Is Blacktober Problematic? - Art Commentary

TIMESTAMPS:
Intro - 0:00
1. What is Blacktober? - 4:00
2. The Backlash - 11:11
3. What can we do? - 17:44
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My twitter thread: / 1580464526188609536
My community post: • Post
Blacktober twitter and prompt list: / 1568268114827132930
Laeticia Ky: / laetitiaky
Stan Lee’s words on Miles Morales: www.bustle.com/articles/92555...
Whyt Manga Twitter: / whytmanga
Whyt Manga KZbin: / whytmangaodunze
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Software:
Clip Studio Paint EX (illustration)
OBS (speedpaint recording)
Audacity (Audio)
Adobe After Effects (Editing)
Adobe Media Encoder (Rendering)
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My Links:
Twitter: / fionapollo​yt
Tiktok: / fionapollo
Instagram: / fionapollo.yt
Webcomic (Webtoon): www.webtoons.com/en/challenge...
Webcomic (Tapas): tapas.io/series/synthesis_com...

[@Fionapollo]

AAA I forgot the timestamp on screen!! 😭 If you don't want to view the backlash section, skip to 17:43!

[@SpectreBagels]

The character you drew is really cute

[@ifvet]

I don’t mind blacktober, it’s fun and all. But I don’t like people claiming to fix or improve existing characters just by changing their skin tone

[@somanygoodfandoms]

Yeah, it's always weird when people say they "fixed" a character when changing skin color

[@cryingwatercolours8127]

I recommend looking up Thumin, she has some fantastic videos on “art fixing”

[@Snowstriken]

My least favourite example of "fixing" something is when someone makes a charcater fat and poc and say they "Desexualized" the charcater,Like,I THINK THATS PROBLEMATIC???

[@PupkinPumpkin]

like zeefixesart

[@PupkinPumpkin]

@@Snowstriken yes, that is definitely problematic! they're literally inadvertently saying dark skinned people and fat people can't be hot. yikes 😆

[@kurapikakurta1997]

I don’t really mind blacktober, it’s really fun to see peoples headcanons for the looks of different characters and stuff. It gets problematic when the creator of said changed character doesn’t want them to be changed or if they’re “fixing” the character.

[@Bunghole_]

Performative activism is less likely to happen with black-tober than pride month since it's mainly individuals participating, with corporations, you know they're doing it for a cheap buck even if they are genuine because it's a corporation, if being supportive meant losing money, it means they're not doing it. With individuals, while yes there is always a chance it's performative, it's more likely they care because of individualism so I see no issues with black-tober.

[@cryingwatercolours8127]

This video really makes me think of when Thumin drew herself as Kiki from Kiki’s delivery service and got insane racial back lash

[@sirensong1794]

honestly sometimes i feel weird how people talk about these sorts of months because people act like it's some big activist thing or way more impactful than it really is instead of just artists drawing fanart. people also dont realize that multiple statements can coexist, for example yes it would be nice to have more black characters and ocs uplifted, but at the same time black people arent a monolith and some DO want to draw their favorite characters looking like them and there's nothing wrong with that. it can feel amazing to interpret a character you really like as sharing traits with you, and i hate when people act like it's going to have some massive impact when its really just a bunch of twitter artists. artists shouldn't have to be perfect activists or make the kind of art others would think is the most progressive, at the end of the day they should get to draw whatever makes them happy or satisfied. and existing as a minority online already kind of sucks and often gets you scrutinized for your very existence, so people constantly debating black artists validity is so frustrating. it always feels like they're held to higher standards and talked about in such a scrutinizing light, and every time some artist makes a comment some people could take in the most bad faith way possible people do so and post screenshots and rake them over the coals for a week or so and then act like they're just "calling out problematic behavior" when its often just such a disproportionate reaction. even if you do disagree do you really think making thousand view youtube videos making fun of some random artists tweet you read into is right? anyone who doesn't think that person isnt in for harassment and hate is just naive to how the internet is at that point and i think its deeply irresponsible for people to keep doing it.

[@ShoesOnTheFreeway]

TRULY, you get it. I'm Nigerian so I like it as a fun fanart event month that can be shaped to however you want because it's still so young/brand new. Ppl used to do the same thing back in the day but it was more shounen oriented with characters from DBZ and Natuto. Someone doesn't need to be put on blast for just having fun.

[@aqui0]

As a black person, I don’t really care for it, I mean I don’t hate it but it’s fine as long as somebody doesn’t claim they fixed it. I do think however it would be a lot cooler if they encouraged drawing already black characters or making your own bc for me changing the skin color is just a thing you can do to see how it could look and I don’t see the purpose of doing it all month because why not learn to draw from scratch?

[@aqui0]

Also I know they do but it’s much more common to recolor an already existing non-black character

[@ShoesOnTheFreeway]

I'm reminded of old times of the Internet when you'd see mostly guys doing this with more shounen characters, like from Naruto or DBZ, but more gangster when they put more bling on them :D It was fun, now expanded to make charterers more casual

[@aqui0]

@@ShoesOnTheFreeway i do see the fun in that too tbh

[@Sinc3r3ly]

It does kinda miff me a little when people change Asian characters because of the whole representation thing however other than that as long as you’re making edits of like official media or with permission I don’t see a problem with it

[@enderwalkgang]

Yeah, I get it, generally Asian people don't get a lot of rep in media- I see them generally less than black people in media, they are sometimes white passing especially on media that have a particular consistent style for the eyes, like anime were big characters are the norm for more expression, that's the point of the big eyes in anime afterall, some people may overlook that character is Asian not whit because of this

[@JaneDoe-qe9gu]

But blacktober doesn’t erase asian representation because the characters in question don’t even have Asian features, half of the artists be making the characters blasian black and asian so

[@svpernova7359]

personally as an asian, i only see it as a problem if it comes from western media. anime? go ham (also most blasian anime edits r super beautiful)

[@urmom-kj1lw]

@@JaneDoe-qe9gu at this point so many people have used "blasian" as an excuse to blackwashing an asian character its barely even a valid argument anymore. when you make a character blasian, said character has to have BOTH asian and black features. its racist to take an asian character and turn them entirely black, and when faced with criticism, call them blasian.

[@HellhoundsHunt]

@@JaneDoe-qe9gu Asian people get significantly less representation in media than black characters, yet you're claiming that it's okay to backwash them for the sake of representation? If black washing an Asian character isn't erasing representation, then that must mean black washing a character also doesn't add representation to black people which makes the entire event useless.

[@MrToonlink53]

As a black person I really hate blacktober and just find it to be filled with lazy race swaps. I wish blacktober was more focused on shinning the spotlight on established black characters or create cool looking black OCs instead of "let's draw Goku but as a black person". My opinion on race swapping in general is, if its wrong to whitewash then its wrong the other way around. I would love to hear peoples justification for race swapping anime characters(who are 99% of the time Asian) black

[@tirramasu7948]

As a black person I second this

[@karilovecake2323]

That would be nice IF there were alot of black character/good black character that were relatable. Cause now and days it's hard to find a dark skinned black person that didnt get killed or want evil or want a stereotype and isnt completly surrounded by white pll

[@applepie2209]

@@karilovecake2323 more of an american issue than a japanese one, there are generally not a lot of black people in japan, and the media is written mostly for japanese audience. It's like if I were to criticism african films for not having enough asians, it just doesn't apply.

[@karilovecake2323]

@@applepie2209 it happens in japan alot I honestly dont care if they arent used to seeing black ppl but they shouldnt EVER do blackface for black characters and yes america is the root of the problem but japan seems to be taking on that American worldview

[@karilovecake2323]

@@applepie2209 also I wouldnt be saying there should be black characters in anime if all that anime character didnt look white, they have no monolids no Asian features in general, they all just look white and when they do show black characters once again they are either in black face or a stereotype

[@quizcastle]

I would like to add onto the point of learning how to accurately represent poc features, in that it's also just good for your art in general! It helps with same-face-syndrome, and helps your ability to draw from reference, and I personally find that pretty fun. And challenges like this can help you see how poc stylize themselves and their features, which can also be helpful from a character design standpoint if that makes sense? Great video!

