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This Nessa (from Pokemon SwSh) whitewashing controversy is kinda blowing up in the art community right now
- Thread starter vestan
- Start date
I saw something like 5 or 6 completely white Nessas from various artists on Twitter today. My guess is that whole discussion rubbed many artists that viewed it the wrong way, and it's more or less in blatant defiance of the "you have to draw her like this or you're a Bad Person" vibe that was put forth them.
On one hand, them intentionally making the problem worse obviously doesn't make the situation any better and that's disgusting. On the other, I'm not sure there was realistically going to be any other outcome to such a crash, confrontational attitude other than defiance.
At least I can sleep tight knowing this stupidity has 0 effect on the actual game character, who's still awesome.
People can be really petty, I know because I am too. It's not surprising that people would go out of their way to make her lighter because they feel that they're being unfairly critiqued.
You're right. It's become blatantly clear they either won't admit that they're bad at brown tones, or won't admit to hiding some prejudice.
This is so whitewashed it's not even the same character.
User Banned (1 week): Antagonizing other members; history of similar infractions
Who knew that people could get so up in arms about fan art for a video game.
Imagine spending that energy on something, I dunno - worthwhile...
Imagine spending that energy on something, I dunno - worthwhile...
imagine getting so worked up you post dismissive comments on a video game forum about how the subject at hand isn't important enough
It seems don't know shit about it either seeing she's Pink in the artwork....
SJW Idiots..... yawn
I don't even know how that helps their case, doubling down on being a bigoted asshole? Then you got the morons doing the shoop coloring. Its a complete shitshow. Once again, gaming internet users show their ass
The fan art is bad and the artist is a bad person. The information in the OP is not enough for me to determine if the artist fucked up with a creative work accidentally (mistakes happen, drawing something the right way is a lot harder than 'don't say racist stuff', etc) versus purposefully creating garbage racist filth, but the way the artist handled this situation kinda tells the tale.
1: They didn't delete the tweet. Art is still up on their TL.
2: I am not entirely sure what this tweet actually says, but based on what Google Translate outputs....yikes, chief. https://twitter.com/Naju0517/status/1139871725930176512
1: They didn't delete the tweet. Art is still up on their TL.
2: I am not entirely sure what this tweet actually says, but based on what Google Translate outputs....yikes, chief. https://twitter.com/Naju0517/status/1139871725930176512
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Who's worked up? Lol. It didn't take much to read the OP and make that comment, and yeah, it's dismissive, I won't take it back.
If this had been about say, Nintendo changing the "colour palette" of the actual character - sure that'd warrant discussion. This? Really?
People arguing it's not... dude that comparison picture with the model, the art and fanart.
There's no doubt it's whitewashed. This is a topic. How clearer skins are valued more in terms of design and beauty's standards, and the fact it happens whether consciously or not, sucks.
There's no doubt it's whitewashed. This is a topic. How clearer skins are valued more in terms of design and beauty's standards, and the fact it happens whether consciously or not, sucks.
its people pointing out obvious bias in their depiction of a dark skinned character.
If its not important to you, why the fuck would anyone care about you telling us you're apathetic. That clearly doesn't warrant a discussion either.
Again, when you lighten somebody's skin, you send the message of "dark skin is ugly."
That's a messed up point of view for what should be obvious reasons.
Poor baby danI
Last one is part of a story arc
IRCC She is Luke and Jessica daughter?
Man, I'm glad my Twitter feed missed 100% of this.
But yeah, it's whitewashing. If I viewed that fanart without any knowledge of the new Pokemon games, I'd think that Nessa is a white character. They colored her pink, for Christ's sake. The color that white people are. This is a story because, instead of accepting criticism, the artist seems to have doubled down, and other artists in the scene have tripled down by drawing her even paler. That's fucked up, and indicative of a whole host of subconscious biases and, at the very least, an intentional disregard for the concerns and representation of PoC in those later artists.
But yeah, it's whitewashing. If I viewed that fanart without any knowledge of the new Pokemon games, I'd think that Nessa is a white character. They colored her pink, for Christ's sake. The color that white people are. This is a story because, instead of accepting criticism, the artist seems to have doubled down, and other artists in the scene have tripled down by drawing her even paler. That's fucked up, and indicative of a whole host of subconscious biases and, at the very least, an intentional disregard for the concerns and representation of PoC in those later artists.
This article from a while back is great for those who are defending the artists.
I don't think the jp artist in the first post was intentionally trying to whitewash the character. They seem to be going for that washed out pastel colors style (going by their other artwork), but failed at getting the skintone right.
There's a lot of people who are blatantly whitewashing Nessa and other characters though, and it's really stupid.
