Beth 
In digital purgatory
This Black Velma thing is getting crazy backlash.
-Self insert (what art isn’t a self insert)
-Ripping on the fans (A lot of the most popular series of our time do this)
-Changing a characters race (why is this an issue? Black Velma is hot, Black Shaggy is funny, just seeing a simmilar character slightly altered through different race and cultural context is cool. Shaggies personality is universal)
-Ripping on the fans (A lot of the most popular series of our time do this)
-Changing a characters race (why is this an issue? Black Velma is hot, Black Shaggy is funny, just seeing a simmilar character slightly altered through different race and cultural context is cool. Shaggies personality is universal)
There is a lot of reasonable, and complicated reasons not to like this. I don’t think it’s that serious though. The world is just on edge about everything right now, and the series missed it’s mark.
My defense for the backlash is that some people just want things to stay the same. Especially classic cartoons. Even the darkest route where we assume it’s about race? Wanting a character to stay racially consistent does not implie malice to another race. Wanting to date a certain race doesn’t imply malice either.
I could somehow be racist here. There could be some social issue i’m not taking seriously, just because I think black velma is cute. She’s not actually black, she’s indian, but it doesn’t matter, and ‘black velma’ is the term you’re going to be hearing.
People say that cartoon characters are disproportionaly white, I somewhat agree, but I know why. Animation is a trade that exploded in white culture. White people helped teach animated cartoon production to Japan, to help repair war damages. Japanese people not only have white skin themselves, but Japanese cartoonist are more likely to take from western culture than other japanese artist.
I hope we get more cartoons that enter the lives of more minority indivuduals, and I hope we get more cartoons that are topical and smart. But I can read the room, this Velma series is a complicated fuckup. A lot of people lost their jobs over it, probably thinking it was going to be a hit, I feel bad for them.
