Serena Williams meltdown at US Open Final

[GwladysPhil]

But its not her PR team or Media Reps who kicked up a fuss about the cartoon, they haven't even commented on it a far as I can see. The cartoon was published and the public kicked up a fuss.



Im not particularly passionate over it, im simply posting in the thread about it and putting forward an opinion. It's not like I care deeply about Serena, after all I made this thread after laughing at her childish meltdown.

To me the cartoon seems racist, thats not because im some social justice warrior it's because there are too many alarm bells going off over various aspects of it for me to give the cartoonist and paper the benefit of the doubt, especially when they have a very dodgy history with regards to racism.

I think you're getting a bit too wound up over a cartoon.

 

[longers]

I think you're getting a bit too wound up over a cartoon.

insightful

 

[The binman chronicles]

Just looked up the context... this is a tough one.

The context is that Sudanese youths effectively rioted and in response a minister banned Sky News from being shown on TV screens in subways as it was promoting hatred.

I think it's just addressing the situation - I think the issue is the cartoonists' style here because he clearly goes for detail on the foreground, minimalism on the background, and when it comes to expressing skin colour then it's problematic.

But here's the thing - if Sudanese youths riot and you want to draw a picture of it, how do you draw it without having the skin colour as black? Regardless of the detail on the rioters here, he would have faced accusations of racism, when in reality it's simply depicting an actual real life occurrence. Sudanese youths actually rioted - that isn't up for dispute.

I don't think therefore that the cartoon is racist, but I can at least understand the accusation a bit more with this one.

That is a great post mate and one that proves you need to know the background first before taking judgement as I would definitely have said it was racist without knowing the context.

I get that a cartoon is the exaggeration of features but personally I don’t particularly like the lips as it but that’s me and I didn’t moan about it .

I'm not a fan of that part of the picture myself but it's one thing critiquing on the artwork and another turning it into something bigger. I take the artist was trying to draw her almost wailing (think of that picture of Bill Murray in orange when he is holding up a baby) and that is why it looks so strange. It just annoys me that we are supposed to be after equality and see beyond race yet people jump on this when if it had been a picture of a white tennis player no one would have looked at it twice regardless how bad it looked. Some consideration needs to be taken for sure but there shouldn't be a witch hunt unless there is credible evidence or it is in completely poor taste.

 

[Harryflashman]

I'm not a fan of that part of the picture myself but it's one thing critiquing on the artwork and another turning it into something bigger. I take the artist was trying to draw her almost wailing (think of that picture of Bill Murray in orange when he is holding up a baby) and that is why it looks so strange. It just annoys me that we are supposed to be after equality and see beyond race yet people jump on this when if it had been a picture of a white tennis player no one would have looked at it twice regardless how bad it looked. Some consideration needs to be taken for sure but there shouldn't be a witch hunt unless there is credible evidence or it is in completely poor taste.

Talking about bigger than this cartoon mate the problem is that it’s a racist trope . I accept that cartoon’s accentuate features but if pretended that some ethnicities features haven’t been accentuated over the years in order to denigrate them then we’d be kidding ourselves.

Like I say I’m not talking about this cartoon but in a general discussion , things have to be viewed in context so joking about me having some features compared to various ethnicities having the same can be completely different.

 

[longers]

Oh look another one of his fine pieces of work, seems to be a theme in all of them...

its almost as if the cartoons in a notoriously racist paper might have an agenda...

That is a great post mate and one that proves you need to know the background first before taking judgement as I would definitely have said it was racist without knowing the context.

Not sure the context of that previous cartoon makes it any less racist tbh

 

[Lanolin]

Talking about bigger than this cartoon mate the problem is that it’s a racist trope . I accept that cartoon’s accentuate features but if pretended that some ethnicities features haven’t been accentuated over the years in order to denigrate them then we’d be kidding ourselves.

Like I say I’m not talking about this cartoon but in a general discussion , things have to be viewed in context so joking about me having some features compared to various ethnicities having the same can be completely different.

I completely agree with the principle of that point, but the issue I have is that we'll never get past this (racism, sexism, homophobia, any of it) if we always have to tread on eggshells because of the past. Millions of people who saw that cartoon just took it at face value, a person being lampooned for having a tantrum, but they're then being told that this isn't the case, that the cartoon is racist because it - vaguely - resembles cartoons which were deliberately racist nigh on 100 years ago. People then feel that black people have to be treated differently, and a division is created where previously there was none.

