the racebending shit in hellvrai is likeâŠâŠ.. how the fuck do i put this.
okay. okay. the original intention when people started drawing canonically white characters as other races was specifically to make people of color feel included in fandom. It was made by people of color for people of color. It started in fandoms waaaay before the time of half life funny. I think it had a HUGE stake in homestuck when Andrew Hussie himself started listening to fans of color and publicly addressed the fandoms racism. It has history and a place. Drawing characters who are canonically âaracialâ or white as a person of color was made SPECIFICALLY to piss off and scare away racists, let fans of color feel safe and welcomed into their fandom, and teach people to unlearn their racism and think more critically about how people of color are represented (or not represented) in media. It was not made for white people, it never will be for white people, it is not a place where white people are welcome to do anything but listen and learn.
hellfraiâs fandom drawing characters as people of color is so glaringly obviously painfully white in the way they do it. So many of the depictions of characters being racebent range from âambiguously brownâ to âliteral racist stereotypesâ. There is a reason for this. The fandom is predominantly made of very young white artists who most likely live sheltered lives, and likely are doing it because they know that being inclusive of all races is something a good person does. Drawing a character of color is a signal to let racists know they are not welcome here. But they donât know anything outside of that. They think that just slapping a darker skin tone on a white character means âiâm not racistâ. They donât stop to think about actual people of color and how they feel or why theyâre doing it. Their activism starts and ends there. And then they get confused and upset when they get critiqued about it.Â
Hereâs the thing. You CANNOT just race bend a character randomly if youâre white. Thatâs literally just using people of color, their culture, their experiences, and their struggles, as some sort of wash cloth to wipe yourself of any responsibility for your racism. Your intentions might be good, but if youâre simply signaling to other white people âracism is badâ then your activism is completely useless. If youâre going to do it, take notes from actual fans of color. and really, ACTUALLY listen to them. Listen to their experiences and stories. AND BE SUPER CAREFUL THAT YOU DONâT THINK âoh because i heard this one experience from this one person of color, that means i can apply it to a characters raceâ BECAUSE THAT IS STEREOTYPING. Donât talk over them. Make fanart of their designs! Enjoy their content and boost their voices!
You guys are VERY clearly doing annoying pageantry where your whole thing is âLook Iâm one of the cool white people because I also think white people are annoying! Iâm making fun of white people! Haha white bread!â You need to stop. You need to stop RIGHT NOW because literally all youâre doing is absolving yourself of having to critically think about your whiteness and what racism youâre perpetuating. Youâre taking jokes that people of color have made and making them super annoying and completely worthless because they are not coming from a place of trauma and anguish from systematic racism and oppression, theyâre coming from a place of insecurity and desperately wanting to fit in. Itâs shallow and shows crystal clear that you donât actually care about people of color, you just donât want to be seen as racist. Youâre lazy.
âIf I canât draw characters of color because itâs problematic, then i should just draw everyone as whiteâ Youâre lazy and racist and only see people of color as a way to get internet clout. Youâve given up because you donât actually care about people of color, you just want an easy way to be seen as cool.
âMy style is to exaggerate features anyway, itâs not my fault if itâs read as a stereotypeâ No, it is. Itâs definitely your fault. You didnât put in the work to actually study what people of color look like or listen to them when they try to tell you, you wanted a quick easy way to get across that these characters are not white so you could get internet clout. Draw some actual facial studies. Like, a lot of them. Realistic ones. Donât fall back on geometric shapes and cartoons, what youâre drawing effects things that happen in real life, so draw shit from real life. Step out of your comfort zone if you ever want to be a good artist.
âBut people of color are just so much better looking than white people!â If youâre saying this while youâre white youâre treating people of color as a fetish. Youâre being creepy and racist because youâre saying shit that just sounds cool because a person of color said it. Cut it the fuck out.
You need to put in the work. If you really want to help stop racism in fandom spaces you have to actually listen to people of color and accept that you are white and that itâs a life long journey to unlearn racism. And donât you dare turn it into a âiâm sorry for being whiteâ pain olympics guilt pity party because itâs not about you. It will never be about you. Itâs about fans of color. If you want to get better about it, then your first step is to shut up and listen. Say youâre sorry in your head, but act out what you believe is right by giving fans of color a platform. Amplify their voices and learn. Donât drown in white guilt. When you get called out on something, apologize, do research or ask about how you can be better about it, and actually put in the work. Donât put it on people of color to forgive you and absolve you of your sins either. You need to actually stand by fans of color and help them.
This is a very complicated issue that cannot be solved with a few easy to digest pieces of information. But itâs an issue that MUST be worked on constantly, easy or not. Donât give up.
kianamaiart
2087
gummygunk
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
