Serena Williams - Disgraceful

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You can be an apologist for this if you like.
Below stolen from twitter, then I’m out
‘
So what makes Mark Knight's cartoon racist? It is textbook essentialist caricature, embellishing characteristics that have nothing to do with Serena Williams, drawing from histories of black women depicted as enormous, violent, ugly and stupid, erasing her identity. I heard an interview w/ Knight this morning, he said he'd never intended racism, which may or may not be true. It doesn't matter. He's a professional, he should know the language of his form, because caricature is a tool that can do great harm, and has done throughout history.’ Ref Kara Schlegl.

It’s a cartoon from a paper with a right wing, diversive agenda, with a history for this kind of stuff, from a country that has (along with others) a shameful, recent history of institutional racism.
It’s hardly reductionism if this is taking in the bigger picture, quite the opposite.
You can come back with ‘he only made her lips look big’ if you like.
How would I have draw the cartoon?? I wouldn’t have, because I don’t have a nasty divisive, right wing agenda.
 
therod said:
You can be an apologist for this if you like.
Below stolen from twitter, then I’m out
‘
So what makes Mark Knight's cartoon racist? It is textbook essentialist caricature, embellishing characteristics that have nothing to do with Serena Williams, drawing from histories of black women depicted as enormous, violent, ugly and stupid, erasing her identity. I heard an interview w/ Knight this morning, he said he'd never intended racism, which may or may not be true. It doesn't matter. He's a professional, he should know the language of his form, because caricature is a tool that can do great harm, and has done throughout history.’ Ref Kara Schlegl.

It’s a cartoon from a paper with a right wing, diversive agenda, with a history for this kind of stuff, from a country that has (along with others) a shameful, recent history of institutional racism.
It’s hardly reductionism if this is taking in the bigger picture, quite the opposite.
You can come back with ‘he only made her lips look big’ if you like.
How would I have draw the cartoon?? I wouldn’t have, because I don’t have a nasty divisive, right wing agenda.
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Re first paragraph: I don't believe he has done any of that at all. I believe he has drawn a caricature of Serena Williams having a strop. It does look a bit like her, as much as any caricature ever looks like anyone, so to say he has drawn it with features "that have nothing to do with" her is incorrect. He has drawn her as a large black woman because she IS a large black woman, if he'd have drawn her as a slender woman it would not have looked anything like her. Simply a newspaper cartoonist doing his job to the best of his ability.

Re second paragraph: I concede I know nothing about the paper it was published in. But if your answer is simply not to draw the cartoon for fear offending black people, then is quite tragic and sad in my opinion. There was no 'right wing agenda', the agenda was creating humour at her expense and mock her behaviour, not her race or her sex. He should absolutely be allowed to do that, for you to say he shouldn't is pathetic.
 
therod said:
How would I have draw the cartoon?? I wouldn’t have, because I don’t have a nasty divisive, right wing agenda.
Click to expand...


So, sports star loses it and drawing that as a cartoon has a Right Wing divisive agenda? Apologies, I genuinely dont understand. (and I have no prior knowledge of the author or publication)

Do you think that if she wasnt "black" it wouldnt have happened? A long history of cartoons suggests otherwise.
 
Slime said:
Or a sense of humour coupled with an artistic bent and a job as a cartoonist.
He's a caricaturist ffs ............................ what's he supposed to do?
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Indeed, when you break it down to that - a caricaturist who is being hounded for exaggerating the features of someone he's drawn - it really beggars belief doesn't it? Would be like a binman being hounded for taking people's rubbish away in a lorry.
 
I've struggled for a few days with this. When I saw the cartoon I thought it was funny and a good depiction of the biggest sports story on that day. Then I read this thread and started to question if I was wrong to find it funny and in fact a closet racist. I'm not racist - this I know. So I'm still struggling as it would appear to find the cartoon amusing and not a terrible racist slur is to in fact be racist myself.