There's a lot of people who are blatantly whitewashing Nessa and other characters though, and it's really stupid.
You're right; "uncontroversial" isn't necessarily the most apt description, given the context. It is, however, mainstream:
I'll also link an engaging critique of the biological basis of race in the context of forensic anthropology, one particular field of anthropology known for its persistence in utilizing the racial classification system:
I was overbroad in my choice of words, but that you'd frame the conception of race-as-socially-constructed being the product of PC policing is concerning. That you'd retort with the accusation that I'm misrepresenting the science or committing "politically motivated doublethink" (which treads awfully close to a certain kind of ideological territory) is... something.
Population genetics is not race. Heritability is not race. Evolutionary biology is not race.
When it's claimed that PC police/postmodernists/cultural marxists/"The Left"/whatever are denying the very obvious truth by being willfully blind to the fact that genetic variation exists within humans, what's really happening is either ignorance to what is being rejected or a disingenuous reframing of the term "race" that is at odds with its use by the public.
From the article:
"Because most alleles are widespread, genetic differences among human populations derive mainly from gradations in allele frequencies rather than from distinctive "diagnostic" genotypes. Indeed, it was only in the accumulation of small allele-frequency differences across many loci that population structure was identified."
Also, the insinuation that genetic differences amongst human populations are equivalent to speciation is alarming, to put it mildly, and I suspect stems from a misreading of those two studies you're comparing. (A percentage of alleles shared between two distinct taxonomic groups is a different metric from a percentage of alleles universal to a single group)
That article lists a number of caveats towards the end, including:
"The fact that, given enough genetic data, individuals can be correctly assigned to their populations of origin is compatible with the observation that most human genetic variation is found within populations, not between them. It is also compatible with our finding that, even when the most distinct populations are considered and hundreds of loci are used, individuals are frequently more similar to members of other populations than to members of their own population. Thus, caution should be used when using geographic or genetic ancestry to make inferences about individual phenotypes."
It also makes note, that for the purpose of the analysis, it specifically utilizes especially geographically distinct populations, such distinctions as were to conveniently map onto traditional classifications of race. A survey of the world population is a different matter entirely.
"Race is a social construct" does not mean that differences do not exist between human populations. It does mean that modern humans do not exist in distinct taxonomical groupings.
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I initially thought that might be the case, but after looking into it it was definitely a common trend among the community regardless of style.
I feel like a bit of a fool in retrospect for making the assumption that it was a style thing.
For reference, these are characters broadcast on Japanese TV in 2019, adaptations of very popular manga.
I don't think giving them the benefit of the doubt is really much of an option here. The original Pokemon trainer in question is a great design, and there was absolutely no need to modify her like some of these people are.
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Well, I can confirm that Japan or Asian country very Colorism (Lighter is better)
Recently, The New Disneys Show "Amphibia" has the main character is Thai-American girls.
A lot of Thai people complain/surprise about why she has a tan/brown skin (despite that is our natural skin)
Recently, The New Disneys Show "Amphibia" has the main character is Thai-American girls.
A lot of Thai people complain/surprise about why she has a tan/brown skin (despite that is our natural skin)
I'm actually really disappointed in how many people here are saying it's a non-issue, not worth discussing, nothing wrong here, etc.
Not entirely surprised, though. FFS look beyond your hobbies and your own internal biases.
Not entirely surprised, though. FFS look beyond your hobbies and your own internal biases.
This is a very good and informative post.
There certainly are physical/biological differences between groups of people that are conventionally categorized into different races; this really isn't saying much, you can find reliable biological differences that are predictive of all sorts of ways of dividing people up. But it is unequivocally false to say that the modern conception of race corresponds to some kind of objectively correct parsing of biological variance.
OP
OP
Eastern artists are actually intentionally doing this now, gimme a break
Have you ever thought a little more about it?
It's not just that one piece of fan art. It's a thing that happens constantly.
The fact that this shit is even allowed in Twitter is annoying. Also this Dimitri guy is a douche
OP
OP
Is it bannable on twitter? You can't get more blatant than this
Anyway i denounced
This is something I expected to happen honestly. Criticism is seen as an attack and they double down or ignore it without fixing the issue.
I kinda expect it would have come to this. These Eastern artists don't care wbout western culture. They just draw wtf they want. The artist in that Tweet straight up said he doesn't give a damn since his English is poor anyway.
It's a bad oversexualizing art anyway, it's like seeing a different character imo.
Congrats to Nintendo really dig the character!
Congrats to Nintendo really dig the character!
Unfortunately I don't think Twitter is smart enough to detect it.
Funny because when something from Japan is changed in localization a lot of people, maybe including some that are defending this art, say it is disrespectful to their culture