Look at how some of the arguments for it being racist are framed. There's a quote which somebody posted earlier which basically says the artist has tried to portray a black person as an animal and uncivilised. Is that really what you see when you look at it? I don't, I don't think that's what it's going for at all, I think it's trying to portray Serena Williams as a child throwing a tantrum, not an uncivilised animal. The article's reaching for something that's simply not there. Another newspaper piece claims the cartoon depicts her "wearing a skirt that might remind some of the banana skirt worn by the late Josephine Baker". But the skirt she's wearing in the picture is the skirt she was wearing in the game. The writer is actually trying to put forward an argument that drawing Serena in her own choice of clothes is racist. That is absolutely scandalous in my opinion, and again it means that people become scared to ever say/draw/think anything in case it gets twisted into something racist. That's not a healthy way for society to function.

I'm not saying we pretend the past never happened, and i'm not saying the bloke who drew the cartoon isn't racist - he could be a fully paid up KKK member for all I know - just that making a massive song and dance about things that could be construed as whateverist when looked at in a certain way and taking into account things that happened a long time ago, prevents the sort of societal progression that we've seen in other areas.

 

[Harryflashman]

I completely agree with the principle of that point, but the issue I have is that we'll never get past this (racism, sexism, homophobia, any of it) if we always have to tread on eggshells because of the past. Millions of people who saw that cartoon just took it at face value, a person being lampooned for having a tantrum, but they're then being told that this isn't the case, that the cartoon is racist because it - vaguely - resembles cartoons which were deliberately racist nigh on 100 years ago. People then feel that black people have to be treated differently, and a division is created where previously there was none.

Look at how some of the arguments for it being racist are framed. There's a quote which somebody posted earlier which basically says the artist has tried to portray a black person as an animal and uncivilised. Is that really what you see when you look at it? I don't, I don't think that's what it's going for at all, I think it's trying to portray Serena Williams as a child throwing a tantrum, not an uncivilised animal. The article's reaching for something that's simply not there. Another newspaper piece claims the cartoon depicts her "wearing a skirt that might remind some of the banana skirt worn by the late Josephine Baker". But the skirt she's wearing in the picture is the skirt she was wearing in the game. The writer is actually trying to put forward an argument that drawing Serena in her own choice of clothes is racist. That is absolutely scandalous in my opinion, and again it means that people become scared to ever say/draw/think anything in case it gets twisted into something racist. That's not a healthy way for society to function.

I'm not saying we pretend the past never happened, and i'm not saying the bloke who drew the cartoon isn't racist - he could be a fully paid up KKK member for all I know - just that making a massive song and dance about things that could be construed as whateverist when looked at in a certain way and taking into account things that happened a long time ago, prevents the sort of societal progression that we've seen in other areas.

I did deliberately say I wasn’t talking about the cartoon in this case just generally .

 

[Lanolin]

I did deliberately say I wasn’t talking about the cartoon in this case just generally .

Yes, but as the discussion is about the cartoon I kept to that as the example.

 

[arminisgod]

Why has Naomi Osaka changed into a white, blonde woman?

It's News Corp FFS. Pretty much their raison d'etre is to be racist and sexist.

It looks like a Little Black Sambo cartoon, and that's being kind.

Hefty? Serena is pretty much 100% muscle.

I think she behaved disgracefully, FWIW.

absolutely no chance is that arse muscle. It's got a gravitational pull the size of jupiter, no wonder she doesn't need to run!

 

[Yarrgh]

Oh look another one of his fine pieces of work, seems to be a theme in all of them...

its almost as if the cartoons in a notoriously racist paper might have an agenda...



Not sure the context of that previous cartoon makes it any less racist tbh

Are the 3 cartoons a representative sample of the cartoonist's work? Are they all about non-white people causing trouble?

Is something that wasn't intended to be racist, but can be construed as racist, actually racist?

Meanwhile Serena's meltdown and appalling behaviour which should have been the main concern, has fallen away from sight and the controversy which she started rolling with regards to sexism if not racism, carries on and on. It would be a good thing to separate them as the sexism/ racism topics need examining, and Serena and other players need to know that bad behaviour will not be tolerated and punished by tennis's governing bodies and umpires backed to do their jobs.

 

[Philw]

don't cry sexism/racism whenever you don't get your way.

21st century bro...

 

[evilwebby]

I'm pretty convinced that Women's Lib was right at the forefront of Serena Williams' mind when she stepped onto that court to contest the final.

 

[davids]

21st century bro...

So true, anyone high profile who messes up will always find an ism to hide behind.

 

[TheFinnFan]

Embarassing behaviour. Ruined it for Naomi. Bullied that poor girl to apologise after great win. Narcissistic drama queen.