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> Basically, your supposing that kids apply all races to the figs rather than
> perceiving them as NOT representing all races.
No, I'm supposing that kids don't give a rat's ass about race. Kids play.
It's we, the adults, who teach kids about race, or rather, skin color (given
that we still are only one race, something we should perhaps also teach our
kids...).
> Part of that understanding is that people are NOT all the same in appearance.
Kids KNOW this already. They will know it as soon as they watch a Disney
movie.
> To say they are all the same is a political statement.
Not if your toys don't claim to be realistic representations of the world.
> Luke (Mark Hamill) is pale. Lando (Billy Dee Williams) is not. Yellow is
> pale.
Yellow is pale to YOU. That's part of the entire problem with this
discussion: the subjectivity.
> As to the political message, your in denial. It's the crux of the problem.
Nope. But I have noticed that the projective side of the human nature can
often grow to ridiculous proportions whenever people feel that politics
might be involved.
It's damn easy to project a political message into the Lego minifig
you-can-have-any-color-you-want-as-long-as-it's-yellow approach, especially
given Lego's country of origin.
If you want my take on choice of color: When Lego first started
manufacturing representations of humans, they didn't have the capacity to
produce bricks in more than, say, seven colors. Of all those, yellow was the
only one that even remotely suggested human appearance (blue, green, white,
red, gray & black all being too artificial). After a couple of years,
technology did make a choice of color possible, but the instant recognition
involved with Lego System minifigs was such a strong attribute of the brand
that changing it would be outright stupid.
Now... Up to now, yellow has been used to represent HUMANS. But what should
they do when they want to represent real people? Well, people suggest they
should start dealing with multiple skin colors. Again, that would be totally
moronic, given the instant brand recognition aspects involved with the
yellow, smiley faced minifig (although they do have expressions these
days...). Also, Lego System Star Wars don't inhabit a universe of its own.
It lives right next to the city, rock raider, what-have-you sets.
By "avoiding" a better representation of skin color for their minifigs, Lego
isn't sending out a political message, the only thing their saying is "hey,
everybody knows & loves the minifig. We don't give a rat's ass about what's
PC in your book, so just shut the f**k up & let your kids play with it."
& that's it.
> But YOU have made it a political debate just as much as anyone.
In what way? Because I'm "in denial"?
I'm sorry. You're wrong there.
You can find political messages in anything, as long as you want to. That's
the beauty of human imagination. Sometimes, though, I wish people would use
it for better purposes.
T.
--> thomas weigle | w.i.m.p.
web: http://www.ya-ba.net/
------------------------------>
.iMMersE your soUL in LOVE.
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