http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7357648n
Recently, Beyonce did a photo shoot with for French magazine L'Officiel Paris. It was a shoot that used her as a symbol for racial reconnection though particular ethnic clothing choice and makeup making her skin appear much darker than it is in reality. The photo shoot was aimed to be a tribute to Nigerian cultural roots, but sparked much controversy because of the fact that Beyonce's skin was darkened with makeup. This sparked controversy due to the fact that this was something done in America during times of cultural oppression to represent black people. Though I personally find this to be merely a tribute to the Nigerian culture, I do think it is rather interesting how it is highly taken into account the details are. The details meaning not just the "blackface," but the choice of clothing being seemingly animalistic and tribal, assuming that all Nigerians are not as civilized as whites and wear clothing that make them appear stereotypically fierce and wild. This is done keenly by using Beyonce, who happens to be of African decent, as the model. If this had been a model that had not been of African decent, it may have been looked at as even more offensive and controversial (i.e the America's Next Top Model episode) Beyonce, being an artist who posses her alter ego as a woman named "Sasha Fierce" allowed for the magazine's editors to use her for the editorial thinking she would be the good figure to represent this culture. Still, regardless of her race and artist portrayal, the public found this to be offensive and controversial do to American history of societal oppression through similar representations of blacks.
I see how this can be offensive, because it's like Beyonce (who has light skin) is doing Blackface but instead of African Americans being the ones made a mockery of, it is Nigerians. Nigerian culture is not about dark skinned saber tooths and cheetah print. I think anytime you feel the need to "darken" someone's skin to get a message across, there is something wrong with the message.
ReplyDelete"Blackface" has a negative connotation. The term was made popular due to do minstrel shows, which involved unpleasant stereotyping of black people. The black paint was mostly used by white performers. Therefore, due to the history of the makeup, I do not believe that it was wise to use it. If Beyonce was truly trying to reconnect with her roots why didn't they just use her natural complexion in correlation with the outfits? I believe that the people in charge of the photo shoot are illustrating the idea that you must be ebony black in order to connect to such a rich culture, which is of course false; this is an example of an intended meaning gone wrong. However, they must have surely been aware of the historical context. This raises the question of what exactly where they trying to accomplish and who were they trying to target?
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