In the end I just have to see it for what it is. A cartoon depicting one of the world's biggest sports starts losing her cool and having a hissy fit. I'd have known it was Serena. Why? Because she's black, she wears ridiculous outfits, she often has ridiculous hair, she is massive in terms of the typical human frame (black or white), she plays tennis and she recently was in the news for her behaviour in a tennis match. The cartoon exaggerated most of those elements, as cartoons do.

I can't see the cartoon for any more than that.
 
AmandaJR said:
I've struggled for a few days with this. When I saw the cartoon I thought it was funny and a good depiction of the biggest sports story on that day. Then I read this thread and started to question if I was wrong to find it funny and in fact a closet racist. I'm not racist - this I know. So I'm still struggling as it would appear to find the cartoon amusing and not a terrible racist slur is to in fact be racist myself.

In the end I just have to see it for what it is. A cartoon depicting one of the world's biggest sports starts losing her cool and having a hissy fit. I'd have known it was Serena. Why? Because she's black, she wears ridiculous outfits, she often has ridiculous hair, she is massive in terms of the typical human frame (black or white), she plays tennis and she recently was in the news for her behaviour in a tennis match. The cartoon exaggerated most of those elements, as cartoons do.

I can't see the cartoon for any more than that.
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The end ........................ surely?
 
Old Skier said:
Just trying to encourage things to get back on thread. Not my place so crack on debating something that the rest of the world agreed to disagree about yesterday and is now old news.
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You do realise you’re an English version of Doon ;)
Never trust a Tankie mate, you know that :)
 
AmandaJR said:
I've struggled for a few days with this. When I saw the cartoon I thought it was funny and a good depiction of the biggest sports story on that day. Then I read this thread and started to question if I was wrong to find it funny and in fact a closet racist. I'm not racist - this I know. So I'm still struggling as it would appear to find the cartoon amusing and not a terrible racist slur is to in fact be racist myself.

In the end I just have to see it for what it is. A cartoon depicting one of the world's biggest sports starts losing her cool and having a hissy fit. I'd have known it was Serena. Why? Because she's black, she wears ridiculous outfits, she often has ridiculous hair, she is massive in terms of the typical human frame (black or white), she plays tennis and she recently was in the news for her behaviour in a tennis match. The cartoon exaggerated most of those elements, as cartoons do.

I can't see the cartoon for any more than that.
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Indeed!

Anyone who sees it other than what it is - a caricature! - is almost certainly approaching it from a 'biased/professionally offended' pov!

That's not to say there isn't inequality in Tennis. But I believe it's 'a lot more equal' than many other sports!
 
pauldj42 said:
Not funny mate and takes it to a lower level.
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Not really Paul. I posted it as the statement is deliberately open to interpretation.

You interpret it one way, that's not the only interpretation.

Which, i would argue, is the basis of 80% of the stuff posted on this forum.

One person reads/sees one thing, interprets it one way, someone reads/sees same thing, interprets it another.

Before we know it we have a 10 pager.

But, as always, you are more than entitled to your interpretation.
 
huds1475 said:
Not really Paul. I posted it as the statement is deliberately open to interpretation.

You interpret it one way, that's not the only interpretation.

Which, i would argue, is the basis of 80% of the stuff posted on this forum.

One person reads/sees one thing, interprets it one way, someone reads/sees same thing, interprets it another.

Before we know it we have a 10 pager.

But, as always, you are more than entitled to your interpretation.
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So it was a deliberate trap or to use another phrase, trolling.
 
So my girlfriend hadn't actually seen any of this coverage so we sat and watched it all last night, including the awards ceremony and the press conference.

From start to finish, Serena is an absolute disgrace and ruins it for Osaka. The way she refers to "us" when talking about it - horrible. "Stop booing, we'll get through this together". Get over yourself, you classless moron. Complete refusal to accept her wrongdoing and she made the ceremony all about her and belittled Osaka the entire time. I really hope Serena doesn't get that 24th and 25th major.
 
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