The Colour of Beauty

Jun 25, 2010 23:07

Have y'all seen this documentary yet? It's only 17 minutes, so get to watchin'!

fashion, racism, race, documentaries

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Comments 7

frogpyjamas June 26 2010, 22:04:47 UTC
that was fascinating (and painful to watch), thank you for sharing. I shared it with some sociologist colleagues.

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coco73 June 27 2010, 06:21:19 UTC
Yeah, I almost choked on this a few times. There is much that's troubling in fashion.

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withoutscene June 27 2010, 03:42:48 UTC
They musta made this up, cuz racism is over! *eyeroll*

Fat is the last acceptable prejudice, my ass.

I'll save this for my section on race and beauty for WOST this fall.

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coco73 June 27 2010, 06:20:48 UTC
I was thinking I should have put a trigger warning on it. The racism and fatphobia are really blatant and hard to take.
There's a lot of other problematic aspects - like Jeannie Becker saying she's hesitant to call racism racism - but I think it's pretty useful in how it exposes just how blatant and not "accidental" racism is in fashion.

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withoutscene June 27 2010, 13:29:40 UTC
No yeah, it's absolutely useful. And yes, lots of it was problematic, but that's also what made it so useful. To SEE it makes a difference. "Dip a white girl in chocolate." That's a really important point about the extent of exclusion, racism/race relations, etc. And measuring her tiny ass is as well. Just like white models don't have to be "flawless," I wonder if their asses can be bigger, too.

My snark on racism and isms was more directed to our outside social world rather than the doc. I was just watching and thinking, "And how to people say there's no racism? And how to people say fat is the last acceptable prejudice?" Not that there aren't a billion other examples, but I think the uncomplicated blatancy here is well, the kind of racism that you'd *think* someone would have no trouble identifying as racism.

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atwistedstring June 27 2010, 16:51:19 UTC
Fuck that was intense. The part where the dude was like, "Yeah, she's beautiful, she's got a great walk, but I'm worried because her hips are wide. She's got a very womanly body," that was just... I was speechless. Not because I wouldn't call her body "womanly," but because of what that word signified to him, and how explicit he was about models needing to have no curves whatsoever.

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coco73 June 27 2010, 19:26:23 UTC
I agree. All of the racist and body fascist statements made like they are completely normal is exactly what gives this little piece its impact.
A womanly body being something to fear gave me the creeps, too.

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