💬 2 🔁 4 ❤️ 7 · There is a lot to be said for how many subcultures, aesthetics, and artistic movements never really interrogate their consi
So, like, highly, highly, HIGHLY think ya'll should go check out Noi's post on Aesthetics and Arts and how it praises whiteness and erases colour. It is a very important and good read, and something I wanted to go further into on my own end, as someone who is ass-deep in quite a few aesthetics that often show paleness in the aesthetics. Now, I'm not great at wording things, but please bare with me here. Warning, there will be photos of the aesthetics, and real people, so if that bothers you, skip it and take care of yourself.
Now as a BIPOC myself, I have certain aesthetics i LOVE and certain ones i HATE. As anyone does. The whole beige and white home, clean aesthetic? Absolutely ASSAULTS my eyes. Why are you bringing your child up into a home devoid of vibrancy. Might as well turn your home into a doctor's office or hospital at that rate. Now, in regards to aesthetics I do like? Morute, Cottagecore, Southern Gothic, Dollette, and just way too many to name but I am pulling these because, a lot of the aesthetics surrounding them involve very pale, pastel aesthetics. Very frail, tender, porcelain skin is often looked at in a luxurious way, something to be desired. I try to not use/look at any photos involving real people, as I want to view the aesthetics through a neutral lens, and just enjoy it for the pure aesthetics, plus seeing how some of these aesthetics promote Eating Disorders is really disturbing in of itself. There have been POC and even BIPOC who have wished they were pale skinned, just to get the treatment others get, and if that doesn't show just how racist our world is as a whole, I don't know what else does. That is not to say, there aren't POC within these communities. Here is an example of some from the Cottagecore community, which while predominantly white dominated, is nice when there are POC in that aesthetic.
I implore more POC, to add yourself in any sort of aesthetic, as an aesthetic should not be defined by your skin colour, or your race, it should only be defined by the things that make the aesthetic: Flowers, Picnics, Deer, Forests, Cottages, Apple-pie, The fashion and much more. Now, this reminded me of something I had watched the other day: Slanted.
I was simply looking for some Horror to watch, I saw this and how it was described as Mean Girls meets The Substance. So it intrigued me, and I watched it. There were so many times in this that I cringed, not because it was bad necessarily, like it wasn't a great film by any means, but the fact it was about a very young american-chinese girl, who felt she didn't fit in due to how she looked. She said in the film herself: "her slanted eyes, skin, and hair" weren't the "American Dream". She absolutely HATED herself for being who she was, that she got this mysterious surgery to become: White. Blonde. Wide-eyed. There is even a song that plays in her head while she is induced during the surgery called "It's great to be white". And when I tell you I shuttered hearing and seeing that segment. Anyway, I'm not gonna talk more on it incase you wanna check it out yourself, I think it should be watched at least ONCE, because it really encompasses the world, and how it views whiteness, compared to those with different ethnicities and skin colour. There is truly nothing else I can add onto what @thefairytaler had already said, but his post made me think of these small little bits, so I just wanted to add them onto it. It's really sad how only pale designs are given love in the art community, when there are so so many beautiful darker skinned designs I see. It's why I like having a variety of colours within my own characters. I used to stick to just pale, because that's what was viewed as beautiful, even myself. I wasn't granted the melanin my father and sister have, and I constantly was fetishized for it. It can be reversed, but I just find it really creepy, and upsetting whenever you are lusted after based on your skin colour, and not what makes you... well, YOU. ANYWAY, thank you Noi for the post you made, I hope more see it, because a lot more people need to read it and realize just how much of an issue it really is in the creative space, just as it is outside of it.
