Profile for Kookaberry - Is blackface ever okay?

Kookaberry aka Wan is 28.43 years old, has been a member since June 21, 2007, has scored 6,188 submissions, giving an average score of 2.30, helping 185 designs get printed.

Oct 25 '11 by Kookaberry
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Is blackface ever okay?

Okay, so the title is a little sensationalist, but I was reading an article about a school in Ohio targeting racist Halloween costumes. Here is one of the articles: Clickie

I think most people would agree that dressing up as an "illegal alien" or a "terrorist" is pretty blatantly awful, but in comments of one of the blogs I read, they were debating about the geisha costume. Some people didn't see how it was a problem for non-Japanese people to wear it as a costume, as it's a real thing. Other people said that it was racist. Can a Korean person wear a geisha costume? Can a white person ever wear blackface, even if it's that their all-time favorite movie character is Jules from Pulp Fiction?

Personally, I think if the intent is to simply represent someone of a different race or culture without making fun of it, it should theoretically be okay. It'd be nice to see the racial boundaries simply fall away. In reality, though, it may be awfully hard to convince others what your intentions are.

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rhythmdev9 on Oct 25 '11 at 12:48pm

I taught at a school where kid won the costume contest dressed as "terrorists," and no one including the administration saw the problem with it. I found a new job the next year.

mike bautista on Oct 25 '11 at 12:48pm

If intentions are good.

White people get a lot of shit for that stuff, but I think sometimes they are more naive than disrespectful. I can impersonate or make fun of white people all I want and it'd be okay, why not the other way around? As long as it's in good fun.

I think people have gotten way too cautious about being politically correct for what seems to be an attempt to atone for making colored people's lives miserable in the past. But if you wanna make the world better, start with education, not by making everyone lame and square.

rhythmdev9 on Oct 25 '11 at 12:48pm

Btw, the voters for the contest where all staff members.

mike bautista on Oct 25 '11 at 12:49pm

Though I do have a problem with what I feel is a lack of creativity on the wearer's part. "Look at me! I'm a different culture!" Kinda boring.

Kookaberry on Oct 25 '11 at 1:02pm

It's in the same vein as dressing up as a redneck. Except rednecks are always funny, omg amirite?

mike bautista on Oct 25 '11 at 1:02pm

I learned all my best jokes from rednecks.

stubby43 on Oct 25 '11 at 1:04pm

But black face is very, very different from those other costumes you mentioned, plus I have a feeling you might not be talking about proper black face when you mentioned dressing up as your favourite character from pulp fiction.

I've seen pictures on friends of friends facebook profile where their wearing black paint (not brown) with the exagerated lips and the wide eyes, that kind of blackface is done purely with the intention of being racist, I'm sure they'd try and dress it up as irony by saying their not racist but its wrong.

Steve The Great on Oct 25 '11 at 1:05pm

Historical context, bitches

Steve The Great on Oct 25 '11 at 1:07pm

My brother thinks this Orioles logo looks kinda like a blackface-type-character.

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 1:08pm

it's HALLOWEEN

a costume is a costume

i think if a person is wearing a ridiculous get-up that they may normally not wear then it's safe to assume they are partaking in the 'holiday' of halloween. now, since there's no by laws stating what makes a halloween costume acceptable or vile, all bets are off.
i remember seeing people in kkk outfits as well as black panther garb. and hitler stuff....

it's a weird holiday to begin with

Kookaberry on Oct 25 '11 at 1:08pm

I know exactly what blackface is, Stubby. Thing is, dressing up as a black character and putting on skin-darkening makeup is widely considered blackface, also.

Which also makes me wonder. Can I wear the Purple Rain getup if I don't paint my face black? I think I can.

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 1:09pm

it's ok to dress in blackface if it's on Mad Men

Chipmnk on Oct 25 '11 at 1:10pm

Hmm, can I wear a geisha costume?

cARtOoNer on Oct 25 '11 at 1:13pm

dressing as a ghost is racist

UNLESS it is a technicolor bed sheet - in which case it is homophobic

stubby43 on Oct 25 '11 at 1:14pm

it's HALLOWEEN

But that makes it sound like your saying, OK for this one day everyone can be prejudice because its a holiday.

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 1:17pm

that's exactly what i'm saying.

PEOPLE make fun of PEOPLE on HALLOWEEN

or

they choose to scare people.

some people got offended by my friend who dressed up as bill clinton and had a blow up doll attached to his junk. it was funny as hell! and still some people got bent over it.

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 1:17pm

hah cAtOoNeR

tracerbullet on Oct 25 '11 at 1:30pm

ted danson did it, so why not?

