Serena Williams Cartoon, Unflattering Yes, But Racist?

[anotheoldgit]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6151635/Australian-newspaper-Herald-Sun-eviscerated-racist-cartoon-Serena-Williams.html

Cartoons are not meant to be flattering, the cartoonist takes the most prominent features of their subject and exaggerates them and has always done so.

[aelmpvw]

racist? no
funny? yes

[anneasquith]

Funny , no . Racist, yes.

[Spicerack]

Made I smile.

[dannyk13]

Not racist

[murraymints]

lol..caricatures are simply that by definition..funny

[aelmpvw]

i don't see that osaka has been depicted as white, she looks virtually the same as williams to me

[anotheoldgit]

anneasquith

/// Funny , no . Racist, yes. ///

It is quite normal to have a different opinion regarding certain cartoons being funny or not, but racist?
Could you please explain why you think that it is racist?

[Old_Geezer]

Cartoons are caricatures. If folk object to one of a black woman then either they're demanding special consideration for black women, which is discrimination, or they are objecting to the subject's real features, which is racist.

I reckon folk who see sexism and racism where none exist are simply holding an inappropriate PC outlook on life. They need to look at their own motivations.

[andy-hughes]

I am in agreement AOG.

Cartoons like this are caricatures - they exaggerate all the obvious physical features of the subject, that is perfectly standard, and it makes the point.

I think that saying that Ms. Williams' opponent has been 'whitewashed' is reaching for a racist attitude which I believe is not only not intended, but is not present.

[AuntLydia]

Its not racist its funny and probably true! What's the world coming to that no-one dare depict a caricature of any non white person without cries of Racism. Some people need to grab a sense of humour!

[andy-hughes]

Old_Geezer and I have cross-posted, but obviously we see this in the same way.

[anneasquith]

I think the blonde hair of the opponent is what makes it slightly racist for me .

[AuntLydia]

Anne, seriously? How? Why?

[andy-hughes]

Anne - // I think the blonde hair of the opponent is what makes it slightly racist for me . //

To be pedantic, racism is an absolute, something is racist, or it's not, there are no degrees, so it can't be 'slightly racist'.

That said, I think people are looking for an agenda where non exists.

If a cartoonist actually wanted to make a racist point, there are plenty of ways to do so, more than simply exaggerating physical features, which is what the majority of cartoonists do, and have done for centuries.

[anneasquith]

Thanks for the lecture andy. I would say.........yes, racist .

[jno]

agree with anneasquith. Where did Osaka suddenly get that blonde hair from? Somehow the cartoonist has taken a protest about sexual inequality into one about race - so how can that not be racist?

[jno]

... and turned it into...

[anotheoldgit]

anneasquith

/// I think the blonde hair of the opponent is what makes it slightly racist for me . ///

If you look closely at the cartoon and not what it says in the report, I think you will find that it is not blonde but single strokes of black ink to represent strands of hair.

[Arksided]

whinge and moan... typical woman ;-)

[Bazile]

The cartoonist is definitely saying something with that blonde hair ( whether he / she intends any racist connotations for doing so who knows )- but why give her blonde locks?