What does it mean when someone says that a cartoon character is (x something) coded? Like isn't that just stereotyping?
What does it mean when someone says that a cartoon character is (x something) coded?
What does it mean when someone says that a cartoon character is (x something) coded? Like isn't that just stereotyping?
yes
"coding" is a real thing referring to when a character isn't X but made to look exactly like X
Garnet for example is black-coded, because she's an alien, therefor not technically black, but made to appear very clearly black
the issue is that because coding is
1. an intentional thing on the author's part, and we can't always know what the author intended
and 2. depends on the audience 'getting' what the author is putting down, which in some cases, again like Garnet is easy... but other times may be more difficult
it's sometimes hard to say who is and isn't reeeally coded, and so homosexuals like to use the term to fight their personal ideological battles, because the best ammo is the vague and invisible kind
is Darwin "black coded"? probably not, but we can't know for sure
what we do know is that ultimately that doesn't fricking matter because it's all fiction and thus all fake, misunderstanding the authors intent isn't a crime, nor it outright ignoring them
and i don't give two asses off a rat what political losers online think
so really do whatever you want with this info, buddy
I never understood black coding for Darwin. Like what the hell does Darwin have that the TAWOG fandom automatically labels him a black character? His VA? That's it?
Also
t. black
yeah pretty much
it's not really coding of his character, so much as it's just people who are race-politics obsessed noticing that his v/a is black and running to hell and back with it, which wouldn't be an issue if it only extended to their fanart of him, but the fact that they also extend it to their politics as well as berate people who see him otherwise if not downright strongarm them into agreeing with their headcanon is what makes the whole thing unpleasant
a lot of people headcanon Darwin as ginger, which makes sense... man's orange... a lot of them are non-American too who don't know his voice actor and also aren't familiar with neither the American "black voice" nor with how hardcore African Americans are politicized there, so those are unfortunately the people who get the blunt of their pissy rage
>but the fact that they also extend it to their politics as well as berate people who see him otherwise if not downright strongarm them into agreeing with their headcanon is what makes the whole thing unpleasant
That's true, I remember seeing artwork of Darwin being drawn as white or atleast light-skinned and half the comment section were complaining about it.
>so those are unfortunately the people who get the blunt of their pissy rage
those same people don't even consider for a second that someone they're talking to might not be from america and therefore don't understand how americans treat blacks. I'm from ireland and I've been told before to say "african american" instead of "black".
>aren't familiar with neither the American "black voice"
Is this talking about the literal or figurative black voice? Because I'm not an American and I can't tell Darwin's VA is black from his voice.
Figurative. In america we have this strange idea that you should "believe all people" of a race or gender or sexuality on that specific topic. It was a noble cause, but it quickly just devolved into them lying to get what they want. It's like when Homer became the chosen one of the stonecutters and they had to do whatever he wanted, even though he was clearly abusing his power.
He’s adopted and a different color than the rest of the group, has large sneakers and is voiced by a black person.
Yes, this makes you black. Get over it
The fanbase in inconsistent with this. Garnet and Rose Quartz are basically the only main gems who aren't voiced by an asian person, but none of them are ever drawn as asian. Then with rose, she's voiced by a white woman and rose looks like a white woman, but they tend to make her anything but white. I really think it's just some kind of weird virtue signalling, but it always amazes me how virtue signalling about race always seems more racist than actual racism, because those people aren't even aware they're doing it consciously, while actual racists are fully aware of what they're doing or saying.
>I really think it's just some kind of weird virtue signalling
pretty much
you have to remember most American sociopolitical kiddies, as well as those who's politics are inspired by them, view the world though a sort of "oppression hierarchy", where the more 'of color' you are the blacker you are, asians are more oppressed and thus better than whites but only by a little bit, browner and more oppressed and thus better than asian, and blacks are at the tippy top of the pyramid
you can make anyone blacker but you can't turn anyone white
it's as stupid as it sounds and unless you're as fascinated by stupidity as me, you're free to ignore it
How do they reconcile with the fact that countries with a predominately darker skinned population tend to be less developed? American racism isn't responsible for Somalia being poor and dangerous.
They don't, usually, their politics are very Florida centric and "black person" only extends to Rebecca from accounting who's family has been in America for six generations
Also this seems to be stepping away from the topic of cartoons so careful with that, that's the kinda shit that derails threads
>Also this seems to be stepping away from the topic of cartoons so careful with that, that's the kinda shit that derails threads
Sorry, I'm mostly active on Cinemaphile so that kind of thing doesn't get banned. I don't do a lot of posting on Cinemaphile so I'm not as familiar.
lol it doesn't get banned on Cinemaphile either, Cinemaphile in general became a shithole where nobody wants to discuss to topic of boards, but Cinemaphile is by far the worst of it
still, some of us still like cartoons on here
The answer given will always be colonialism/imperialism. I'm from the Philippines and that's what I hear the most.
(me)
To elaborate, the most common argument in its most basic form is that undeveloped countries are undeveloped because they are/were exploited/bullied/invaded/taken advantage of by countries more developed.
I always thought Garnet was black to resemble her voice actress and that stuff like this was done because it's less about politics and more about aesthetics.
Meanwhile, coding in my actual opinion has to go deeper, shit like--
And this is the easiest example ever but I know it's a retcon or whatever, but the X Men, even though in the original comic they're treated like hero's because that's what they are and realistically mutant hate wouldn't be real, and they later got retconned into being an allegory for discrimination based off genetics, but they're the easiest example to pick on.
