Comment by Ja-y JTBD on Rok

Comment on ReplyRok
·6 months ago(edited)
Ch. 2
@Rok there's a solid chance I'm going to regret making this comment a month from now. 

Honestly I don't think his appearance is that bad, for a fictional story of this genre. I'm black, me and my sister have relatively pale skin and have had both straight and curly hair, both of my brothers have also had straight hair, it wasn't that hard to do. I've also had blonde hair and my siblings have thinner noses than me. Both my parents are black immigrants, that shouldn't matter but I'm adding it just case someone hits some bs like saying "you're not black enough"

I dislike the fetishism of black men that this genre seems to enjoy but what you're describing are stereotypes that not all black men have; you putting them in a box of only being allowed to have certain features might also be harmful.

I'm not going to read the rest of this story cause I personally didn't like it or the comments but if he is black, you saying he can't be because he doesn't fit your personal views of black people is also terrible in a similar but opposing way

As a tangent you can also complain about the lady having no nose, being pale as paper and having the body of a model despite being an average tutor, etc. There's a whole host of bs beauty standards to complain about that this genre really loves using despite being caustic if applied to real life

2 Replies

·6 months ago(edited)
@Ja-y JTBD You're greatly misunderstanding something. In my 3 years of trying countless manhwa, black characters are EXTREMELY rare, and when darker-skinned characters do appear, their features often lean heavily toward "eurocentric features".

Almost no information is given when this happens, so it's hard to say what race the characters actually are. This may be so that the race is ambiguous or generalized for the audience since black people and dark skin are perceived as "ugly" and "uncomfortable".

I've seen black people portrayed 2 times in manhwa in the 3 years I've been reading, and I'm sure they're black because as I said before, the portrayal is to the point where it's pretty racist. They didn't do that here. I haven't read all of the chapters(bc this story is terrible), but from what I have read, they haven't explicity stated or implied that the characters are black, but from experience and cultural context, it's highly unlikely that these characters are black. If it turns out that they are, then that's another problem, but I've already addressed that.

Anyways, that's what I meant when I was pointing out the features. I know that not all black people don't share the same look and I’m very aware of the diversity in black features(ex. blue eyes, blond hair, straight hair, light skin etc etc). We're the most genetically diverse people on the planet. If anything, they're putting blk people in a box by always leaning toward "eurocentric features" instead of having a more balanced representation.
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