing you any harm. My general point: Racism still has a definition. My work does not promote any racist ideas. I think cosplay is a beautiful art form. Every cosplay is a token of love to the character, and every cosplayer can take it as far as they want to. I recieved many messages telling me to “just delete the pictures and apologize” but I will not do that, and I will not remove any of the drama posts. I don’t have to apologize for my work and my art and my passion to anyone, and definetly not to people who tell me to go kill myself, to people who make “dragon age fan blacklists”. I, and many other cosplayers who faced that sort of agression, did nothing wrong. This is the hill I will stay on, but will not die on. Thank you to all people who came and showed support when everything happend. I really don’t want to have this argument ever again but I think someday I’ll have to. I need evidence to change my mind - show me the actual connection between my cosplay/cosplay of others like me and discrimination, antagonism and hate towards certain races. Prove causation to me. I did not made any claims about anything race related - I was just sharing my cosplay, doing my thing. It is your point and it is up to you to prove it. I’ll mind my business from now on. I am just a cosplayer and I don’t want to do anything with the whole “opression” topic in all of its shapes and sizes.