[@harajukuhellok1tty]

not to sound rude but poc stands for people of color, so you're just saying people of color people, many people get this confused as you hear people saying stuff like "poc songwriter" which,,,,,does not make any sense. what DOES make sense is like "songwriter of color" or "musician of color" so the only thing you really had to say was poc. i doñ't mean it in a negative way im only just pointing out something that you said wrong

[@quizcastle]

@@harajukuhellok1tty oh yeah, I fixed it. Thanks for the correction ^^

[@Gumdropsss]

I think people underplay H.C. Andersens importance and impact on Denmark’s culture. And I think people are accepting the cultural appropriation of Disney stealing and altering the story to the point most people regard the “original” as the Disney movie…You know what else should be public domain? The mouse himself! But Disney has the power and wealth to keep him theirs. I never had an issue with them making Ariel black despite the story being in Denmark where majority are white, my issue is they didn’t cast a Danish black actor, it’s the very least they could’ve done to show homage to the REAL original story they appropriated that people just gloss over bcs Americans get to decide who doesn’t and who does have culture. And apparently all of Europe has zero culture which is why it’s been stolen copied plagiarized gotten inspired from etc from the Us for hundreds of years??????😅 Yall don’t get to pick and choose the importance of cultures u have no say in, just because you think all of Europe is white and “white people have no culture”- said no one with a brain ever. And I hate that black people WORLDWIDE NOT JUST IN THE US have to settle for Disney picking up their stolen media and saying “let’s give it one more try I don’t feel like making another original character” instead of making an original black princess which they already showed they’re able to w Tiana, they just didn’t include her much in the film and I say that having the princess and the frog as my favorite Disney princess movie. Imagine if they actually went outside their borders and studied an African culture country it’s people etc…imagine us getting that and not a lazy recolor of stolen culture… I want rep just as much as everyone else, I’m queer too I know the struggle and how obsessed u get with the fact a character just EXISTED and confirmed queer…But we shouldn’t settle either…so why should the black community too, worldwide, accept this lazy excuse for representation….Imagine us learning about actual black cultures for a change….

[@spilledmilk4461]

lmao this is bs because there’s never any noise when other Disney princesses aren’t portrayed by exact ethnicities. Cinderella was played by a brit, Ariel is only a redhead because other mermaids were blonde and mermaids aren’t real. Next !!!

[@Gumdropsss]

@@spilledmilk4461 u clearly didn’t read my comment at all. Idgaf about the fact they made her black, I care about the cultural appropriation of an important author for my country and his impact on our culture. And i really don’t care about any other princess if it has nothing to do w this specific issue. But fyi the Black community need more than scarps, they deserve, and should, be getting more movies from everywhere with black characters and black actors and voice actors getting a go. I never wanted this remake to happen in the first place regardless of race, because they already stole it once and the impact that had had been bad enough. You don’t get to speak on behalf of others culture and the appropriation of it. Anyway Disney princesses ain’t real either, but the impact of cultural appropriation is, “next!!!” The reboots always suck anyway that’s just sad that when the black community FINALLY gets some rep it’s given to some lazy remake instead of a new movie with a beautiful black princess or other black character !

[@spilledmilk4461]

@@Gumdropsss cultural appropriation? lmao then you should also be concerned about Ponyo since it’s a little mermaid retelling as well. you don’t pick and choose the outrage sweetie.

[@tessfabled4115]

@@spilledmilk4461 Actually Ariel is a redhead as she is meant to represent the Red Sea - she and her sisters (of which there are seven) represent each of the seven seas in the world, so yes there are generally reasons behind design decisions like this ;)

[@spilledmilk4461]

@@tessfabled4115 Then more reason to make her black lol since the Red Sea is next to East African countries 👀

[@ArtisanAsteroid]

I just find the idea of making months a theme for drawing certain archetypes stupid,even though I am in the demographic for this. I hate it because not only does it bury artists who aren’t interested,but it feels like making identities trivial regardless of who’s doing it in my eyes. The head cannon/race swapping wars are awful as somebody who doesn’t do fandom. As a black kid,I kindly don’t want to see it everywhere. All in all,I’ve fallen out of love with almost every art community so far and this is part of it.

[@nintendofan3j960]

imo there’s nothing wrong with making a month for an art challenge. It’s supposed to be fun for everyone. Maybe the people you follow are just sharing it a lot and burying the ones not participating?

[@ShoesOnTheFreeway]

​@@nintendofan3j960yeah, like loud minority v silent majority, its just how it is with events.

[@violetcity2658]

I love the fact that you mentionet, that it does not apply to Europe! I’m Polish and it is very upsetting to me, when people just generalize white people to one group, and mostly mean by that like French or British culture, forgetting that there are milions of ex. slavic people witch completly different culture! And it really is different if you raceswap white American character, than swapping an european one, while you’re not european. I love this video, love to see this from another perspective!

[@cryingwatercolours8127]

9:28 THANK YOU. Black History Month, for example, is something my dad had me write essays and make big projects on when I was younger and I’m glad he did bc I barely knew the horrors of my own culture. I learned so much and basically became a human right activist at 10. and it’s the same with pride month. It’s so important for both minorities and non-minorities, to teach us about our history and how we need to change the future.

[@dameslayer]

Hi as an 11 year old, you guys have your own history month, and it’s genuinely good! But pride month, doesn’t help anyone.

[@cryingwatercolours8127]

@@dameslayer it does! It’s a time to celebrate queer culture and to talk about what we can learn and teach each other. For both of these, it should be happening year round but the month celebration is a good way to spread awareness and learn more!

[@dameslayer]

@@cryingwatercolours8127 Companies take advantage of it all the time. Why do people need to celebrate being gay?

[@XxSoakCokexX]

Fr I'm physically actually colorblind so you mentioning that made me terrified for a brief moment LOL. I was like "wait, so since I can't see green I'm bad?" Then you continued the sentence and I was instantly relieved. Jesus lmao

[@Gleamiarts]

as a black artist i really like blacktober :D its a great way to find new artists, tho i always forget to prepare for it it'd be cooler for people to draw more canonically black characters and their own ocs but tbf esp in anime there aren't many black characters though it is slowly changing.

[@ShoesOnTheFreeway]

It's slowly changing? That's great! Honestly I admit I _do_ like what ppl have done with anime characters, but let's be the change we wanna see in the art world XD My favourites are Dorothy from The Great Pretender and Canary from Hunter x Hunter!

[@TDisHere]

Been super excited for this video! I definitely wanna thank you for making a post asking for different opinions on this topic. It's such a very touchy topic to my culture but, I appreciate you taking the time to also, educating those who haven't heard of it. Love your channel! ❤️

[@poseidons_child.]

Recently a boy in the grade below me has been spreading rumors that my friend group is “racist” and we are rude to him. For one none of us ever talk to him and the only thing we do tell him is “No running!” because this kid will sprint full speed down the halls. Second I myself am tan skinned. My friend is Indonesian. It angers me to know that this kid thinks we’re racist when two out of eight of us are POC. Third, 55% of my ocs are POC. One of my favorite ever fictional characters, Leo Valdez, is Latino. I’m just confused because I’m really unsure how to deal with this. The worst thing is is that the head teacher and principal won’t believe my friends which is killing me.

[@Stavv_]

Most of the bad sh#t that happens on challenges like blacktober is always on twitter, most of the times, is never surprise. At least we have big support to continue to do good especially about race in art, we need to keep going in general to not let assholes to ruin the beautiful thing call art and of course let black people to draw what they want/people drawing good pieces about black people/characters!

[@CozyCabbit]

When I first heard about Blacktober, I genuinely thought it was about sharing and celebrating black black artists and their black OCs - only to be confused when it wasn't. It personally doesn't make sense (to me) to change an Asian character to another race entirely. I feel like it was a completely missed opportunity to showcase black OCs and bring more awareness to them. Because of that, as a black artist, I simply don't partake in Blacktober. If it were more about OCs then /MAYBE/ I would consider. But it's not.

