Only a minority would tell

There’s this post on Tumblr about the way redheads are portrayed in the media saying that quite provocatively, many redhead characters are really blonds and brunettes with red hair in that many of them don’t undergo sunburns, turn red whenever they feel something or get bullied for their red hair. (Rugrats’s Chucky Finnster might be one of the few redheads who actually get bullied for having red hair, well as far as fiction goes.) More often than not, red hair is a statement rather than something characters live with and go through.

I could say many of the same things about blond characters where it’s like they’re hardly portrayed as irritated with dumb blonde stereotypes (something blonde women have to go through), or for another matter those with albinism where they don’t undergo sunburns and problems with eyesight. It’s in other words an inauthentic portrayal of who they are and what they go through; only a minority would tell that there’s something off about the way they’re portrayed that marks their inauthenticity.

They look the way they do to communicate ideas about them, rather than about who they really are. It’s not enough to subvert stereotypes about them, but to also make them more like real people with that trait to better represent them. This also extends to the way ethnic minorities are portrayed: the way their cultures and individuals are portrayed risk being untrue, even stereotypical, appropriative and racist. It would be like always stereotyping black people as indulging in crime, that’s untrue for many black people.

Another thing that would be untrue for many black people is portraying them with big genitalia, which’s something not all black men have as evidenced by a handful of studies. It’s a stereotype that risks fetishising them since it’s something they get valued for, but it’s only something only a handful of black men have and others might not be that well-endowed. There are gay black men who have issues with this stereotype, you really have to listen to them to know that stereotype’s untrue.

So it’s important to listen to these people, knowing it might be untrue for many of them. One man’s innocent trope is another man’s offensive stereotype. It’s not just a matter of subverting tropes, but also knowing why it hurts some people and why it’s important to listen to those hurt by those cliches. If it goes unchecked, people will always be ticked off by those. When it comes to certain cliches, they hurt people whether if it’s a joke or a stereotypical portrayal. So is cultural appropriation and why we must listen to them.

Mukokuseki

The Japanese word for stateless but in the sense that when it comes to the way people of their own ethnicity portray themselves they see themselves as unmarked whereas they other those of different nationalities and ethnicities, which sometimes leads to facial profiling. Anime characters aren’t necessarily white just as The Simpsons aren’t necessarily Asian in that if they’re the default ethnicity, they can’t be stereotyped in any way. Those of other ethnicities tend to be marked, for instance a black person would be stereotyped as oversexed, well-endowed, thuggish or animalistic whereas white people aren’t (in white made media).

I suspect this extends to writing where it’s like how black people would be stereotyped and described as either Mandingos, sambos, mammies, Sapphires, Jezebels, animals (often simian or primate) and thugs. If it were written by a black person, because blackness would be the default here black characters wouldn’t be portrayed that stereotypically unless if that black person has internalised racism and projects it onto women (from my personal experience). If a Nigerian did Nigerian stories, their ethnicity and nationality would be the default and this extends to how ethnicities see each other where a Yoruba sees themselves as unmarked but the Igbo and Hausa are.

This also extends to gender where if men are the default, women are the marked other or for another matter sexuality where if homosexuality’s other, heterosexuality would be default. When it comes to mukokuseki for black people, that’s only when blackness’s made default that we get less stereotypical depictions of black people (though it’s possible to have non-stereotypical black characters in a white-majority or multicultural setting). But it becomes less stereotypical in the sense that if a Nigerian did a black character, that would be the default ethnicity (no special markers needed). It’s not so much of a matter of ethnic and racial differences but rather the perception where if your race’s default it wouldn’t be stereotyped in any way unless if self-hate issues are present (which do exist among some black people).

It’s actually telling with the Milestone comics that the characters are portrayed in a less stereotypical manner than they would be in most other superhero comics at the time, though if it were coming from let’s say a black person (or if that black person’s not that misogynistic and full of self-hate) we’d get a lot of non-stereotypical black characters. When it comes to African comics, this becomes more telling that on one hand they don’t stereotype blackness but on the other hand they’d stereotype African nationalities and ethnicities. Even without comics, this becomes telling in the way they perceive themselves and each other.

