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In lugnet.mediawatch, Rob Antonishen wrote:
Actually, I think there are some good issues that are raised in this article.
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Some highlights are:
“One look at a child’s Lego village will show the company’s disdain for an
integrated society.”
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There is some validity to the argument that yellow more closely represents
light-skinned people. The author oversteps by calling it “Aryan yellow” to be
sure, but this toy *was* made in a racially isolated part of the world. A
factos that is important but that was not considered was the limited color
pallette of Lego at the time, of course.
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”...minorities are often stereotyped.”
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The place this is most evident is the releasing of the NBA sets with black
figures. I know these represent real people and that is why the decision was
made - but it ruined the idea that yellow could represent people of color. Now
we have brown heads for NBA players and one themed set, I believe. I loved a
recent MOC that used the NBA players as pirates, but this was unofficial. So,
yes, as a company, Lego has stereotyped the brown heads as basketball players
and nothing else.
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“Such racial profiling is appalling...”
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I agree that the Ninja and Orient Expedition themes and particularly their
“backstories” are racially insensitive.
“In an effort to avoid the conflicts of religious persecution, none of Lego’s
sets involve themes of religious nature”
And I think this is a shame. Playmobil makes an Advent calendar that one can
build a nativity diorama with - Lego makes one that you can make into a robot :P
Why not make an Advent calendar with religious symbols (actually, I think last
year’s actually included an angel, which surprised me)? A menorah set might be
a good idea too if the market supported it.
Should Lego, as a company, address these issues? Maybe. It might behoove them
to consider these kinds of things so as to appeal to a wider market or to at
least appear to be “with it” and aware of culture and change.
Anyway, I didn’t think the article was all bad. Simply accepting things “out of
the box” is bad and I’m always glad to see things reasonably questioned.
--
Thomas Main
thomasmain@myrealbox.com
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Thomas Main wrote:
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”...minorities are often stereotyped.”
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The place this is most evident is the releasing of the NBA sets with black
figures. I know these represent real people and that is why the decision was
made - but it ruined the idea that yellow could represent people of color.
Now we have brown heads for NBA players and one themed set, I believe. I
loved a recent MOC that used the NBA players as pirates, but this was
unofficial. So, yes, as a company, Lego has stereotyped the brown heads as
basketball players and nothing else.
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Keep in mind that caucasian NBA players were also included in flesh tone:
Steve Nash (Canada)
Dirk Nowitzki (Germany)
Pau Gasol (Spain)
Tony Kukoc (Croatia)
... so I don’t believe the stereotype is in the NBA figs (although, they were a
bad idea from inception. Less than half of the NBA licensed figs are still
wearing the same uniform, and some are on their second new team already - what a
mess).
The real problem came with Lando and the SW line in general, IMHO. Lando should
have been a yellow fig, to match the rest of the line at that time, and to
reinforce the idea that yellow was not synonymous with caucasian.
-nk
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Thomas Main wrote:
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”...minorities are often stereotyped.”
|
The place this is most evident is the releasing of the NBA sets with black
figures. I know these represent real people and that is why the decision was
made - but it ruined the idea that yellow could represent people of color.
Now we have brown heads for NBA players and one themed set, I believe. I
loved a recent MOC that used the NBA players as pirates, but this was
unofficial. So, yes, as a company, Lego has stereotyped the brown heads as
basketball players and nothing else.
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Well we do have a brown head in Star Wars sets for Lando and they are used in
the new Spider Man sets as well, so they have broken way from just the NBA sets.
But I do understand your point.
jt
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In lugnet.mediawatch, James Trobaugh wrote:
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In lugnet.mediawatch, Thomas Main wrote:
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”...minorities are often stereotyped.”
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The place this is most evident is the releasing of the NBA sets with black
figures. I know these represent real people and that is why the decision
was made - but it ruined the idea that yellow could represent people of
color. Now we have brown heads for NBA players and one themed set, I
believe. I loved a recent MOC that used the NBA players as pirates, but
this was unofficial. So, yes, as a company, Lego has stereotyped the brown
heads as basketball players and nothing else.
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Well we do have a brown head in Star Wars sets for Lando and they are used in
the new Spider Man sets as well, so they have broken way from just the NBA
sets. But I do understand your point.
jt
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I think the official line is that anytime something is licensed, then the
flesh-colored figures can be used. If you look at the Ferrari sets, the crew is
yellow, but Barichello and Shumacher are flesh-colored. Spider-Man, Harry
Potter, and Star Wars are all licensed products, just like Ferrari.
Now, I don’t know about Duplo...
But I’m of the personal belief that anybody can destroy anything if they want
to--people read what they want into anything if they are incensed enough.
Just look at what’s going on in Lee County, Florida...
-Scott Lyttle
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