[@nintendofan3j960]

There’s lots of Black artists that draw their Black OCs. Fanart is just more popular unfortunately 😅

[@ShoesOnTheFreeway]

You could also always make an effort to turn the event over to OC focus if you want. Like how people have made twitter or tumblr posts about corrections or feeling dissatisfied or "hot takes" that gain big traction (either by accident or on purpose).

[@ShoesOnTheFreeway]

"But it's not", _then make it,_ it's a challenge that can be shaped with different prompts and whatever else you want, like "Inktober" or any other "--tober" event.

[@cookie856]

For the Little Mermaid... I'm probably the only one that saw the trailer for the live adaptation, went to see where her fish friend is found, and be "well, no, that makes sense, geographically, that she isn't white. And it she was from Northern Europe, her fish tail shouldn't be green but grey/black/brown with reflection making it looks more colorful, a little like pigeons neck"

[@WillowIsntSeenDead]

Babe, wake up, Fionapollo just uploaded her weekly banger

[@Fionapollo]

😂😂

[@cryingwatercolours8127]

I love blacktober (I’m half black) but I think we should make POCtober for every non-European Artist as I feel like I can’t contribute to blacktober cuz of the white half of me :/

[@nintendofan3j960]

I believe the creators said you can participate regardless of your pigmentation or if you’re half black 😁

[@MariusWales]

This is the first time I've heard of the Alphabet Mafia!🤣I'm gonna use that from now on! A lot of people in the LGBT+ community certainly act like mafia members.😅

[@Fionapollo]

I gotta agree on that tbh

[@commandercorl1544]

That's because we _are_ mafia members.

[@koraidonn]

LOL

[@Eeok]

We are a mafia. Join us

[@thealientree3821]

I knew that the I in LGBTQIA stands for Italy.

[@CherrySake]

This is the first time I've ever heard of Blacktober. Alot of my fellow artists do Inktober or some k***tober (censored because if you know you know), they actually plan in September what they are going to do so they are ready for taking on that challenge each day and their followers don't get dumped with too much of one fandom or repeats of a character in a fandom (if they are doing the challenge restricted to one fandom). I do agree, getting out of your comfort zone is good. Spend time and research how to shade different skin colors and hair textures. You'll become a better artist if you challenge yourself to make a character who isn't a pale ivory skinned person; find tips from creators who are or are really good at drawing characters who have darker skin tones. Expand your mind from what you know! Challenge yourself to draw a character with natural hair and figure out how to make it look good. Watch hair tutorials and get inspired with all the creative things they can do with their hair.

[@DailyStudyBook]

As a black person I honestly do not understand the whole black Tober thing 💀 but definitely need to watch videos on it

[@karilovecake2323]

October is black history month in the uk

[@DailyStudyBook]

@@karilovecake2323 ok

[@urmom-kj1lw]

ig its just artists creating “rep” for themselves. or just drawing black characters

[@VirtuosoI]

Blacktober is honestly pretty harmless and I never really understood the issue with it. It's just reimagined fanart with a different race or self insert. It doesn't erase the actual character's race just shows a new version of them. There are a ton of people who aren't Japanese that cosplay all the time so the blacktober art thing doesn't feel any different to me. They're both valid forms of self expression.

[@ConvenientlyShapedUsername]

I really like seeing edits or different versions of characters, there's something satisfying about it.. so I don't think blacktober is bad at all.

[@ashy_inking1476]

Same

[@bobtheball5384]

Ditto, I especially like it with the hair department too. You don't uh often see different hairstyles for black characters so it's nice seeing someone being creative with the hairstyles whenever they make a difference version of the character and seeing how that bodes with their personality.

[@tic857]

I try do participate in as many challenges I can, simply because it gives me something to do after work and it helps sooth the anxiety of other things and its a great way to learn a new skill or practice a skill you don't have just yet. Thought Blacktober would be a great way to study color, and shading on darker skin tones, especially since most of the people who I commute with on the bus are black, I thought it would be a great challenge to grow from just the line art I did while riding. Unfortunately got slammed by trolls and haters, because my color theory skills was nil. Ironically an event meant to celebrate and a challenge was basically flooded by gate keepers on my end, saying I shouldn't be doing it because I couldn't do it right the first time. Its like telling someone not to do 100 hands in 30 day challenge because they can't draw hands, when the whole point is to try to work with a subject or topic to better your art skills.

[@Bill_the_Killer]

LOOKS SO AWESOME ✨✨

[@randomguywhofounddatube271]

"ZeeFixesArt" *Unpleasant flashback intensifies*

[@dave-69]

Omg sorbet is so pretty the hell

[@dorkenspache8353]

Personally, I think race-bending is just lazy and not so much problematic. I want to see more original black characters than just race bends

[@gideongrace1977]

I really love this video! I know it's a few months old, but I wanted to add something in about the thing you kept bringing up (and I LOVED that you brought it up) about how swapping out a character to be a poc can sometimes not be a good thing based on context and where that character comes from. And I wanted to include an example of that exact thing. It's not to do with the art community but with television and I just wanted to mention it. That thing being the Shadow and Bone tv show. They changed all the protagonist characters into poc. In a book series based on slavic cultures (and not well based, but still). And then they left all the villains still as slavic. It's something that happens a lot in North America to slavics. We get told we're the same as white people, so anything that would be even sloppy rep for us gets swapped out and changed into being rep for another group and then we're still just left only getting to see ourselves as villains and it sucks. And I'm just really happy you kinda touched on this kinda stuff. Thank you!

[@SpectreBagels]

If "blacktober" was just about MAKING black characters via their own creative ideas or via prompts or theming and just shouting out black creators and existing black characters then there wouldn't be a problem with it. But the fact a lot of it is centered around blackwashing characters and in some cases "making them better" and getting praise for it, then yea it's a problem. But since its black people doing it I guess it isn't.

[@ladyolinden]

Honestly even if it was raceswapping it could be fine imho (as a white American who has witnessed local racial tensions significantly worsen since I was little) but the issue is when the terms whitewashing and backwashing get thrown around. Similar to how I view gender bending/swapping, I think it can be a lot of fun to reimagine characters and toy around with different aspects. My problem is when it goes one way but not another. Do I understand why some people get upset about it? I mean yeh but history is set. We can’t change how characters of already established media are. That said I still think raceswapping “poc” to “white” is fair game just like the other way around. For many people blacktober gets way too into the “us versus them” mindset and I’m beyond sick of that sort of thing at this point. I wish we could all just art as we’d like and appreciate each other’s art and interpretations!

[@SpectreBagels]

@@ladyolinden I agree and I appreciate you at least being consistent in your view, a lot of people I've had interactions with bend over backwards to try and make their hypocrisy and double standards make sense with their own views. But I still will have to respectfully disagree in regards to blacktober. I think maybe I wasn't very clear but my view of blackwashing being a bad thing was more in reference to it being done as a "contribution" to blacktober's "good will". I do not think the practice of race/gender/etc.swapping or washing are bad in and of themselves, its about how and why its done. And in terms of blacktober 9 times out of 10 it is done for hypocritical and wrong reasons. The other 1 percent is cool though. Also racial tensions in real life don't make doing it any more "sympathetic" or "correct". If it's bad/good, its bad/good, no matter which way you slice/swap/or color it(at least in regards to this topic).

[@hailove222]

Blackwashing isn't a thing! It was made by racists please stop spreading this

[@SpectreBagels]

@@hailove222 That's a bold faced lie. That's exactly like saying whitewashing isn't a thing and was only made up by racist people. Please knock it off, just cause you dont care about something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Just cause people don't care much for blackwashing and will let it slide, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And explain to me how it's racist? What part of saying blackwashing is a thing is racist? I kinda wanna know if your answer can be consistent or hypocritical.

