Black or White? The Issue with Artists Humanizing Non-Human Characters

If you made it past the title, congrats! You are on the journey of learning about racism, and all its subconscious context. As a cosplayer, I really enjoy it when artists take it upon themselves to humanize some of my favorite non-human characters.

Humanizing animal characters is probably my favorite form of art, because as a cosplayer it helps me create a costume that could be otherwise DAUNTING, and it’s fun to see how artists keep the aesthetic alive with their humanization.

For example, Tomatoa from Disney’s "Moana" was brought to life as a beautiful, over the top, SHINY deity that gave me ALL the feels. She’s elegant, covered in gold, and it’s not lost on anyone who she's supposed to be. I love the detail that went into this from the hook on her necklace, to the crown on her head, and the makeup in between. She IS Tamatoa, and she will eat. You. UP.

Another example is Disney’s “The Lion King” Scar, portrayed as a beautiful African man with locs, and the most stunning eyes. His hair is rightfully messy, and he looks like he’s BEEN done with Mufasa’s shit. Long live the king, indeed.

As much fun as this art style is, we still have problems (oh… you thought this article was going to be fun?) I cannot count on BOTH hands how many times I’ve seen artists white-wash a character when they give them their “human” form.

We’re not naming names, but how many times have we seen Simba—a lion in Africa—portrayed as a red haired, tan, but not brown/black, skin human? How many times have we seen Goofy, Mickey, and Donald get drawn as the default “Black hair, white skin” human? It’s almost as if artists can only see non-human characters who aren’t strictly colored dark as white people. One thing artists have agreed on—or at least consistently do—is if the animal is a gorilla or a monkey then they should definitely be drawn as a black person.

Now if you’re still with me, and you’re asking yourself, “Where is she going with this?? Is she saying ALL artists are racists?” Yes. I would say artists are racist, but let me clarify the term “racist.”

The hardest thing to overcome when talking about racism is separating the idea that racist=bad/evil person. When I try to talk about racism around white people, you would think I'm talking to them about the anti-Christ or some shit. It almost always ends with Karen going on about how much she "loves black people," and "has a black friend," and "voted for Obama, and would do it again."

Racism is BAD, there’s no argument there, but racism is so prevalent and ingrained in our thinking that we are prone to racist thoughts, actions, speech, and currently, artwork.

The more I experience racism, the more I've begun to understand that there is a scale when it comes to racists. "Hard" racism is literally wishing death unto black people, and promoting white supremacy. "Soft" racism is subconsciously thinking that drawing a gorilla as a black person is okay because to draw a gorilla—an animal native to Africa—as anything else would be “wrong." Within that logic, you are choosing to ignore, or are oblivious to the LONG history of portraying black people as monkeys and gorillas, and the hatred that comes with it.

"Soft" racism is what we deal with every day from hearing white people ASSUMING every black woman loves Beyonce, or assuming their “black friend” somehow absolves them of any racist tendencies. “Soft” racism isn’t any less harmful than hard racism, but it needs to be understood that growing up as a non-POC means you’ve been exposed to every scale of racism, and unless you are actively debunking racist ideas—you’re gonna be a lil (a LOT) racist.

On either end of the racism scale you are doing harm, but "soft" racism I will confront, and tell you how you're being racist. "Hard" racism and anything close to it will immediately get you blocked.

Note—I need a better term than "soft" and "hard" when discussing racism, and don't think for a second "soft" racism is acceptable. It's not. It's what I am willing to point out and talk about in the hopes of helping a white person confront their racism head on, but it is NOT a form of racism I will excuse as if it's harmless. Racism, no matter the degree, is harmful.

It's not impossible for artists to include a black version of a non-human character. Just recently, “Black Hole Chan” was added to our list of "chan" characters, and some of the most popular illustrations portray the "black hole as a white or pale skin Asian woman. Now, I’ll admit, the previous planet-chan characters have all been cute anime characters, but I feel like, when the term “BLACK” is used you could make a black anime character… and a few artists did.

I cannot express how empowering it was to see “Black Hole Chan” as a beautiful black woman. Her hair is an afro, and a vortex of yellows, reds, and oranges. Her skin is dark as onyx, and rich as an ocean reflecting the night sky. I’m not even going to pretend like I’m not biased—this interpretation is my favorite, and the best version of a non-human character ever. PERIOD.

Non-human characters should be given the chance to be portrayed as any race. They don’t inherently have a “skin color” and an artist’s interpretation can run wild, but enough with the default, “if it ain’t black coded, or a monkey its gonna be white.” It makes me, as a black cosplayer, feel seen, and I appreciate it when artists create a character that looks like me. It won’t stop me from cosplaying them if they don’t look like me, but the inclusion is appreciated. So, artists, do better. The world is too damn diverse for us to only have white people be everything.