A white German wouldn’t see themselves as a stereotype, just the default ethnicity but they’re going to mark Italians, blacks, Turks and Moroccans as the other. It may not always be obvious in writing but it does play off that way, for instance Italians would be stereotyped as lusty, emotional and dark-haired. The more different the ethnicity is, the likelier they are to be othered. The more default the ethnicity is, the less likely they’ll be stereotyped. It does make sense this and why it does deconstruct racism to some extent when it comes to seeing whichever ethnicity’s default.

It may not always be the case but it does make sense that in anime if Japanese people are the default, they wouldn’t be stereotyped in any way but the Chinese and Americans usually get stereotyped and othered in ways they wouldn’t be in their own media and soils. It could apply to any ethnicity and still prove my point right about whichever ethnicity’s predominant.

Defying things without deliberation

Given there are cases where the blonds are depicted in a non-stereotypical fashion without trying, to the point where if it’s not always deliberate subversion (though it’s present on some level) there’s also the possibility of somebody knowing people like that in real life.

Something like in Hey Arnold where there are at least two blond characters who don’t fit the stereotypes (Helga and Arnold), the former’s short-tempered but also infatuated with him and the latter’s shown to give advice at times though my memory of watching it’s not always good.

(For another matter, other Nicktoons like Loud House to some extent.)

There’s always the possibility of people knowing characters like that, in addition to deliberate subversion (i.e. Captain Planet’s Linka and Mighty Ducks’s Tanya are blonde but also smart and computer-savvy).

That kind of proves something about stereotypes

As I said before, there might be people who do subvert stereotypes deliberately or unconsciously so where in the case with Captain Planet and arguably Mighty Ducks, the blonde women are depicted as smart, conniving or more level-headed than expected.

Though it’s also possible that it’s not always a deliberate subversion but also personally knowing somebody who’s like that where if somebody does know a blonde who’s brainy, shy or hot-tempered in person or from reading/listening that this reflects the way they make some characters.

Though it could be argued that some deliberately fought the dumb blonde stereotype in those cartoons, perhaps backed by a study where blondes are actually smarter.

Who reads or knows a lot?

I still think that it does matter that you’d know, learn or read a lot to tell people something and to depict very different characters, that even if it may not always be the case it still makes sense most of the time. Like if you always depict blondes as ditzy and clumsy, then you evidently don’t know blondes who don’t fit the cliche.

(Logically, if you know there are blondes who’re good at sports, animals, science, farming and hunting, and blondes who’re irritable, smart or levelheaded then it can and will influence your works albeit unconsciously so at times.)

This isn’t always the case but it does make sense in terms of wider exposure to and knowledge of those characters that’s helpful in avoiding stereotypes a lot, whether if it’s calculated or you know somebody like that and both then that’s enough to avoid stereotypes or the same character all over again.

Some realisations

To be fair, I sometimes do succumb to black stereotypes but generally from knowing more (and even having some personal experiences with a few of them) that makes me think of them as people first. In the sense that you can’t generalise all of them. Some of them are accepting, some of them are rejecting or discriminatory (I know from experience and from what I’ve read). Some are bullies, some are bullied. Some are nice, some are bad. Some are exciting, some are boring.

Some are understanding and supportive of women, some are misogynistic. Ad infinitum. But that would mean black people are still people all the way the more you know and learn about them whether personally or from reading a lot. I even remember reading a few studies implying that black men may not be that well-endowed. If they use drugs to make themselves seem more well-endowed, then they’re not that naturally well-endowed.

It’s like dyeing your hair colour because it’s obviously not what you really look like even if hair colour does change at will over time (and repeated exposure to the sun). If a future study states that most Sub-Saharan African men have penises of around 3-4 inches when flaccid, then most of them aren’t well-endowed either. It’s analogous to a boob job really at times. You coveted it because you don’t really have it.

That’s still down to realising that black people aren’t monolithic but the same can be said of everybody and anybody.