[@Komagawautaismywife]

Yeah and instead of it coming off as a positive thing it comes off as you basically saying that the character was bad for some reason? and making them black means that the character is better now??? Even though it’s the same exact character and the only change is they’re skin colour? Idk the idea of Whitewashing/ blackwashing just doesn’t make sense to me! Im all for redesigns but what does switching the race even do? What’s so wrong in keeping the character the way they were before

[@Weewoo60]

I'm actually colorblind so I froze when you said we shouldn't be colorblind haha😅 for real though, I personally don't mind people changing a character's skin color/ethnicity, as long as they're not claiming to be fixing it. That's what aus and headcanons are for after all. Also, as an artist and mixed person myself (white with Asian heritage) I fully support blacktober! I just see it as harmless fun and it's normal for people to wanna see characters that look like them/share the same culture and history. A lot of my ocs are mixed race or Asian, for example😁👌

[@chimchimcher-ee8191]

I agree with everything you said except at 13:45 . To boil a beauty standard as prevalent as whiteness down to a single country is not only incorrect, but ignores the diversity of cultures within the United States. We did not create white beauty standards, but rather inherited them from Europe. In fact, as far as American beauty standards go, I would argue we have an especially big issue right now with appropriating features from people of color. But I’m guessing the features you were referring to were, as they’re typically called, Eurocentric features. If you want to refer to Western beauty standards, say Western! Yes, there’s less countries in North America, but we are not even close to white homogenous. I think it’s also a bit short sighted to say culture is more “black and white” in the United States. If you’re attempting to say something on subtle versus obvious racism, it’s not coming through as intended. If you meant only two cultures, speaking as Latina, wrong again. Sorry to get so heated but it makes my blood boil when Europeans (especially from the UK) do this.

[@Fionapollo]

You're right, that point didn't land as great watching back now and I should have used better terms, I'm sorry. In europe, certain places are not considered the "right type" of white and are also heavily suppressed and discriminated against not by looks, but by culture, which is what I was trying to get across and should've explained better. I was more trying to make a point of how some took a very specific eurocentric standard & just ran with it. And I don't really have an excuse for the black & white comment, it was definitely short sighted considering what I just spoke about so I'm sorry again. Thanks for taking the time to explain this to me & I'll try to do a better job should something like this crop up again ^^"

[@chimchimcher-ee8191]

@@Fionapollo Thank you for considering this. You also bring up xenophobia, which is complicated bc while being closely tied to racism, the west’s understanding of race has changed over the years. On a separate point, I feel it’s also important to mention that the original culture of the United States was not white, but rather that of hundreds of cultures of indigenous peoples. They still exist today and are an important part of our country (and definitely cannot be considered responsible for the racism of modern beauty standards).

[@aniflowers1998]

I find the concept of making a real live phisical feature a gimic for a challenge kinda weard. I alredy feel like people are putting to much focus on features like skin color, to the point that it becomes the entire personality of some fictional characters. In the same vaine, I generally have a dislike against race swaping, becouse it feels like it is 70% of the time done with some weard intent to make something "better" (indicating the previous version was "bad"), and a bunch of hypocrisy. I like it when it's done just for fun though! Litte throw away "what if"'s of how a character would look/act if they grew up somewhere else/where born somewhere else are always interesting! But like I said, with equal rights for everyone and no hypocrisy. (If I can image Snow White as a french girl, Aurora as Chinese and Rapunzel as African, I should be allowed to imagine Jasmine as Scottish or Mulan as German. Where is the fun in limiting what you can and can't do?) So all that beeing said, while I find the concept of "BlackTober" a bit weard, I don't see any problem with it as long as it is all in good fun. I'd probably like it more if it where less about race swaping alredy existing characters, and instead about creating random characters based on prompts, but hey! To each their own, as long as they aren't mean about it! Important thing is to have fun, after all! ^^

[@mk-aka-morgan8386]

I like to send a lot of appriciation and love to blacktober artists every year because of how much hateful comments they get, no one should have to deal with the amount of hate blacktober artists get in their comment sections.

[@amethystimagination3332]

I’m pretty neutral on the whole thing, it’s not up to me to tell other people what they can and can’t draw and people are allowed to make different interpretations of things.

[@minoru-kk]

As an Japanese otaku I feel Blacktober is great fan art but disagree with the narrative that anyone who criticizes Blacktober "fixing" is racist. In my pov the claim to "fix" Japanimation characters (mostly Asian) to be black is a denial of Asian identity. Some see it as racism by black people, I can't dismiss it as paranoia

[@42seven]

hey slight mistake, poc does not equal black people, blacktober challenges are for black people to participate in, just wanted to point that out. My thoughts on blacktober (and other similar challenges) (as a white passing indigenous person) is that it's completely fine, though I'm personally uncomfortable making Asian characters exclusively Black (or similar) cause biracial people exist too, just make them blasian (or similar) and it is pretty upsetting to see people put down poc characters (the amount of slurs and racism on movies like the little mermaid remake or prey is heartbreaking) though this was a great way to talk about it as a white person, lifting up others, using your platform for others to speak, and i appreciate it. also for any indigenous (or native american, same thing, different words) there is a similar challenge called nativetember, that works in conjunction with blacktober in which it's promoted by the creators! i'm planning to participate this year cause, although there's not a lot of good black representation, there is almost none in any media, i mean i can barely count 5 indigenous characters i know! so yeah apologies for the rambly nature (I'll edit this to make it more understandable if it's super bad)

[@lapiswolf2780]

Never expected someone to unironically herself a member of the Alphabet Mafia. "I'm part of the Alphabet Mafia." *Loads rainbow tommygun*

[@Frvnt888]

Tbh we shouldn't have these months for this stuff. If you wanna draw Steven from SU as black, go ahead. Don't wait for a certain month to do such. If you wanna draw Bruce Wayne as bisexual or a trans guy, don't wait.

[@testedcatgaming7714]

I don't really have any strong opinions, as a white person I don't get offended if someone race swaps a white person to a black person. It just doesn't effect me.

[@6annibalize]

Hey! I’d just recommend saying black people specifically, because not all poc r black !! :) /nm

[@The_Open_Book]

As long as artists are experimenting in good faith, there shouldn't be much of a problem, especially if it's a reimagining of characters whose identities aren't defined by their race. I'm on the wavelength of Stan Lee myself tho. I don't believe in "washing" in any regard, I'd much rather see new characters in the pursuit of diversity/representation, than the adaptation of ones that didn't fill that role in the first place.

[@FrahdChikun]

It's fine when it focuses on characters who are black and not blackwashing characters in an attempt to "fix" someone.

[@protogoniascension]

I prefer seeing POC versions of old characters I like. It's fun and gets more attention than doing completely original characters nobody knows. Or the few fringe black characters in shows. Also remember this is mostly led by Western audiences. In the west black people are like 13% of the population. Any representation is important even if you don't see it.

[@captainkirk265]

I just don't like this us vs them mentality. It's only going to divide people instead of unite them. As a white guy look up to and relate with characters of all races and genders. I relate to good people, whether they're white, black, asian, male, female, etc. Here's some of my favorite non white characters that I can relate to and/or look up too. El Tigre, Cyborg from the original animated Teen Titans, The Green Lantern from the animated Justice League, Katara, George Lopez from his show, Mr. Freeze, The Father from Everybody Hates Chris, etc. So I never understood needing or wanting a character to have the same skin color as me. Almost forgot Rex, and Ashoka from the Clone Wars. Anyway, don't she myself as a white person and a part of the white community. I see myself as a good person and as a part of the good people community. Seperating everyone into groups feels like it's separating us all from each other rather than bringing good people together against bad people. Edit: Almost forgot Mirabel. One of the characters I relate to the most. I can understand just wanting to do good things and feeling like I mess everything up and no one likes me. Edit Edit: Same with Moana.

[@elenatheartistandgamer2001]

Making your own characters is better than changing non-black characters to being black. or better draw the black characters that do exist. Because I remember going on the Disney wiki and seeing that there are 435 black characters and I was just like okay...Drawing them now. As a black person, I understand why people are upset but at the same time, I'm not gonna take a character that isn't my race as black it's kind of weird. Even with Aliens I just keep them as is.

