9 Times We Realized Colorism Was A Real Thing In Hollywood
Complexion Obsession: 9 Times We Realized Colorism Was A Real Thing In Hollywood
Source: Gilles Petard / Getty
Since 2018 is all about rewriting old, worn out narratives that hinder society, now is the perfect time to address colorism in television in film.
You’ve seen it before: people of lighter complexions are usually cast as kind, attractive, sweet and good — while people with richer or darker skin get cast as the evil, sassy, undesirable one. Lighter skinned folks are even called “fair” sometimes — which can easily make a brown young girl feel she’s not “fair” enough.
Those weird family representations and mixups often happen in Hollywood. They’ll cast a racially ambiguous kid to fully Black parent. Or remember when they replaced dark skin Aunt Viv with light skin Aunt Viv?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfb4DN_F3sk/?tagged=auntviv
And we know Little Richie couldn’t be related to the rest of the Winslows’.
https://twitter.com/Tahoe17/status/53205191499059200
When folks who benefit from the light skin privilege of being a Black America speak out, (like Amandla Stenberg on turning down the role of Shuri in Black Panther), it actually feels like we’re making progress. But we still have a ways to go.
Hit the flip for more times we realized that colorism was a real thing in Hollywood.
Zoe Saldana playing Nina Simone
Source: David Redfern / Getty
And even though we’re members of the Beyhive, we all saw what happened Destiny’s Child. And even 3LW *sips tea*
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty
Source: Jim Spellman / Getty
https://twitter.com/_vanesamariana/status/890783126322118656
Making Whitley the rich, pretty girl that everyone wanted while Kim always had a struggle
Source: NBC / Getty