You can have a character who is drawn with black traits but he's a lizard, or someone like Frylock who's voice actor is black but is canonically just fries that sound black so he can become a white supremacist average /misc/ user meanwhile it won't be an actual coded type deal unless it's made clear, the only place coding is required anyhow is fantasy settings, or childrens shows that can't be explicit. Even stuff like Beastars or Zootopia don't fit into coding they've mastered the art of being vague as shit stories.
Both are true
Garnet is coded very obviously and clearly, whereas Mr Shake is more subtle but noticeable if you watch the show
In cases like Zootopia or X Men it feels weaker because it's an afterthought, not the original intent
The voice actor thing is interesting in a lot of cases because they will draw the human version of a character as whatever color the actor is, unless they're light skinned. People always draw frylock as black because his VA is black, but they draw meatwad as some kind of bronze skinned hispanic kid even though he shares a voice actor with Carl. And interestingly master shake, who is easily the most cruel and sadistic character, is usually drawn as white.
Tan Meatwad can just be tan white boy.
That said the humanification aspect again ignores the fact that the reason that those characters were drawn like that in the first place wasn't that deep beyond the voice actor, so when you ascribe a race to them of course some things won't make sense. Redraw the white supremacist scene with Frylock and the joke turns from a layered joke into "Oh he's black but he's a white supremacist."
To clear Darwin specifically: He is black coded for many reasons. Every voice actor he's had has been black. In the one example I can remember where he's depicted as human in the show, he's shown as being black (it was a bit, but still). And pic related was posted on the official cartoon network twitter, officially putting an end to the argument in April of 2023. Hell his way of speaking, and lingo sounds black.
Yes he's a fish so he's not actually black so this doesn't count as strongly as "black-coded" as say, Garnet like in this post but they definitely do intend for his voice to always be black, and if he WERE human it should be black.
Not really related but I fricking hate these "characters in other styles" things that CN and nick did, nick's were especially bad. Almost all of nick's were just to draw the character as the new show's main character but with a different design.
>In the one example I can remember where he's depicted as human in the show, he's shown as being black (it was a bit, but still)
Link to this?
?t=23
Like I said it's a stretch and barely counts but it's the only time I can remember him being shown as a human and not as a dog (kek)
WAIT SO THE WATTERSONS ADOPTED DARWIN BUT TREAT HIM LIKE A PET?!?!
>ADOPTED DARWIN BUT TREAT HIM LIKE A PET
well thats what white americans do with black orphans, so I guess darwin being black coded makes more sense now
they dont treat him like a pet at all. except the part where he doesnt have a bed and sleeps in his fishbowl still but he seems to prefer it that way. But he was originally a pet. A pet that turned into a brother
Well, legally he is still the family's pet fish.
To add: I remember Mr. Robinson saying something racist towards him in before which drove home the idea that he's seen as foreign compared to the rest of his family. He said something like "You speak English very well!" in that really funny racist way where you enunciate it slowly
>To add: I remember Mr. Robinson saying something racist towards him in before which drove home the idea that he's seen as foreign compared to the rest of his family. He said something like "You speak English very well!" in that really funny racist way where you enunciate it slowly
Here's the clip you are talkin about anon
?si=ZjY4kW-WUsv2ovZL [Open
>and before that he said Gumball's hips were massive
ooouuuhhh... femboy catboy confirmed
If only he was real anon
He's cute
>Darwin "black coded"
No, Darwin "dog coded"
this, at the start of the show darwin was just the family pet and most jokes about what he 'really' is depicted him as such
later on is when they realized him just happening to be played by a black actor meant people will go nuts for it, they started 'coding' him as black
it was an afterthought
Wait, this was official, wasn't it. The idea of garnet celebrating or even knowing what kwanzaa is is silly.
https://twitter.com/cartoonnetwork/status/1342884613144915970?lang=en
>character has locs or locks, whatever they're called
>this means they'd be black if they were human
as someone who is black, this actually does feel kinda fricked. what makes this phenomenon even stranger is that i see other black people parroting this stuff.
i mean, i'm not saying you HAVE to be offended, it really may just be a cartoon or whatever showing culture at the end of the day, but don't you feel like you're being stereotyped on some level?
They did this with Knuckles as one of the older examples I can think of. Although that might have been intentional because I think they specifically made his shoes the color of the Jamaican flag. I guess because he lived on an island in the sea?
Fellas, if looking black=black coded and black voice actor=black coded does this mean Newts in Amphibia are actually black because King Andrias is, and if so does this mean Amphibia is the black supremacist society Martin Luther Kiiiing Jr always dreamed of? And if so does this mean the Plantars and Calamity Trio were the bad guys for robbing our black kangs of their birth right?
>Darwin waterson is black
I really don't wanna be that guy but what did euro gays mean by this?
I'm not super familiar with gumball, only seen like two episodes, but wasn't darwin originally a real pet goldfish who became anthropomorphic or something? would making him an actual pet not have been appropriate?
You're right on the money, he's technically the family's adopted pet who got legs cuz the power of love .
So he's not just black coded he's afro-latino coded.
Yeah but thats just Mr. Robinson being clueless about Darwin's race is
Guys don’t overcomplicate it, some characters are black and gay and shit without being black or gay. No need to go crazy coping with it