Subject:
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Re: who's feelin the black pack?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.starwars
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Date:
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Wed, 9 Aug 2000 15:59:36 GMT
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Viewed:
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552 times
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In lugnet.starwars, Jeff Jardine writes:
> In lugnet.starwars, Sid Mark Dinsay writes:
>
> > Any person trying to say that minifigs represent any particular group is
> > probably delving a little too much into the meaning of an imaginary world in
> > the hopes of playing the race card.
>
> Right on. I'd suggest they are delving in WAY too much.
>
> Suggesting that TLG make different coloured heads to represent "black heroes"
> in minifig form is imposing foolish Western Hemisphere PC politics upon a
> company based in a place that is decades ahead of the US in terms of "The Race
> Issue."
Somehow, I suspect it's more like a homogeneous white society (Denmark) being
completely clueless about the rest of the world. They chose yellow because
that was the standard Lego color closest to their perception of "flesh". I
don't see this as being ahead of us in race, just ignorant.
Perhaps I'm wrong and they considered all this from the word go, but my
suspicion is that the "yellow equals everybody" is a retroactive excuse. If
they had it to do over again, all minifigs probably wouldn't be yellow (and
note Duplo if you doubt me).
> To the vast, vast majority of Europeans, "The Race Issue" is a non-
> issue, and I bet many of them get a kick out of threads like this one.
I doubt it.
> [Disclaimer - By "Race Issue," I mostly mean "Colour Issue," because I realize
> that religious barriers are still huge in many places.] On top of all this,
> does anybody really think that the truly repressed people in the world really
> care about whether there are LEGO toys sharing their skin colour?
If they buy Lego, yes. Oh, admittedly more annoyed than anything.
>
> During part of my childhood, "Fat Albert" was my favourite cartoon. It wasn't
> until I became an adult that I realized, "Wait a minute - all those kids were
> black! And so is Bill Cosby!!" As a child, I only saw a bunch of funny
> cartoon kids. Why am I saying this? Because I think kids who play with LEGO
> see their minifigs the same way - raceless. That is, unless there is some
> adult poisoning the child's mind by blatantly drawing lines between people of
> every skin tone, and giving each "race" their own name. And what is a "Black
> Hero" anyway? Is Michael Jordan one? I don't recall hearing any friends of
> mine (black or otherwise) calling him that - it was always just plain "hero."
I asked my son about how he perceives Lego. He doesn't so much see them as a
specific race - they could be asian, european, Indian (paused while he thought
about it though - his friend at school from India is on the dark side), but
NOT sub-saharan African (black). No one may be bright yellow, but blacks
simply aren't that pale. Lego failed "The Emperor's New Clothes" test
(children call 'em as they see 'em).
>
> Anyone who sees the lack of brown-headed minifigs as an "issue" must realize
> that it is only an issue in their own minds.
In this country (USA) blacks were for a long time excluded and vitually not
even admitted to exist. Store mannikens: all depicted europeans. Newspaper
and magazine ads: white people. And on and on. Disney's "It's a Small World"
delighted a lot of black people because they could actually see themselves for
once. Which only shows you how bad the situation was <g> - and the other local
theme park (Knott's Berry Farm, just a few miles from Disneyland) didn't even
let blacks in at the time. If there wasn't such a long and sordid history of
this kind of thing, it might not be an issue for minifigs.
> I'll go as far to say that
> attitudes like this may have frightened TLG into avoiding a Lando fig, because
> no matter how they colour him, it will be controversial to some small-minded
> people.
Lego has no one to blame but themselves. And if Billy Dee Williams has
approval rights (which actors often do), they may not have a choice - but I'm
willing to bet that he doesn't in this instance since minifigs are so
abstract.
Bruce
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: who's feelin the black pack?
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| (...) Right on. I'd suggest they are delving in WAY too much. Suggesting that TLG make different coloured heads to represent "black heroes" in minifig form is imposing foolish Western Hemisphere PC politics upon a company based in a place that is (...) (24 years ago, 8-Aug-00, to lugnet.starwars)
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