Okay, so this has been bugging me for an extremely long time, so I decided to write a post about it. I hate to say it, but the cosplay community is subject to racism as much as any other community (and that in itself pisses me off to no end, but that's another story for another day). Now, I just want to say that in my opinion, it doesn't matter what color your skin is, cosplay whoever you want! If you want to cosplay a white character, go for it! If you want to be a character who happens to be black, go for it! If they're green, or blue, or purple...I think you get the point I'm trying to make. If you want to cosplay any character, do it. If anyone bashes on you because 'your skin tone makes your cosplay inaccurate', ignore them!
All of that aside, I also want to point out that racism isn't just targeted towards one race; it affects everyone. Here's an example:
A black girl wants to cosplay as Sailor Venus (a character who is typically white), while racist cosplayers will insult and bash on her for cosplaying 'outside of her skin tone/race', the rest of the community is cheering her on and telling her that it doesn't matter if she's black or white; she can cosplay whoever she wants.
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| This is a photo I found on Pinterest. And look at her, she is totally bad-ass looking and is totally rocking her cosplay! |
But, (and yes there's always a 'but') the same can (and does) happen in reverse.
A white girl wants to cosplay Storm from the X-Men series, or even Moana from Disney's new film with the same name (who are both black characters-- well Moana is Polynesian, but you get the point; she's not really in a white person's 'skin tone'), will get as much hate as a black person who wants to cosplay as a white character.
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| I mean, look at this: she looks totally bad-ass! I don't see why she should get any hate whatsoever; her cosplay looks incredible and she seems to be having fun. |
Personally, I don't see why we can't just all have fun cosplaying characters we love and admire or feel a connection with.
Personal example: I'm super-white (I'm the palest person in my family) (see image below for reference.)
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| I'm so pale, my own parents even said I look 'sickly pale' (I don't get much sun to be honest) |
And I, like several people all over the world, watched and loved Disney's "Moana".
Like several other people all over the world who have seen this movie, I felt a real connection with the main heroine; Moana.
Now, I won't bore you with why or how I feel like I can relate to Moana and all that stuff, but I will tell you this: even if I'm 'sickly pale' as my oh-so-loving parents were so willing to announce to me, I will probably end up cosplaying her. I mean, why shouldn't I? Because I'm not Polynesian? Because I'm as white as they come? Because I'm an American/Canadian who has Irish, Polish, and a bunch of other different heritages in my blood? That's utterly ridiculous! So long as you don't try to 'color match' your skin (as in try to make your skin darker to match a character's skin-tone or vise-versa if people even do that?), I don't see why you shouldn't cosplay whoever you want.
I mean, we can cosplay as green or purple or blue characters, but everyone loses their minds when we cosplay as a character with a 'natural' skin-tone that doesn't match ours? Is anyone else seeing just how ridiculous this whole ordeal is?
Cosplay is about having fun being a character you love, regardless of their skin-tone. If you don't believe that, then maybe you should just leave the cosplay community.
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Wow, it felt incredibly good to let that out. Anyway, my next post shouldn't be as serious (and hopefully won't be a rant!) and I hope you still enjoyed this and if you disagree, that's on you, but don't ruin the cosplay community for everyone else who loves it.
Until next time guys!
-SerenaTheMoonPony
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