[@mariazapata1606]

Do you relized the point of this is to have fun not obligate to be restricted by their colours saying a black person they should only drew black people is racist itself it's like saying a girl shouldn't write boy protagonist but work like full metal alchemists and frankenstein say that otherwise And i know may "I'm mean the anime underrated black character" yeah the anime community the *least problematic community out*

[@agome-chan]

I love blacktober! I end up meeting so many artists that I become a fan. It gives me more ideas for creating characters, or drawing myself as a character. It's like cosplay, but easier than looking for a good wig to buy on the internet. Or making one for cosplayers to have a base to have, even though they are black, to be creative. Like make fan art of Hinata with braids box. It's Hinata, but not necessarily, I see it as "what If..?" from Marvel, it's another version of this character of another universe, the universe being that person, like when we make fanfics. Or mixing character with a celebrity, like Megan Thee Stallion with Todoroki in a fan art or Mirko (she already dressed as Todoroki, but not Mirko, just fan arts, it would be cool to see). For me I like to draw already black characters for Blacktober. For example, I knew Miles and Hobie, they're Spider-Mans and black boys, but Spider-UK (Zahira) and Spider-Zero I didn't know these black girls, and there are still others, but these fours were the ones I drew, because I liked them the most (I ended up reading about them and found fans of them too). And there are many who think Spider Punk suit is so cool, but don't even know he's Hobie Brown, not Peter Parker, that he's black. So it's always good to reinforce that. I think it's kind of ironic when they say "what if it was the other way around?", as if it wasn't always the other way around. For most of our time it was the other way around. Like Spider-Punk I mentioned, many make Peter not Hobie and that's out of ignorance, not malice I understand. But great historical figures, real people, are white washed all the time. I'm Brazilian, there's a tele novela on the scene in Egypt, there's hardly a non-white actor in this tele novela and most people in my country are black... (or half black, and there are hardly any actors like that. Or when the tele novela has the setting where we have the largest number of black people in the country, it is filmed there and the majority of the cast continues to be white) But if people don't feel comfortable changing a character, it's ok, on blacktober can do something like I did, going to draw more characters that are black like you and they already exist. Encourage others to check them out too. Last blacktober I saw so many beautiful Tiana fan arts. These are options and we can take advantage of them however we feel comfortable.

[@moth143]

sorbet looks so cute omg😭

[@TheAlabastard]

What turned me against tings like Blacktober was when a group of black artists decided to create Whitevember as a social experiment. I am friends with several of the actors involved. It was purely done to note the difference in reaction. They participated in Blacktober and were purposely egregious in their race swaps. They were lauded at every turn. When they did the exact same for "Whitevember" they posted screen shots of the absolutely unhinged response they got. In every single exchange they were accused of being racist white people.

[@gothkurata]

i dont see what a small group of people have to do with a whole event.... purposely whitewashing characters has been an issue with (mainly in my experience) the american community for a long time. i mean like. poc dont get as much representation in media, they might have more now thanks to actors of color, and people being more inclusive, but with that there are people purposely whitewashing those characters out of spite. theyre fictional, who cares if theyre white or black right? its really about the intention. those people you talked about did not have good intentions and thats clear, but why does that ruin a whole thing thats fun for others for you? just dont participate then? just leave it alone. unless its real people i dont see the problem.

[@bbew2914]

i hate the double standard tbh

[@XiaoIsMyHusbandBTW]

Because it sounds like an all lives matter white black panther thing

[@hadrianhexe9603]

Yeah, because you need to think about how your actions come across, people have explained over and over again that things like blacktober exist because there is a lack of black animated characters and they do it to feel seen, so when you whitefy characters in response, naturally people are going to be pissed. You're being purposefully obtuse and refusing to acknowledge that people have a right to be pissed.

[@bbew2914]

@@hadrianhexe9603 right, but changing the race of an already existing character isn't the way to go, just make original poc characters, damn

[@tt_sallie]

"Alphabet Mafia" so I'm not the only one🤣🤣

[@nintendofan3j960]

I love Blacktober 😁 I just wish the people complaining about it being mostly race swaps instead of original characters would actually take the time to LOOK for original black characters made by Black creators

[@FlamingRayzor]

I didn't know blacktober even existed till this year, but then again I only downloaded Twitter like a year or two ago (I got it in December so last year idk how it evaded me)

[@kinglywaves1474]

Ok a lot of y’all keep saying you wish that blacktober push black created characters it does you just have to actually look for it and majority of black creators do push their characters during this month. But if you want to see only original characters or black characters being down look under the tag like drawing as black there are also the same tags for groups and minorities. And blacktober is a event made for black people you can join in but you need to understand if you are not black you are not the main demographic. And to the people who will say well what if I did this with only “insert group” here you can if you and your community want to do that you can but you need to put in the work for these event if you want them to happen.

[@sonictennyson2201]

I'm just gonna say it: Blacktober Saiyan pics are just what Frieza thinks Saiyans look like.

[@vergil8257]

“Is blacktober problematic”- didn’t even know that was a thing.

[@TheGrandSilence]

I was just confused why it had to be put into formerly Inktober instead of other months, though it might just be missing some context for the choice.

[@LikaLaruku]

I'd actually really like to see some Lupin III Blacktober art.

[@nostalgcis]

One of the things I notice is when a character is already representing something and the representation changes. Like, when a lesbian character is made trans and bi. Or when an asian character is made black and vise versa between both examples. A character being the way they are isn't supposed to be hurtful or bad, it is how it is. And that can even apply to characters without representation in some context. But when it's blacktober, that isn't anywhere nearly as close to relevant because it's meant to be more representative of the people who usually go under unmentioned. In this case, non POC characters can't apply to that because they are fairly well-represented as well. Anyway, this video was a big eye-opener for me and hopefully other people too.

[@BassSetH0und]

Thing with the little mermaid is as a poc I shouldn't feel forced to be excited about blackness being used to negate all criticism towards a film where if they really wanted a black little mermaid they could have made it with an entirely black cast. Or given Ariel a different name but instead we have this poor actress being the face of a production doing the bare minimum.

[@mariazapata1606]

Say that to the 1997 version cinderella come on say that their face have the ballz to say they force cinderella it dosen't help the fact its produced by the same company say it! Say it! To our face

[@BassSetH0und]

@@mariazapata1606 you're excited over the bare minimum. And if you want don't really care that much about black cultural narratives being told then who am I another poc to tell you otherwise.

[@smb.]

@@BassSetH0und and your over reacting over the bare minimum that doesn’t even concern you. Not to mention changing things like race for a musical doesn’t stop them from making original stories or said poc group from requesting it

[@mariazapata1606]

@@BassSetH0und boo the woman king say otherwise and before you say _slave trader_ mind you nobody in the past is perfect and when we finally have histrionic film is than to be brutal and incorrect because the past is blink so don't assume I don't care the difference the little mermaid is just fairy made by a guy who hate interact with children and it than to relate to queer folk so what you point? Edit: to point insult to injury the mermaid tails by sailors are mix with African mythos. So we're taking back your African roots or something? That right Google search that that unless you learn something

[@applepie2209]

I'm asian, many people will racebend asian characters into black ones without knowing the actual opinions of the asians on the subject, but when you do see the opinions of japanese people you will often find that they are not fans of it, because they see it as racist or, anti-asian. Due to a language barrier many people will not see the opinions of asians, I am aware the challange is just for fun but it is kind of harmful in the sense they are racebending asians. People will claim anime characters do not look asian, however that is kind of wrong, in western media, often you see that asian characters are very stylized, even stereotypical (squinty eyes, pale or yellow skin) while in anime those features are not that present, because japanese do not see themselves as caricatures of their own race. On a tertiary note, I am mixed, and I have seen the opinion of full asians before about media, often they feel like making a character mixed is a "cop out" mixed people deserve to be part of a culture as much as any body else, the only issue is that, blasian is NOT the same as asian, it feels like a "cop out" to actually drawing asian characters, instead of appreciating them its more like erasure to an extent. "We aren't changing the actual character" is also, not a good argument, you will see how people might use that for queer characters and make them straight or cis in some AU and it's problematic, but not with asians? Or the hypocrisy with the drawing black characters with lighter skin being a problem but asians do not matter if we make them black. I think it's very hypocritical to act like it's okay because they are "white passing" when in general the western idea of how an asian should look is based on stereotyping. In general there is the problem of anti-asian discrimination not being taken seriously which annoys me.

