can race coded characters be used to be racist? | #stevenuniverse #starvstheforcesofevil #cartoon — Transcript

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1. 0:00Can race-coded characters be used in a
2. 0:01racist way? Let's talk about race
3. 0:03coding. Now, race coding is the practice
4. 0:04of giving implicit traits or the
5. 0:05utilization of particular stereotypes,
6. 0:07the likes of which all line up with
7. 0:08specific groups. A lot of people argue
8. 0:09some racial coded characters are based
9. 0:11in racism and use the guise of racial
10. 0:12coding to protect the fact that they're
11. 0:14being inherently racist. Right now, this
12. 0:15conversation is being had with Star vs.
13. 0:17the Forces of Evil. Some fans argue that
14. 0:18Princess Smoothie carries an
15. 0:19uncomfortable level of racial coding due
16. 0:21to the combination of her character
17. 0:22design, behavioral tropes, as well as
18. 0:23voice acting. Though the character does
19. 0:24have a black voice, a lot of people call
20. 0:26into question the implication of
21. 0:27depicting a minority voice actor as a
22. 0:28kind of grotesque exaggerated not human.
23. 0:30Which in a vacuum wouldn't be an issue,
24. 0:31but because of their utilization of
25. 0:33AAVE, a lot of fans are pointing out the
26. 0:34fact that the creators literally used
27. 0:35black features and black vernacular on
28. 0:37an established repulsive character, the
29. 0:38likes of which could come across as a
30. 0:39[music] racist caricature. In Steven
31. 0:41Universe, a similar sentiment was echoed
32. 0:42with characters like Sugilite, primarily
33. 0:44stemming from the implication it comes
34. 0:45to manifest her, as well as the behavior
35. 0:46she depicts with other members. It goes
36. 0:48without saying Garnet is a black-coded
37. 0:49character. She's depicted with an
38. 0:50afro-textured hairstyle, as well as full
39. 0:52lips. And Amethyst is often read as
40. 0:53Latino or black-coded, [music] carrying
41. 0:54more marginalized cultural mannerisms.
42. 0:56So, when these two seemingly coded
43. 0:57characters become Sugilite and they
44. 0:58become a massive, unappealing,
45. 1:00disgusting monster that's out of
46. 1:01control, it might come across that the
47. 1:02author's trying to say something about
48. 1:03these two groups. Nevertheless though,
49. 1:05both of these shows have very explicit
50. 1:06text about racism and the nuance
51. 1:07regarding acceptance, the implication of
52. 1:09depicting characters that go directly
53. 1:10against or line up specifically with
54. 1:12black stereotypes does give very mixed
55. 1:13messaging considering the messaging of
56. 1:15the show as a whole is very centered
57. 1:16around [music] the acceptance of others.