Posted by: Sirui Huang on October 29, 2009 at 7:24 pm
So, did anyone else totally do a “oh-no-she-didn’t” face when Top Model decided to do blackface as a fashion statement? It’s Episode 8, aspiring models get some sun and waves, whine a bit, have a minute of reflection, and then Brittany says Erin is immature, and Erin says she’s not, she’s actually awesome… and so my brain is falling into a happy lull and drooling on itself. Then came the photoshoot and WOO-WOO-WOO. My relaxing coma is ruined by the cries of liberal-guilt sirens. Did Tyra just say something about producing racial identities? With makeup?
A recap of the scene and my awkward reaction, after the jump.
The girls arrive at sugar plantation for a shoot, and before I could justify the setting—oh, maybe Hawaii actually has a very joyous history with colonialism and cash crops—Tyra goes on a little ditty about importing (cheap) labor to work the sugarcane fields, leading to the creation of hundreds of babies. Millions of babies. Billions of babies. (According to Tyra, that’s what happens with men and women get together.) Babies from different cultures—hapas. And now that is what the girls are going to be, performances of ethnicity. By uh, putting on headdresses and covering themselves with dark paint. What?
What proceeded Tyra’s following history lesson was my most uncomfortable ten minutes with ANTM where the one Asian, and three white girls were painted darker, and the black girl lightened, while props varying of quasi-traditional to downright stereotypical decorated their skinny little bodies. And then Tyra begins shooting the girls, while the girls giving expectantly inadequate accounts of the cultures that they are suppose to embody. Erin—“I don’t know anything about Tibet except that it wants to be freed.” Oh thanks, Beastie Boys. Aren’t you glad that you did such a good job educating the youth on today’s issues?
Pictures are taken, then panel, la-la-la, Brittany is going home. Me? I was just. Just. Just uh. Tongue-tied? I feel a bit of a media puppet, being provoked into shock by CW and all, but to be honest, I admit total confusion. Is it offensive? Should I be offended? Is it artistic? Is it entertaining? Is it a sign of progression, a sign of regression, not a sign at all? What’s going on?
Let’s go with “not-progress” for a starting point. That’s an obvious start. After all, Top Model isn’t thoughtful enough of a show to be progressive. Given the show’s impressionable target audience—little girls like Erin who don’t know jack about race or Tibet—it is irresponsible to paint (literally) race on like a couture dress without any consideration of the social-political implications.
Modeling with excess self-tanner is not the same as “blackface” in its original context as the happy coon in minstrel shows, and sure, doesn’t have the same discriminatory connotations—it can’t really, it’s not 1830 or 1920 or you know. 1960. But it does have similar issue of exoticizing and exploiting difference. And given the problematic history of race, and the portrayal of race in entertainment (1830s being the first wave of the blackface minstrel shows, an illustrious history continuing will into the 1960s), it strikes me as a rather negligent move to use race as a decoration and call it a celebration of multicultural beauty.
Guys, it’s not a celebration. It’s a shallow misrepresentation of both heritage and diversity.
This would be a good spot to ride off on my English major high horse and preach sensitivity and awareness, culturally and otherwise, but the truth is while I am made uncomfortable by ANTM’s flippant attitude towards race, I don’t know my own feelings on the matter either. In the matters of race—how do we know if we’re being too sensitive, too political correct—and how do we know not we’re not being sensitive enough? Does it matter in a trashy reality show? And how should we treat race ourselves? Is it so bad to wear, say, a sari, because it’s pretty? And if that’s okay, why can’t you wear a different skin color because it’s pretty? A crude of thinking, so let’s just state the obvious. Race is complicated. And as frivolous as a show like Top Model might be, it still gets us thinking.
So. What do you guys think?
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Idle Eyes time-travels to the recent past and blogs on stuff that everyone else’s already seen, read, or heard. Hey, if Sirui missed it the first time around, who’s to say you didn’t?
Jon Haehnle October 29th, 2009
I was totally cringing when Tyra announced the shoot concept but somehow in practice this did not bug me like I feared it would. It felt a bit harmless actually.