[@CryALoid]

I actually love black-tober. But my problem isn't the fun prompted, but more of the people and how they react to it. A thing I found that made me irritated for this month is when people take one character and make them biracial. And instead of considering that it's a headcanon, at one hand people get mad cause they forget that biracials exists, they highlight more of the black culture and the (especially in anime) og culture feels that they are getting erased, the racism 😒, and lastly that for some reason mix races exists. It's like when something was made out of love and fun gets super popular, people feel a stupid way to the point we can't have nice fun things. Another thing that irks me during this time especially is when other (this is mostly the younger artist) attacking people for at least trying to draw poc characters. Maybe they drew the hair wrong, or they don't know how to use color theory right so they used the wrong shading for a dark-skinned character- Hell maybe they are already advanced in art and already knows how to draw them, and they just wanted to do something new-! Always see ONE person trying to cause problems or add links to the "proper" way to draw a poc character, and I just sit here and feel like- "Are they really helping? Or are they accidentally making a stereotype. Cause if it's the ladder, then we have a problem" type of feeling. And the last thing that makes me want to just not do black-tober or draw any poc person at all (from a poc person themselves lol) is that no matter what you do as an artist, ya not winning. If you draw a poc? Hate. If ya don't? Hate. If ya ever hint a TINNY TINY HINT of culture in your character or headcanon character? Hate. Ya not winning. So I'm not posting any poc characters unless it's fan art (and that's already risky) or a commission. It's just not worth it anymore. At least in my perspective. Now if you'll excuse me I'm drawin EVERYBODY gray

[@Mendoxs_]

I don't mind it but it would prefer it if it was dedicated to promoting black artists and their work alongside the cool fanart

[@clownpieceenjoyer5439]

I have question regarding the POC not being important to stories. is it bad that i (a white woman) don't have any major POC characters in the stories i deem super important? it's mostly because i tend to put a lot of myself into the characters i make, this includes my skintone. my ocs are my pride and joy and one day i wish to make it to where other people (of all races, genders, sexualities and religions) can potentially feel that way; though some might look at my current big project and think the main character being a lesbian is already a step in the right direction, i still feel like it's somehow wrong that there's only a few POC characters so far... is this just white guilt or is this a real cause of concern? edit: I'm surprised nobody bit my head off for this one! thank y'all for the advice, I'm glad the few POC characters I have aren't "token"; they do serve purpose one way or another (exposition, guidance, and one is literally the balance of the universe). after reflecting over the story I think there's enough room to add more representation, and I'm thankful for all the tips helping me still my worries.

[@awhimsyreader9015]

I feel that if you notice there's a lack of POC in your work then that is an incentive to add more poc characters since it's always important to have people feel repersented in the work you make

[@SpectreBagels]

No. It is not a NEED. You don't have to show POC into your work just cause. Not ever work needs POC, or any other group in them, in them. If they are there, then they are there but its not necessary. You are fine, it is just unnecessary guilt for something you don't actually need to feel guilt over

[@SpectreBagels]

@@awhimsyreader9015 No it isn't. You quite literally can't make every kind of person feel represented in any work. Noticing a lack of a type of person does not mean you should slap them in there. Not every work or story NEEDS POC, or any other kind of person. If they are there, they are there. It is not important or a necessity to just shove people in places to look good. That's how you get people exploiting groups for profit and social standing.

[@spatiumjunk]

A story don't needs to have poc in it to be good. Also there are a lot of people, me included, who can identify with a character that has another skin tone. You can do what you want but it's also nice of you to include some representation.

[@protogoniascension]

Your art your choice. But without POC it will feel less relatable to POC or people who actively have POC in their lives.

[@f3ll30uch0npaws]

My saying is: *It's just melanin.*

[@mandom5566]

cool what is the character name

[@Fionapollo]

Sorbet!

[@bookishdelight]

So ngl I spent the better part of two weeks trying to figure out how to say this, and there's another comment that lays it down in a similar manner, but at 13:45 where you talk about the white homogeneous stuff, not only is it _not_ just an American thing (though yeah it's extra painful in the US, yes) the white social and beauty standards you refer to were historically inherited _from_ and imposed by those diverse European countries, after which multiple societies then just kind of ran with the ball in multiple directions, none of which benefited poc one bit. In turn (as I can personally confirm -_-) your point about Europe as a continent ends up being moot in terms of experiencing racism and conformist pressure, especially online, as well as the types of both that are experienced. It sucks for poc in ways I cannot adequately describe in words (the darker your skin, the worse it gets) and on top of this I've no shortage of accounts from European-descended friends/acquaintances who don't like how we got here either, since the homogeneous whiteness thing messes with their sense of cultural identity. I suppose "Western" probably would be a better term, for what it's worth, except the East also has its own style of colorism to worry about, at least going by accounts more informed than mine. It's a whole mess. Hope that came across coherently, I tend to ramble. Really appreciate this video otherwise though. Thanks for making it! I had heard about BT a couple of times but also minimize my time on Twitter on general principle, so it was nice to get a refresher and know it's still a thing. :D

[@marianbaker7800]

Did you name yourself after Fiona and cake or Fiona Shrek wife?

[@Fionapollo]

After Fiona the hippo

[@foxtrotbibi]

Sometimes, it only looks like people are fighting for the equality of one race, yet they say that they're doing it for "all races".

[@LJXrot]

I was beyond scared seeing you post this. But im happy i stayed and watched :) I absolutely love making non-poc characters into ones that look like me. Theres absolutely no problem making [NON POC](SPECIFICALLY) into a different race. Im extremely happy you agree theres no problem turning non-poc characters into poc ones. . The problem is that when people turn race important (anime) characters into poc ones, where their race is the important focus of the story. The "Make your own character" arguement is the most "You shouldn't have been resisting" type arguement to me. We dont choose to not have less black characters than you. And most of our favorite characters are faire skinned people with straight hair and ero centric features that are ALWAYS the goodguy. Why not edit them to look like me? It doesnt get rid of the already cemented design so why does it matter. People make up long arguments that just means "I dont like black people."

[@applepie2209]

At least someone finally acknowledges that it's okay with NON-POC and not POC

[@dameslayer]

Yeah but when it comes to genshin, the country is important to the characters. Such as china’s equivalent being Liyue, and the economic growth of losing a leader. Inazuma, the Japan during the isolation period.

[@LJXrot]

@@dameslayer 😭imo genshin doesnt count. For Culturally important characters it is indeed important to emphasize weather youre making them mixed raced with their respective races. China is a place populated by chinese people, they have no shortage of representation in their own game unless they make it that way, i see what you mean, but thats not the same

[@dameslayer]

@@LJXrot yeah. I mean you shouldn’t apply western standards of representation to other countries anyways.

[@Atomicherrmann]

not gonna lie... i never heard of this !

[@lilyofthevalley3059]

I feel like people need to be more consistent with their reactions to race swaps. You should just be extremely mad about someone doing a race swap from one race to another while being okay with swaping another race for another. Taking into account how the artist presents their race swap is also important. For example, you shouldn't treat someone who "made the character better by making them black/white/etc." (something that's not alright and sounds racist since you are saying there was something wrong with their original race) the same way you would someone who just wanted to see what the character looked like as another race (something I at least think is okay to do). People from the first group should definitely face some backlash (no harassment) whether they're swapping around black/white/etc. characters. The second group on the other hand should not face backlash. As said in the video the change is temporary and does not change or take away the original character. If the one who did the swap is not being racist (making remarks or doing something to indicate they think the character is better because their race is different, indicating there was something wrong with the character's original race; etc.) there is no harm done and people should just be able to let their creativity flow. It would be interesting to see a version of a character of every race to see what other differences there could be other than their skin color.

