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"Whitewashing" in the Actor Career
TruthGamer96
Posts: 123 Member
Not sure if I'm using the term correctly, but something that annoys me is when I have ethnic Sims who are actors, and they get their hair and makeup done for a role, it becomes obvious certain roles were intended for Caucasian actors. Dying black hair blond/light brown, smoothing out curls, etc. I know it might be hard to program the game to recognize the difference, and I'm not trying to be "woke" here, but it makes me feel...icky. Has anyone else noticed this? Is it just in my game?
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However, I really wish people wouldn't bring race issues into a simple video game. I doubt the devs intentionally set it to rarely select ethnic hair. And look at all the ethnic sims and ethnic hair they are now using in trailers and adding to the game.
They are really trying to make everyone feel welcome but it's impossible to cater specifically to every race. What representation do I have as a Tamil person?
I mean im black with curly hair but often straighten it. My sister died her hair blonde once, I guess we "whitewashed" ourselves? I personally didnt feel icky about it.
I think its a reach lol, its just playing a role.
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
I see where you're coming from. I wasn't trying to reach, as you say. I also find the Sims franchise to be very inclusive which is why this discovery was surprising. I was just curious to know if anyone else had noticed it.
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
I think its a reach lol, its just playing a role.[/quote]
And that's cool. For me, it's just kind of annoying because it's not like my Sims chose to dye or straighten their hair, they had to for a role--which yeah, actors do, but it shouldn't be because they're adhering to the standards of another ethnicity, if that makes sense? In the end, it's just one little thing I noticed in an otherwise very inclusive game. If it doesn't bother other folks, then great.
I dont think theyre adhering to the standards of another ethnicity I think theyre just playing a role and changing their hair to fit the description ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I think the game has done a lot to include as many people as possible.
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
Right? Lol
I like victorian era dresses too and she looks great in them!! I love all the humor! I do get a bit of what youre saying too
Personality,depth,humor,consequences,lore,customization.
Oh my goodness, she looks lovely! I do love Victorian dresses, not enough of them in Sims!
Hm, maybe it depends on the Sim?
I have various sims of varying ethnicity and never felt any sort of way of offended with the hair choices, since it's really only to fit a certain role depending on it. Even with more fair related sims the hairs don't seem to fit them, but hey it is acting and you gotta look and fill the role. After awhile (i think through perks?) you can just dress your sim any kind of way for a role you like, which is why it's not that big of a deal since there's no kind of way for the game to know what kind of sim that you're personally playing and going for just based on skintone alone you know?
Think there's two curly related/wavy afro textures in the acting career? I think that fro hawk for females in that apocalypse like one and something else can't quite remember of f the top of my head? Some of the hairstyles are pretty out there and honestly I never see a lot of my sims even wearing it normally even townies outside of acting.
Plus makes sense they'd wanna use the majority of new hairs that came with the GF pack too in the acting career. Because there definitely isn't a lot of choices in terms of base game if you just have that and GF. Thus, I can see why they used the GF hairstyles in the pack for acting for hair and makeup.
This sim here is a townie BG actor and his looks look completely different compared to before (bro had purple hair~). Haha honestly was an improvement to his previous looks.
Whitewashing seems like a REALLY strong word to be using here. Wouldn't really call it that.
Sims 4 has hidden ethnic tags in CAS for facial structures, body shapes and skin tones. I would bet they have something for hair as well. This was a key part of the randomize function and how they said it was engineered to generate acceptable results. Even the name randomize function has ethnic tags. The skin tone you choose will change what names you can roll. This has nothing to do with the EP, but yes the game can detect how ethnic something is based on what tags have been assigned to it.
Interesting. Never knew that. 👍
(My avatar, when he acted, ALWAYS kept his black hair, which I appreciated.)
I'm sorry but what's wrong with hair biend dyed ?
And that's cool. For me, it's just kind of annoying because it's not like my Sims chose to dye or straighten their hair, they had to for a role--which yeah, actors do, but it shouldn't be because they're adhering to the standards of another ethnicity, if that makes sense? In the end, it's just one little thing I noticed in an otherwise very inclusive game. If it doesn't bother other folks, then great. [/quote]
I understand what your saying. However, some people do get offended and we all have things that offend us, annoy or bother us.
I rarely have my sims in the actor career. I usually have custom jobs they do. I haven't paid attention to the roles they got since it's been a while since I had an actor in a household I was playing.
To me, whitewashing is when you have a character who is in a book a minority or the script who is supposed to be a minority and the casting agents decided no I'll cast white people instead of using minorities to play the roles which were intended for minorities. Hunger Games is a good example wherein the book she's Native American but white in the movies. It's like how some fans (for Flash Comics) threw a fit when Kid Flash Wally West a red-headed white guy was turned into an African American kid. The African American kid didn't have the same personality that the red-headed Wally had and other things that some fans felt were not Wally at all. I think it's about cannon that bothers some people while others are actually racist. Or how they used David Carradine in Kung Fu to play a have Chines Man but he wasn't even part Chinese at all and when Bruce Lee auditioned for the role they told him he was "too Chinese looking" for the role.
AsTruthGamer96 put it actors have all sorts of roles the play and sometimes they have to change their look by curling their hair, straightening their hair, dying their hair and so much more for the role they are playing. It's not to fit a societal norm or adhering to the standards of other ethnicities but the role they are playing.
I don't know if I agree if it's a kind of whitewashing at all or if's just something needed for a role the actor sim is playing. I think I would need more information. If you feel it's whitewashing then for you it is.
That's a powerful skull cap!
@EgonVM - Thank you for info, my sim just reached 3 star celeb and I was able to get the perk.