Haragos on Oct 25 '11 at 1:35pm

Lethal Weapon 5

Classic Example of Tasteful Blackface

Torakamikaze on Oct 25 '11 at 1:40pm

I came in here to post lethal weapon 5

but it was too late

WarDrobeInSpareOom on Oct 25 '11 at 1:41pm

tracerbullet on Oct 25 '11 at 1:43pm

tropic thunder was a funny enough movie

kayceislost on Oct 25 '11 at 2:13pm

Torakamikaze on Oct 25 '11 at 1:40pm
I came in here to post lethal weapon 5

but it was too late

I thought it was also okay on Louie... because his story behind it.

martiandrivein on Oct 25 '11 at 2:16pm

I'm sorry but that campaign in ohio or wherever it is, is stupid. By that reasoning, dressing as knights or vikings or princesses or whatever is making fun of europeans, and predominately white people?

dumb. I think if someone wants to dress as a geisha it's more of a historical costume than a parody of a contemporary culture.

taz-pie on Oct 25 '11 at 2:24pm

I dunno hey.
I personally would just NOT go there.

WarDrobeInSpareOom on Oct 25 '11 at 2:34pm

They could just tell people they're dressing up as Fiona Graham.

Bio-bot 9000 on Oct 25 '11 at 2:36pm

There was a petition to get Hagar the Horrible out of the funny pages, because it perpetuated negative stereotypes of Scandinavians being drunk, lazy, and violent, when in fact they were quite inventive and yadda yadda yadda.

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 2:38pm

eventually everyone will have to dress up as garfield for halloween

and the only comic we'll be able to read will be garfield

martiandrivein on Oct 25 '11 at 2:39pm

at this point in time, Blackface might be more of a parody for the white people that did the vaudeville shows, more so than making fun of the african americans originally portrayed. now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't do it, mostly because I have better ideas for costumes. I just think people in general are offended too easily.

Bio-bot 9000 on Oct 25 '11 at 2:41pm

What if you dress as a coal miner who just ate a plate of barbecue ribs?

taz-pie on Oct 25 '11 at 2:41pm

Gosh I hate Garfield

martiandrivein on Oct 25 '11 at 2:42pm

wow sam. wow.

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 2:45pm

you don't hate, tazzy

you garfield.

gumbolimbo on Oct 25 '11 at 2:46pm

Maybe the hipsters could try "fat american tourist" this year, for irony and all that?

xiv on Oct 25 '11 at 2:51pm

people in general are offended too easily

that.

taz-pie on Oct 25 '11 at 2:53pm

Hahaha shirt :)

cARtOoNer on Oct 25 '11 at 3:00pm

garfield is kind of racist

marques01 on Oct 25 '11 at 3:03pm

if someone asked you could just say your an african guy dressed as a hispanic guy dressed as an asian guy pretending to be a white guy dressed as a fat american tourist on a diet with a great tan who ate an asian guy who convinced a native american guy to dress as a white guy for halloween... and just wear what you like. hey maybe you could have collaborative race costumes to keep everyone happy!

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 3:04pm

im offended that he has BLACK stripes on his orange body

Kookaberry on Oct 25 '11 at 3:47pm

And what is orange anyway? Are you they making fun of Chinese Indians? Ching chong how...rude.

Actually, I've never seen people as anything but different shades of brown. I don't get the yellow/red/purple/what? Maybe we should be classified according to whatever shade of brown we are. I am not white I am lightly toasted coconut.

WarDrobeInSpareOom on Oct 25 '11 at 3:51pm

I dressed up as a Native American as a kid. I also really wanted to be a Native American at the time, 'cause I was obsessed with Sitting Bull and Sequoyah.

mike bautista on Oct 25 '11 at 4:22pm

For Halloween I'm gonna be naked and glue sushi on my chest and stomach.

mike bautista on Oct 25 '11 at 4:23pm

But I'll need to be laying on a table with wheels and have people roll me around everywhere while I coo politely.

Chipmnk on Oct 25 '11 at 4:25pm

Soon, we're all going to just wear the same gray bags over our bodies and when people ask what we are, we'll just say, "I'm IMAGINATION!"

shirtflirt on Oct 25 '11 at 4:27pm

then there will be a tax on imagination

mullmuggins on Oct 25 '11 at 4:39pm

People got pretty bent out of shape when Prince Harry dressed up as a nazi. Not really related.

Bio-bot 9000 on Oct 25 '11 at 4:57pm

mike bautista on Oct 25 '11 at 4:22pm
For Halloween I'm gonna be naked and glue sushi on my chest and stomach.

I was once at a New Years Eve party where this was going on.

It was dudes though. :/

Kookaberry on Oct 25 '11 at 4:57pm

That was his costume? It's so half-assed.

mullmuggins on Oct 25 '11 at 5:07pm

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I wonder if people were just annoyed that with his budget, and all the fancy nazi outfits, he ended up looking so lame.