Photo Credits to: Adeib El Masri
Over the last few years, Disney has been working on live-action remakes of their film classics. Last September 2022, they released the first official teaser trailer for the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. The Youtube video quickly gained views, but the reception was not all too positive. There were a million dislikes, in comparison to 284k likes. Is it coincidental that this happened right when Disney casted a woman of color to play the role of the main protagonist in Little Mermaid? How is social media playing a huge role in these sequences of events and how does globalization get into the mix? Let us find out.
Defining Western cultural imperialism
Western cultural imperialism is defined by domination in the media field around the world of the western country, which has a huge influence on other countries on their views and beliefs that destroys native cultures. One of the common effects of Western cultural imperialism is whitewashing because the majority of the media is produced in Western countries where they mostly employ white people, which affects other ethnicities. Because Western cultural imperialism is a broad topic to discuss, we shall touch on other aspects and examples of it and seek to advocate to avoid the problem as a whole. Still, we will focus on the relevant aspect of whitewashing.
Whitewashing is discrimination by the practice of altering some circumstances that benefit, give favor, or cater to white people. One of the most common industries that whitewash is the films, series, or television industry because they usually replace people of color characters with white actors. Over the years, the media has helped to lessen the whitewashing happening in the community by spreading information on the different ethnicities and by casting characters based on where they are from.
People of color are people who are not considered white including African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islander Americans, multiracial Americans, and Latino Americans. They usually are the ones who are affected by the discrimination, which significantly affects their mental and physical health due to the stress of stereotyping and how the media portrays them.
What are some examples of whitewashing in our modern age?
1. American dream
Oftentimes, we see non-Caucasian characters in television shows aspiring to achieve the so-called “American dream” which basically makes people think that there are limitless opportunities to become successful in the American society
Television series and movies available on streaming services like Netflix also serve as a medium for selling the “American dream” as it exposes people to Western goods like Nike, Adidas, Levi’s, and more
2. Lack of diversity in media
Television shows like FRIENDS and fashion magazines like Vogue have received backlashes over having insufficient representation of people of color
If you remember the #VogueChallenge that went viral in 2020, that was actually a call for promoting diversity in the fashion industry
3. Eurocentric beauty standards in media
Products (such as whitening and hair-straightening products) in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, which oftentimes target women of color, show that modern beauty standards are aligned with having Eurocentric features such as small noses, straight hair, and lighter skin
This can also be further expanded to numerous huge make-up and beauty companies not having an inclusive line of their products to cater to women of color
Why is it a problem?
One might say that this problem does not directly cause physical harm to people. That could be said, but then this problem penetrates into the system. Western cultural imperialism has led to the spread of not just Western ideals of beauty, but also the decline of local cultures around the world. It affects more people than one might think. People of color (Africans, Asians, Latinos, Arabians, and many more) coming from different gender and age groups are affected by the rampant Western cultural imperialism in the media. Among those who are greatly affected are the women and youth who are oftentimes experience body shaming, with some cases developing body dysmorphia as a result.
Magbalaue’s Kwentong Kayumanggi: Embracing Diversity
1. #Kayumanggi
When we think about it, the global issue of Western cultural imperialism through social media is a vast problem. Social media platforms cannot be removed completely, as we know that they play major roles in our lives now. If it is vast, we can perhaps start small, we can start in our own country. It was discussed earlier that because of social media, western beauty standards are being advertised as more attractive or superior. Because of this, Caucasian features are being set as standards. We can observe here in Asian countries, particularly the Philippines that there is a market for whitening products. You can go to malls or local groceries and would notice that there are whitening products because people want to achieve fair skin. Local beauty and make-up brands in the Philippines, also, ironically have limited shade ranges for their products. This opens the idea that you must first be fair-skinned to be able to use these products.
One of the advocacies of our group is to use social media not to promote Western beauty standards, but instead to start a campaign called #Kayumanggi, which is to encourage Filipinos, especially the youth, to embrace their own skin.
The hashtag is free to be used by netizens to share photos of them embracing their natural color, their experiences of how they have come to embrace this despite the fair-skin beauty standards, or they may share encouragement for others who are pressured to subject themselves to the said imperialist standards. It may also be used to share the struggles that one faced or experienced in relation to this issue, so that it may bring awareness to others on how they can deal with similar situations. We may think experience-sharing may be something small, but it truly goes a long way to know that there are people who had the same experience as you and that you are not alone. Through this campaign, the group will also make efforts to debunk the long-standing association of one’s skin color to their social class and more, their worth. The hashtag will be used to share how we can achieve unity amidst our diverse skin colors and how we are to progress into modernization carrying with us a better understanding of each other’s differences.