[@matrixpictures7799]

Yeah

[@mysryuza]

I see Blacktober, like Black History Month, a time for black artists to express their love for art and appreciation for their people and who they are with their own characters or black characters. I wish people didn’t take advantage of that to “fix” art and make race swaps. In general making non-black characters dark skinned rubs me the wrong way as a Asian/SEA-Black biracial person when they could have done cosplay drawings instead of racially stereotypical, performative trite (legit not every black person is dark and with dreads and afros). 💀

[@sokokokoko]

I'm black and I've never even heard of Blacktober lol

[@redlightning6495]

is there a "blacktober" for other people of color?

[@r7inyz]

All over my current twitter feed I see artists race-swapping white characters instead of drawing already existing black characters. it's pretty annoying I guess?? but hey, none of my business.

[@lolanola1783]

The only thing I don't like is when they make other POC as Black. I am Southeast Asian, and I really dislike when people make asian characters (and other poc, but this is just my personal example) Black. Like when they draw anime characters who are CANONCALLY Japanese, as black. "Everyone in anime is japanese!" So? anime is made BY japanese FOR japanese. sure it's popular worldwide, but that wasn't always the case, and even today it's rare for a japanese person to see a black person in their daily life, unless they live somewhere like Tokyo. I personally don't really care about blackwashing white characters, but not POC. let us have OUR representation. And yes, I consider japanese and alike characters as my representation, because unlike black folks, I have NEVER seen (for exmaple) Filipinos represented. Be happy that you get representation at all...

[@SavageGirl1930.]

Okay I got a question because I'm genuinely curious is it okay to turn a black character white just to see what they would look like for fun like meeting yourself in an alternative universe like a white character meeting a black Alternative self from an AU? Is it wrong I'm curious I don't want to disrespect people of color so if this is wrong then I am sorry for writing this or disrespect any poc in the comments

[@noneofyourbusiness2477]

I’m not a spokesperson for black, or POC communities for that matter, but imo I think it depends on the character and why you want to see the character be white. It’s literally harmless in your case if you just want to see what they could look like; the problem comes from people who have malicious intent in wanting certain characters to be white, just to take jabs at POC. For example, the “well if Tiana got whitewashed it wouldn’t be okay” crowd. For context, that character’s whole identity is based around her blackness. A huge conflict for her was literally wanting to own a restaurant and the Jim Crow era South impeding on that. Of course you couldn’t make her white, that doesn’t even make sense. But if you made, say, Mirabel from Encanto a white/white passing Latina, there is not a single thing about her story that changes. I guess what I’m trying to say is this: context matters.

[@SavageGirl1930.]

@@noneofyourbusiness2477 ohhhhh I think I get it! Thank you I will remember that I just don't want to harm or disrespect anyone's origin and we're they come from but that makes sense so thank you

[@wakkaseta8351]

@@noneofyourbusiness2477 Funny thing is that logic only applies to Tiana. No one had any issue with Naveen in the movie when realistically they should've, money or no money.

[@leukosethel7684]

Look hate to make childish comments but uh 69 comments. Also this video was very awesome and I love your art

[@TheobaldLeonhart]

I admittedly, don't really like blackwashing (also, please note that I'm white. So this could just be a like, outside looking in situation) Mainly because 1. I honestly feel like drawing characters that are already black, or creating black characters, would be better representation Like for example, I really like lgbt headcanons (one of my favourite, being trans/ftm Sonic). But that's just it, they're headcanons. And if I want to see them, I'd have to do something like "transgender ftm Sonic the Hedgehog". Which, feels iffy (again, I'm white. So this is the closest example I can really do) 2. I feel like it happens most often, with Asian characters. And like, sure. Cosplay is something. But like... You're basically doing, what you complain that people do. When you blackwash characters like, Inuyasha

[@Max-Rtpmp]

I'm sorry but even as a black guy the argument of "there is more white characters than other races so it's okay" is in my opinion hypocritical and just nonsensical. The argument rests on a invisible and completely arbitrary line. Yes there are more white characters in western media but does this justify erasure of this race representation to elevate another( I use this term cause it's what's used for whitewashing)? Some may say yes cause of the difference in representation, but that difference isn't something that you can exactly quantify. Erasure of white representation is okay because there is so much, but if the difference in media diminishes or is equal to none, who's gonna say" okay that's enough representation, we can stop racebending now"? And how will this person come to that conclusion? What even is enough? Should you have at least one black character? one poc character? one character of every race or social group? the exact same amount of representation for everyone in every show? The answer will vary from person to person, so the answer to" what's enough representation" is that it'll never be enough. Because it would become a game of quota instead of the creator coming up with the characters he really wants to make.

[@useyowords9745]

Lol howdy from Texas

[@dr_dave512]

Blacktober should be used to create new characters and stories not high jack other peploe's stuff.

[@Te3time]

it wouldve been a lot better if you had brought on a black artist for this video and had a dialogue with them imo kinda sucks how the only quote you put in this is from stan lee who is a rich old white man also its weird to say if a character's canon nationality/ethnicity is important to the story then they cant be black like there are black japanese ppl..?

[@sleepylionking1103]

Blacktober isn’t wrong. I’m a POC and literally all Blacktober is is artist taking a character they grew up loving and making them black bc they would’ve loved that amount of rep as a kid. We have been subjected to so many pale skinned characters and when there was a black character, they would be a side character or the butt of jokes. And don’t start the whole “but Japanese’s characters are getitng their ethnicity erased” because Blasian or just dark skinned Asian ppl in general are discriminated against and BARELY get representation within Asian and non-Asian communities. Blacktober is harmless and fun and it’s nothing to be pissy over. And ppl saying it’s just as bad as whitewashing are the bane of my fucking existence. Whitewashing is done to be racist and hateful and remove representation. Blackwashing isn’t a thing. Making a white bitch black is just giving something more rep. Rep that we should’ve gotten CENTURIES AGO but didn’t. Only time I don’t agree with making a character black is if the character’s whole personality and stuff is connected to their race. Like, if you make Steve Rogers black, it makes no sense bc there’s a whole story within Marvel that directly connects to his skin color.

[@rainy4902]

It’s not like you can ONLY draw black ppl during October, or that October is the only month a black person can be drawn, it doesn’t limit creative freedom, it’s an optional challenge, you’re not forced to do blactober at all. But than people will say “why isn’t there a white art month?” Entirely missing the point that every month is pretty much white art month. Or they know every month is white month, but they want something more, they want a month where you can only draw white people, that is harmful, that is racist, that is problematic. But blacktober, that isn’t problematic at all

[@user-lv5rd6kb5o]

How about not assigning race to months at all, you racist?

[@mink2882]

Hima got whitewashed?

