Sunday Mailbag- Racial Stereotyping?

Q: I’d just like to get your take on recent news on CNN about the editorial cartoon satirical depiction of Serena Williams’ on court tantrums. My question is where do you draw the line from being funny to being racist especially when your target is a race other than Caucasian?

A: This is a sensitive issue for caricaturists. Since you asked my opinion about this specific cartoon, we’ll start with that. Here’s the cartoon he’s talking about:

“Specifically, concern was expressed that the cartoon depicted Ms Williams with large lips, a broad flat nose, a wild afro-styled ponytail hairstyle different to that worn by Ms. Williams during the match, and positioned in an ape-like pose.”- Australian Press Council

As far as this cartoon goes, this or one very similar is likely the reference cartoonist Mark Knight used:

Personally I think the caricature is not all that good as far as editorial cartoon caricatures go. Those are so necessarily simplified as to often become more like stylized cartoon representations than real caricatures, but those can be the toughest kind of caricatures to do and many editorial cartoonists are masters at it. Knight certainly did not want this to be flattering, but of course he wouldn’t… it’s a critical commentary.

So is this a racist depiction? Examining her face she he has a broad flat nose, and frankly he didn’t over exaggerate that. The hairstyle isn’t exactly the same but it’s close. He got the bulky, frizzy pony tail part. As for the body being “ape-like”, that is ridiculous. I’d draw almost the exact same action pose of someone stomping up and down on something in a fit of anger no matter what the race of the subject. It this was a caricature of John McEnroe throwing an on-court tantrum no one would consider the pose “ape-like” for a second. If I had a problem with the exaggeration of anything it would be the mouth and lips. Serena has full lips, but not enormously full ones. She also has a pretty strong jaw and chin, and Knight made her bottom lip so big it obscures her entire chin and jaw. Those are not her features. He also completely missed Serena’s incredible cheekbones, probably her most prominent feature.

In summary the cartoonist got some things right but completely ignored Serena’s most compelling feature, her cheekbones, in favor of over exaggerating her lips (a stereotype of those of African decent) to the point where they actually obscured another pretty strong feature–her chin. Poor choices at best, racist at worst.

All that said the subject of racial stereotyping and caricature is a real issue. After all, your job as a caricaturist is to exaggerate the features of your subject. Sometimes those features are ones that are considered stereotypical of the race of the subject, and to exaggerate those features can be construed as racist by some. The generic depictions of Asians in media and pop culture during World War II are good examples.

I’ve written this here before… my philosophy has always been: be aware of racial stereotypes, but don’t be afraid of them. There are many racial stereotypes that people deem offensive. Giving Asian people squinty, slanted eyes and big buck teeth, for example. Or drawing black people with big lips or a broad, flat nose. Giving Jewish people big noses. These are stereotypes and automatically applying them to a subject because of their race or ethnicity is both wrong from a caricature sense, and offensive from a social sense.

That said, it’s just as wrong to ignore the actual features of a subject to avoid the appearance of stereotyping in a caricature as it would be to add them in without cause.

Stereotyped features didn’t just get made up for no reason. There are real, physical differences between the races and even regionally throughout the world, and it doesn’t stop with the skin color. Asian people do not have “squinty, slanted eyes” but they do have a fold of skin above their upper eyelids called the epicanthic fold which partially or fully obscures both the inner corner of the eye and parts of the upper eyelid, and which appears with more or less prevalence depending on the person. That is a real, physical difference from non-Asian races. Black people often have fuller lips and wider noses than the other races, again the prevalence of which varies individually. There are real, regional tendencies with regard to physical features as well. Eastern Europeans have a different “look” than western Europeans. Scandinavians tend to be fair haired and skinned with blue or lighter eyes, where as Spaniards tend to be dark haired and dark complected, with brown eyes. The great melting pot that is Planet Earth has been chipping away at these differences for generations and there are many variations and combinations, but the differences between the races and regional ethnicities are not myths.

Where they become stereotypes is when they are indiscriminately applied without reason because of race. When drawing individuals you draw what you see. If the subject in front of you has very prevalent big lips, you draw them with big lips. whether they are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.

The only caveat to that is when at to what degree you exaggerate these features. I’m more sensitive to exaggerating what is perceived to be a stereotyped feature, so won’t do it unless the subject REALLY has features that demand it. In other words, if my subject is black and has only slightly bigger, fuller lips, I will not exaggerate that feature. I’ll only go there if those lips are a truly prevalent part of their “presence” or look. I sometimes get comments on this caricature I did years ago of Biggie Smalls from people saying it’s racist “because I gave him big lips”:

Well…

Sorry, I didn’t give him big lips. Genetics did. I just drew them. He has really big, full lips and they are a very prominent part of his look. NOT drawing that is racist, IMO. If he had just “kind of” full lips and I did that to him, that would be both inaccurate and wrong.

I won’t exaggerate stereotypes just because they ARE stereotypes, and I’ll avoid exaggerating features that are considered stereotypes if the subject only mildly has those tendencies, but I will not avoid exaggerating those features if the subject truly has them and it’s part of their “presence”

Thanks to Ricky for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!