The hashtag gets its name from the song of a local Filipino band, Ben&Ben. If you have watched the music video or even simply listened to the song, you would know that it sends such a powerful message. This is an example of how we can use the media to promote embracing cultural diversity. The message of the song is what I would say to my younger self because there was a point in my childhood where I could not embrace my own color because I was bullied by other kids for it.
2. Promoting media inclusivity
People all over the world with different cultures can view and create media, which brings about the topic of diversity, specifically forcing diversity vs representing it. In short, forcing diversity arises from treating characters as symbols to cater to an audience (i.e. J.K. Rowling’s queer baiting) as opposed to making genuinely good characters who are XYZ (i.e. Brooklyn Nine-Nine). It must be noted that:
Good characters can still adhere to stereotypes (autistic representation in The Good Doctor, TBBT, Attorney Woo).
Accurate character portrayal lies in the research of cultural background, not necessarily the background of the actor.
3. What would a Biologist do to catalyze change?
On Melanin Matters: As biology students, we usually are exposed to the intricacies of the human body — how it works, the aspects that make the human body different from another organism, and even the things that make the human body as we know it now. One of which is the substance called melanin, which is mainly responsible for the pigmentation of the body like eyes, hair, and skin color.
This melanin substance in the body is most abundant in people of color and it has many advantages that give more beneficial attributes to people with brown or darker skin tones.
Being less prone to sunburns
Being less likely to acquire skin cancer
No need for tanning products
Skin aging is slowed down
Melanin targets free radicals that cause dryness and skin cracks
In line with this, as students of Biology, we can make use of our knowledge in science to teach people, especially the youth, that being brown/dark-skinned is not something to be ashamed of. In fact, we have all of these benefits that lighter-skinned people do not possess. As students, we can teach them about the beauty in embracing themselves because there are various definitions of beauty that society and media influencers most often fail to address. Furthermore, integrating Science in teaching self-affirmation to the youth would be beneficial, considering that it is backed with factual evidence from research and medical references.
We, students, could also teach the youth that we, ourselves, are beautiful in our most natural and unfiltered state and that our differences in skin color or origin do not alienate us from society and its set standards. We could also make use of popular personalities all over the world as examples that clearly present how we, people of color, have the capability to fight against the odds and be given the same recognition that light-skinned people have.
Priyanka Chopra
Hoyeon Jung
Viola Davis
Pia Wurtzbach
Zendaya
We can accomplish this by collaborating with schools and teachers. By giving us the chance to speak about these causes to their students, we are starting these kids young. In the future, they would be able to break the barriers we currently have.
It comes with a sense of pride to see other people wanting to achieve something that you effortlessly have. However, as it is in Economic globalization where we are encouraged to work on what we do best, we must also apply a similar concept in our culture. We cannot all have a uniform culture, this is not the way to achieve peace and progress. If we all have the same culture, it makes us not only bland as people, but we will also share the very same weaknesses. When we fall short of certain things, the lack of diversity would lead to our collapse. Media, especially social media, is a powerful platform. While we are seeing how it can be used in a negative manner, we are capable of turning things around and using it to our advantage. That is what our group ultimately calls for.
For a summary of this blog post and our advocacy for this week, check out the infographic below:
Bibliography:
Gillespie, C. (2022, November 22). What Is Whitewashing, and Why Is It Harmful? Health. https://www.health.com/mind-body/health-diversity-inclusion/whitewashing
John, A. (2013). 5 Reasons Why I’m Happy To Be Brown Skinned. https://www.womensweb.in/2013/08/5-reasons-why-im-happy-to-be-brown-skinned/
Melanin. (n.d.). https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/22615-melanin#:~:text=Melanin%20is %20a%20substance%20in,exposure%20your%20ancestral%20population%20had.
Obayendo, T. (2019). Brown Skin Girl Challenge: Dermatologists List Benefits of Dark Skin. https://pharmanewsonline.com/brown-skin-girl-challenge-dermatologists-list-benefits-of-dark-skin/
Taneja, A. (2017). Black Is Beautiful - The Advantages of Having Dark Skin. https://www.practo.com/healthfeed/black-is-beautiful-the-advantages-of-having-dark-skin-26374/post
Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. (2016). University of Minnesota. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.2601
Young, L. D. (2016). Darker Skin is Stronger Skin, Says New View of Human Skin Color. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2016/06/403401/darker-skin-stronger-skin-says-new-view-human-skin-color
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