Flashback Friday.
In her article “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh talks about a number of types of white privilege, including using the phrases “flesh tone” or “nude” to describe light skin and featuring mostly white people in tv, movies, and advertising.
When I’ve had students read this article, they often argue that it just makes sense to do that, since the majority of people in the U.S. are white. They also question what other color could be used as a “neutral” or “normal” one. In fact, this is exactly what was argued in the comments to this post about the “white” Facebook avatar.
But English Russia points out that in Russia, it’s not uncommon for people in cartoons to be black; not Black racially, but literally black. Below are examples of these cartoons, introduced with English Russia‘s translations.
“My pussy could have Whiskas instead of whiskey.”
“Sir, don’t throw away the empty bottle, I would take it to the recycle point for spare money.”
“Tourist: ‘Is it true that the Earth is round?’ Men: ‘We don’t know son, we’re not locals.'”
Despite the fact that many people in Russia would be classified in the U.S. as white, these cartoons obviously use the color black as a neutral color — the people in the cartoons aren’t Black in any racial sense, it’s just the standard color the artist has used for everyone. You might contrast these with things in the U.S. that are labeled “flesh” or “nude” to counter the idea that there are no other options but a sort of light peach color to be the fallback color when you aren’t specifically representing a racial minority.
Thanks to Miguel at El Forastero for the link! Originally posted in 2009.
Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.
Comments 21
jfruh — May 16, 2009
It's also interesting that the word "black" (well, the Russian word for "black"), when used as an ethnic term in Russia, generally refers to Chechens and other groups from the Caucasus region. Not only would these people be read as "white", or maybe Middle Eastern, in the US, but they are literally Caucasians.
opminded — May 16, 2009
So in Russia they use black as neutral and in the US they use white as neutral... Is there a problem with either? I don't see it.
Why do Korean Cartoon Characters Look so Caucasian? « The Grand Narrative — May 16, 2009
[...] 2: Interestingly, the default color for Russian cartoon characters is [...]
caitlan — May 17, 2009
Woah, trying to read those cartoons as neutral or white is a head trip.
eric — May 17, 2009
@jfruh - a Russian immigrant acquaintance of mine couldn't understand why so many Americans identified themselves as "Caucasian", until I explained that it was a euphemism for "White". She found that bizarre.
Marta — May 17, 2009
Interesting, it seems that the "shilouette" style of the French '700 has survived. In Russia. Well, it's not so surprising given the cultural tidings between the countries.
The "caucasian" part (comment by eric) is a nice point too - living in the UK I see that people here use "white", and I wonder where the difference comes from (does anybody know? has it something to do with the language used in segregated America?).
On the other hand, racism in Russia is AFAIK much worse than in the US - so I would not say that these cartoons prove much in terms of antiracism.
Coco — May 17, 2009
Are you suggesting, based on these cartoons, that in Russia the standard band-aids are black? ;)
Duran — May 17, 2009
It's funny.
On this blog, if you paint cartoon characters white, you get called out for being non-inclusive.
OTOH, if you are producing an ad, and toss in a black or Asian, you get called out for strategically placing minorities to appear inclusive.
If you run a computer website and release a version targeted towards women, you get called out for being condescending and misogynist.
OTOH, if your site contains typically male presentations of goods, you get called out for the same.
Wow, this is great.
al oof — May 18, 2009
duran, those things aren't opposites. a site containing typically male presentations are called out, and a site containing typically female presentations is called out. that seems pretty even handed, doesn't it?
Kelly — May 18, 2009
This appears to be the work of a single cartoonist. I'm not sure if it could be taken to accurately represent the majority of Russian cartoons.
Meep — May 18, 2009
Just out of curiosity, is there a reason uncolored/shaded cartoons can't be any less "neutral" than these silhouette people? I'm trying to figure it out.
anon — May 18, 2009
also, what is going on in the first cartoon? whatever it is, it seems kind of violent, kind of misogynist, and kind of poorly chosen as a 'neutral' example of russian cartoon visuals. (they're all black, because black is neutral! ...also, they're all casually sexist, because casually sexist is neutral!)
Galina — October 16, 2009
Actually these cartoons are not only from the same cartoonist, they are from the same newspaper : Moskovsky Komsomolets. This newspaper is really a tabloid type. And no "white" person ever appeared there.
Unfortunately, this is the only newspaper I remember that publishes original comic strips, so I cannot compare it to anything else.
Stunning Example of the Neutrality of Whiteness » Sociological Images — December 2, 2009
[...] contrast, see this post about how the generic human in Russian cartoons is colored black instead of white. 58 Comments Tags: bodies, color, race/ethnicity, race/ethnicity: Blacks/Africans, [...]
M — January 2, 2010
I know this is an old post, but I wanted to share another example of black as default colour, in a very popular series of Dutch children's books. It's not something that's done in the country as a whole sadly, but the "Jip & Janneke" series is illustrated in that way and is probably the most read children's book series in the country:
http://www.freewebs.com/mieketjeke/Jip%20&%20Janneke2.JPG
I just thought I'd leave that here, haha.
Teri B — June 13, 2010
Wow, those translations are terrible. Only the last one is accurate. The first one is almost the opposite of what the text actually says. (Ie, the man is making a play on the commercial slogan of "My kitty would like some Whiskas" to tell a liquor store vendor "My kitties would like some whiskey."
ALPHA.MALE — November 14, 2014
I am an American man, and I have decided to boycott American women. In a nutshell, American women are the most likely to cheat on you, to divorce you, to get fat, to steal half of your money in the divorce courts, don’t know how to cook or clean, don’t want to have children, etc. Therefore, what intelligent man would want to get involved with American women?
American women are generally immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste. The behavior of most American women is utterly disgusting, to say the least.
This blog is my attempt to explain why I feel American women are inferior to foreign women (non-American women), and why American men should boycott American women, and date/marry only foreign (non-American) women.
BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN!
www.boycottamericanwomen.com
/../. /,.,., /,./,
confused — November 27, 2014
if they're not coons why have those two got nigger hair
Whiteness as the default « Anthropological Blogapology — January 7, 2015
[…] http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/11/14/using-black-as-a-neutral-color/ […]
donna1205 — September 12, 2024
Score touchdowns in Retro Bowl Unblocked game. This classic football game offers endless fun. Play now and relive the glory days of arcade sports.