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Crazy timing but just before this wave of optics on people gate-keeping cosplay from POC I actually did a small study on the importance of anime to the black community and nobody asked but I& #39;m gonna learn ya something because it& #39;s dope and important and the ONLY thread I& #39;ll make.
SO. Back in the early 70& #39;s, right on the heels of the black civil rights movement and some time after the foundation of the black panthers, a foreign film was released: Five Fingers of Death. Sick kung fu movie, very popular, but //especially// popular to the black community-
Why was this movie popular/important? Because back in the day, most media was A. white-focused and B. Not extremely relateable to black audiences. Here comes a movie that featured a non-white hero, going against the powers-that-be, not by buying his way out, but by kicking ass
This is still way before anime was a /thing/ but follow me. Since that movie, and others like it that not only showed minorities absolutely shit-kicking their oppressors, but wasn& #39;t afraid to depict white people as the encroaching villains. This struck huge with black audiences-
Feeling represented not in your race but your struggle, maybe seeing someone else go through something similar even on the big screen is validation which is something that is still needed even today for POCs. ANYWAYS kung-fu movies topped the charts for a long time let& #39;s jump-
Fast forward some years to the early 90& #39;s, hip-hop and a whole new generation and wave of culture etc etc. The Wu Tang Clan shows up. These guys sample clips from all these same kung-fu movies and their lyrics have the same sort of messages of empowerment spoken in the 50s-70s.
Not at all a coincidence, they make it a point to include the black experience of the 70s era in their music because they don& #39;t want that feeling lost. Having identity and value and a people, and sharing commonalities in oppression and triumph with the media of the east.
There are tons of other artists that do the same thing trust me just google all of them and listen to their music because it SLAPS. Anyways fast forward AGAIN to the next generation of artists, 2000s hip hop. Here& #39;s where we get to the relevance.
Social media and all this is now a /thing/ and artists can express their personal views easier etc. Here we start seeing rappers like soulja boi tweeting "Soulja boi fact of the day I& #39;m a fan of anime" and references to anime in lyrics like how Wu Tang Clan referenced Kung-fu
WHY is this relevant? The pattern is the same. Foreign media, depicting the underdog against massive corporations. Having those feelings of back-against-the-wall situations mirrored in really cool Japanese cartoons is a similar feel to what our ancestors felt in the 70& #39;s
Now, pretty much going into 2020 the special place Bruce Lee and Five Fingers of Death had in the hearts of POC& #39;s back then is the SAME thing we have now. FFS there were blaxplotation movies with afro-haired jumpsuit-wearing black kung-fu masters back in the day.-
Now we have Afro Samurai, Samurai Champloo etc and POC cosplayers. There is a different level of appreciation that I& #39;m not sure you can really feel unless you& #39;re "on that side" of things. But it didn& #39;t just show up, its always been there and you know what else has been there?
People who want to police and gate-keep. And just like back then and like in all these awesome shows we have now it& #39;s on us to be strong and be unafraid to be ourselves-even when cosplaying others.
The RZA (from the Wu Tang Clan) even wrote in hi book "Dragon Ball Z represents the journey of the black man in America." I& #39;m not going to copy the entire passage but he dedicates a page to Goku anyone should take a quick sec to read it.
Anyway I& #39;m really glad I got to learn about this history, and I realized that while going to cons and cosplaying IS a hobby. For some, that hobby has a significance that even they might not know the extent of. So just let people enjoy things please, cosplay is beyond color.
