★Cobaltjet★

Hello all. This is a short informative post to prevent character design that, as many aren’t aware of, is rooted in racism. If you’ve designed characters like this without realizing, don’t feel bad. It’s generally not as connected to racism today. I’d still recommend changing it, but of course you don’t have to. Please just be aware of the story behind this.

The topic: puffy white cartoon gloves. One reason for these was that, in black and white cartoons, hands needed to be visible. However, it is also because of minstrel shows, performances where white actors wore blackface and portrayed harmful stereotypes against people of color. Performers of these shows often wore comical white gloves to keep their hands visible and show people of color as clownish.

Additionally, many old cartoon characters were essentially minstrels themselves. In a 1933 film, Mickey Mouse + friends perform a minstrel show, wearing blackface and given stereotypical racist features.

I’m not sure how to rephrase this well, so here’s a direct quote from the article I’m referencing: “Cultural critic Lauren Michele Jackson mentions examples of contemporary cartoons that challenge harmful minstrel tropes through pluralistic character design and an embrace of quirky physical and personality traits rather than a lampoon. She writes that, ‘unlike their predecessors (live-action and animated), whose fantasies about unruly, unproductive bodies were moored to racist mythology about an untamable black race, today’s cartoons are textured by a diverse cultural and formal reservoir that imagines new definitions, new possibilities for difference across color, shape, and sound.’” Today, usage of these gloves isn’t seen as racist. However, please keep this in mind when designing characters, and be aware of this history.

Source:

White Gloves and Blackface- Adam Zucker, Artfully Learning

Please consider sharing/reblogging to raise awareness of this.

@aces-and-ashes @mediocre-mothman @andro-m3da @ajithink @voidgivenformofficial @thehollowmite @cyberfox4444 @echothevessel @shadow-ember16 @starhwa2281 @cobaltjet @canaryy15

And everyone else seeing this :)