[@Fionapollo]

Way back when i first started with videos yeah. It was around the time Thumin was experiencing a lot of harassment

[@mink2882]

@@Fionapollo 😑

[@ladyolinden]

Okay the writer I am has to point something out with the mermaids are fictional point: Mermaids are fictional (at least in these circumstances lol) but that doesn’t make it okay in certain contexts to do just anything as each context has its own law of the land to abide by. It’s like the non European characters in medieval fiction argument: Dragons tho fictional are a part of actual medieval Europe’s culture and context. Would it be unheard of for a darker skinned person to be in Europe then? Probably not entirely but it wasn’t a common occurrence and that’s why unless the media notes a reason why then it doesn’t make sense. To have a medieval European setting for these days is more of a vine itself so on this actual point I tend to not cate as much unless the content is aiming to actually reflect Europe itself and not an alternate universe in which different peoples there makes sense. But back to mermaids! Mermaids can be danish (original story mind you), black, translucent, green, or even an almost uncanny valley dolphin human cgi disaster. With the little mermaid it hits different because of the current culture war (as an American who has grown up in the heart of this stuff, trust me when I tell you it used to be much better and now one group is being put above another group based not even fully on melanin/pigmentation but in stereotypical attributes that aren’t kind to the group I am not within) so you have a strained dynamic of one group constantly on eggshells and another group (this is particularly with the younger folk, sad regardless tho) growing a bit entitled and superior. And while it isn’t all and probably not even the majority (irl most people are cool with each other, the internet amplifies this stuff) it still feels an attack when a character known for living in European waters with pale skin and blue eyes and recessive hair is changed in her own story that she is best known by. I’ve seen fan art of both Ariels together and they’re beautiful! And I think if the current social climate wasn’t as such or if it was an entirely new retelling then the contentions wouldn’t exist. Imagine if we had Little Mermaid retellings from coastal countries all over the world! Throw in some sci-fi alien versions and some horror/supernatural kind as well! We could have it all!!! And instead we get these things and events that end up doing more harm than good it seems. There are points and technicalities that do mean good come from things like pride month and blacktober, but both are at the point of being more making a statement than they are to uplift people. I say this as a bisexual woman who significantly leans lesbian, mind you. Media and reality are connected, intertwined, and feed into and off of each other. As a content creator this is something I’ve paid attention to and even been part of in various ways. I think in general (from my closed view of being American despite the internet and international friends of years) people would be fine with reimaginings of various types but it has become so much more that it drives wedges between communities, which hurts us all in the long run! Mind you, while some appearances and origins are being uplifted others are being put down and it ha already been felt. I had two nieces born within six months of each other back when: one a pale blue eyed blonde like is common in the family and then one who is half Latina. They’re both beautiful and always were and yet there would be comments (not when the girls were around but still) about how mixed babies are especially beautiful… as if the Scandinavian looking of the two is less beautiful! Again, I live irl in the heart of this stuff. It’s gotten so much worse since I was younger. And living here I know for a fact it’s more generational than it is cultural/ skin tone related. I understand everyone means well except for trolls just looking to agitate others, But the fact is these sorts of things cause far more tension than there even needs to be at all! Give me a little mermaid from Denmark, from Greece, from the Ivory Coast, from Madagascar, from Taiwan, from New Zealand, from Brazil, from Mexico, from Cuba, from the Pacific Northwest, from the moon, from anywhere and everywhere! They all can coexist!!! But in this situation it’s being used by some (a minority even but the impact is still substantial) to make societal matters worse. All this from a white American woman who has gone to school and helped with friends of various tones to console our rather dark and “ethnic” featured friend while she cried about being called an Oreo by one of the literal gangs bussed all the way out to our schools…! People don’t understand how heartbreaking it is and how the issue hasn’t been helped but the opposite within my own lifetime. Awful things did happen in the last and there are still incredibly terrible situations to this day! But it isn’t getting fixed so easily and right now it is being worsened and fallout is ensuing because of it. It’s almost at the point with these representation months where we need to do away with them all. If some groups are more represented and people can’t behave then no one gets represented for a special month XP We’re all people and I wish we could overall just respect each other and admire each other and live and let live. I do appreciate this video and apologies for the lengthy post here. This isn’t geared at you (Fionapollo) specifically, more just a general voiced perspective from someone who lives in the trenches in real life and online (not much choice online lol)

[@gothkurata]

honestly i dont like calling blacktober problematic, i would say that its just fiction but some brainhead will say "well then whitewashing is ok isnt it" its not a problem to draw your interpretations of anime characters but when you try to draw every poc as white to "make a point" (which is what a lot of whitewashers do) then it comes off as malicious instead of drawibg the media you love in a way you enjoy. like the eyedropper tool is there as well as facial references for you people who "cant draw black characters for some reason". im going to bring up the halle bailey situation too. i dont mind her being black, but people's immediate response was disgust and racism and whitewashing. whitewashing is usually made out of ignorance or spite or racist intentions literally from most of the artwork ive seen. "blackwashing" may be the same if the poc is an asshole, which can happen, but MOST of the time theyre just doing it for fun. not out of hatred for the original skin tone, not out of dislike of the character, but it may be from a media they enjoy, and so they want to give their take. its problematic if the person is problematic, that doesnt make a whole event a problem. and you might say "its racist to change a person's skin tone" its a drawing. for fun. its not trying to take away your representation. its not made from hatred or spite like whitewashing. its not real, pls move on.

[@jaderoze9156]

I’m a black girl that looks mixed so I get 0 representation lol.

[@noneofyourbusiness2477]

Haha, I’m a black, mixed looking girl who’s also redhead on top of it. I also get 0 rep.

[@smb.]

Make it or ask or continue with how it is. Y’all act like there aren’t options or like ur being prevented. Oh well 😂

[@noneofyourbusiness2477]

@@smb. I’ll do it when you start writing coherently and stop writing in run-on sentences, lmfaooo.

[@smb.]

@@noneofyourbusiness2477 I think you should do it after you’ve learn to comprehend simple sentences or not at all tbh 🤷🏽💀

[@noneofyourbusiness2477]

@@smb. Let me rephrase that: learn how to use proper grammar, then maybe we can talk. It’s hard enough talking to someone who’s already lacking in common sense and intelligence in the first place, then I have to decipher gibberish on top of that? I need you to pick a struggle.

[@spatiumjunk]

I don't think blacktober is a bad idea but it feels like people are often doing it the wrong way. I saw so many blackwashed characters, even if the artists diden't talked about "fixing" it's clear that some of them show that they don't like the original white versions. I was called racist for joking about how the comments would be if it were a black character who was drawn white.

[@totallynotaddie3096]

Why only blacktober? Shouldn't we also have asiantober+ other races-tober or something? I feel like maybe we could really try other races as well to make it more diverse!

[@mariazapata1606]

Not October asianmarch, Easteruly, and disablecember and personal favourite pride month

[@noneofyourbusiness2477]

If that’s something other races are interested in, then they should do that. No one is stopping anyone from making an Asianvember or Latimay something. They should just make it their own month.

[@smb.]

Ask those races then cuz black ppl wanted it and made it. So unless ur actually brain damaged you’d know that you can’t “wish it” into existence just cuz you sarcastically want “diversity” lol

[@karilovecake2323]

It's like this bc in some countries its black history month on october so taking the spotlight from there seems sorta wrong

[@KiyoshiArts]

Something I wanna add is that I dislike when people say “just make your own character”. Not everyone have the chance to become mainstream. And sometimes when they do, they just get looked over.

[@curlycurlartist8308]

Well, a even though some original black characters don't go mainstream, they can sometimes have a niche audience that they appeal to. It's better than settling for sloppy seconds and blackwashing characters that aren't even black.

[@XiaoIsMyHusbandBTW]

Also it’s dumb because usually I’m talking about a specific show, do they expect me to right a whole show just to see someone darker skinned characters?

[@wakkaseta8351]

So it's not about creativity then, just popularity and marketability.

[@cosmopoiesecriandomundos7446]

14:10 yeah, a problem I often see a lot as someone living in a developing country is people trying to bring racist issues from the US. Like, often they're well intentioned and want to fight the problems, but they are fighting against something that doesn't work that way here, and they actually end up bringing a bit of that racism around the issue with it. This actually doesn't apply just to racism, but to other social problems as well. For example, many of the aspects of "white culture" and "black culture" in the US are racist by themselves. Often, people here in Brazil will borrow some of these aspects. While Brazil is a racist country, I would say it's less so than the US, and that often, these cultural borrowings actually further divide people. I mean, the very dichotomy of "white culture" and "black culture" is racist in my opinion, as I don't believe culture should be so connected with race/ethnicity. So it saddens me when people try to imitate the US in an attempt to avoid racism and end up adding more layers to the problem.

[@wakkaseta8351]

I thought white people didn't have any culture according to those people.

[@user-uzmpy432]

... wth? I'm out. I'm just drawing here and some people going to tell me which is right and wrong. The h@ck, nonsense, I'm going to draw whatever I want.