But you do have some good points about the target audience and the attitude that you can just paint culture on like an accessory.
Things like “I don’t know anything about Tibet except that it wants to be freed” are HILARIOUS. But like you said, ignorance on the part of the girls was to be expected.
I think what was potentially more bothersome was Tyra and Jay directing the girls on how to be more ethnic. “Well these indigenous people are very in tune with music, they always have music in them” and such. (Although this particular bit of direction did inspired and saved my girl, lazy eyed crasian Jennifer!)
I think part of the reason I personally wasn’t as offended as I was because the cultures involved — Greek? Russian? Madagascar? — were ones I didn’t have much affinity toward or interest in.
Jon Haehnle October 29th, 2009
On an entirely different note, this episode just aired last night, didn’t it? Not sure how that qualifies as late to he party.
You’re plenty current & timely — this same topic is currently a feature story on the AOL homepage:
http://www.stylelist.com/blog/2009/10/29/blackface-on-americas-next-top-model/
Ernie Estrella October 30th, 2009
This is a little it of overreacting I think, because I think there’s a major difference in the look of traditional blackface and body paint in the name of high fashion. That’s really what it looks like despite whatever touching gesture Tyra was going for. C’mon, when Dave Chapelle or Eddie Murphy do it in “whiteface” for the sake of satire and comedy, no one gets in a tizzy.
Where I DO wanna come down on Tyra thinking that this episode is compelling enough to actually move me and affect me; that’s (and honestly her whole show) is laughable.
I’d say that it was as effective when gorgeous female broadcasters/actress/model who have been given too many advantages on their looks decide to put on a fat suit and are suddenly aware of how people poorly treat those who are obese. Seriously Tyra, this is just a different way to do those body paint outfits Sports Illustrated does with their Swimsuit Editions.
Someone throw Tyra in a pool full of Dolphins and let’s be done with her already.
Publius October 31st, 2009
Quite a few people are mislabeling this as “blackface”.
The problem is, “blackface” is not actually another word for “skin darkening agents and ethnic costumes”. The term “blackface” refers to a very specific type of entertainment aimed at negatively stereotyping black people; ANTM’s photo shoot, as anyone would know who bothered to watch the episode, had absolutely nothing to do with blackface. In fact, even comparing the two indicates a serious lack of understanding on the part of all of these writers of the real issues behind why blackface was cruel and insensitive.
The idea of “blackface” that (rightfully) elicits negative reactions dates back to American minstrel acts of the 19th century in which white comedians would darken their faces (using burnt cork, greasepaint, or shoe polish), exaggerate the size of their lips, put on woolly wigs, and perform as clowns; the clownishness, the humor, of their acts derived from the caricatured features and the portrayal of negative character stereotypes (laziness, dishonesty, cowardice, etc.). So, too, did the racism. The issue, in hindsight, was that the blackface comedians were saying, essentially, “all black people are laughable because they look, talk, think, and act in this ridiculous way,” a way that was negative and demeaning. The central problem of blackface, in other words, is in the representation of negative stereotypes for mockery and comedic purposes.
Tyra Banks’ photo shoot had nothing to do with this. Did it portray stereotypes? Sure. The models wore colorful “traditional” outfits “inspired” by the clothing of the cultures they portrayed. But Tyra told the viewers and the models that “every outfit is not necessarily what people of that culture are wearing now… it might not even be a necessary exact [replica] of what they’ve worn, even in the past… it’s a fashion interpretation of it.” And, as fashion interpretations, the clothes were glamorous and beautiful. Did the models know anything about the cultures they were representing? Not really. (Erin, the contestant assigned a role as part-Tibetan said that all she knew about Tibet was that “it needs to be freed.”) Did the models act in a ridiculous way? No more than they normally do to complete their photo shoots. Did they portray negative character traits in order to mock the cultures they were portraying? Not at all. There is no real reason why this photo shoot should at all be associated with the negative connotations surrounding the term “blackface” — not unless those writing about it are looking for something to label as racism.
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