MentosCubing
Power User
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So the other day I got a request from a man to cut out a photo of him and put it onto a game screenshot for a YouTube thumbnail. Part of his hand was cut off by the edge of the frame, and because of how he described his ideal mental image of the final result, that part would have to be made visible. No problem, I'll find another image of a hand in a similar position and extend it, right?
But then I couldn't find any similar images. His hand was in quite a specific position, and it was hard to find keywords that matched it and even harder to find suitable copyright-safe images. So I decided that I would simply take a photo of my own hand and use that. The result looked convincing, so I sent it to him.
But here's the thing that occurred to me later. This man is black. I am white.
As many of you already know, a practice called "blackface" was used in theatre and film back when studios would not hire black actors. They would take a white actor and paint their skin to be much darker. This white actor would then proceed to play the role of a stereotypical, racist image of black culture. For that reason, participating in blackface today is considered extremely insensitive and discriminatory towards the black community, especially in the United States (where both the requester and I live).
When I took a photo of my white hand and matched it to his black skin tone to then pass it off as real, was I participating in a digital form of blackface?
But then I couldn't find any similar images. His hand was in quite a specific position, and it was hard to find keywords that matched it and even harder to find suitable copyright-safe images. So I decided that I would simply take a photo of my own hand and use that. The result looked convincing, so I sent it to him.
But here's the thing that occurred to me later. This man is black. I am white.
As many of you already know, a practice called "blackface" was used in theatre and film back when studios would not hire black actors. They would take a white actor and paint their skin to be much darker. This white actor would then proceed to play the role of a stereotypical, racist image of black culture. For that reason, participating in blackface today is considered extremely insensitive and discriminatory towards the black community, especially in the United States (where both the requester and I live).
When I took a photo of my white hand and matched it to his black skin tone to then pass it off as real, was I participating in a digital form of blackface?