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Question: Why is Jynx considered racist in the show?

Aegis

The Savage Nymph
    • 4,559
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    Years
    Why is Jynx considereed rascist? They haven'tt been airing episodes that have it in them, why?
     
    I'm not sure. I thought it was because she looked like a prostitute or something.

    This website I'm looking at now said it was banned because she looked to be a stereotype of (let's be politically correct) african american women. Apparently a group of people sent in a long persuasive essay to prove their point to the producers.

    *sigh* Some people take things way too seriously. You can't even show Speedy Gozoles any more -_-
     
    Stupid website eating my answer.

    About three weeks after the "Holiday Hi-Jynx" episode premiered on Kids' WB!, Carole B. Weatherford wrote her famous essay about how Rougela is a racist stereotype of African Americans. The fact that there are a bunch of Rougela employed as workers for Santa plus that the Pok?dex describes it as "the human-shaped pokemon" certainly helped her argument.

    Essay: https://www.bulbagarden.net/~dogasu/bashing/racist_jynx_01.html

    Her skin has since been done in purple in the games but as far as the American end of things and 4Kids goes, she doesn't exist. Even going as far as banning one episode, editing a sequence in the first Hoenn Contest episode and not showing the next three episodes here just to avoid her.

    I think she is a parody of the black face minstel look white performers used to do to look black and parody the race.

    Yep.
     
    Last edited:
    I made a thread about the Pacificlog episodes in TV shows and Movies, but I think they can't do a deus ex machina and remove her because fans will be wondering..."where is she?"

    She's kinda popular, probably annoys the American end that Japan still uses her and won't retire her plus the fanbase. That's my theory.
     
    I reckon it's stupid to get so worked up about something like that. To my knowledge nobody else has complained.
     
    Chiru said:
    This website I'm looking at now said it was banned because she looked to be a stereotype of (let's be politically correct) african american women. Apparently a group of people sent in a long persuasive essay to prove their point to the producers.

    *sigh* Some people take things way too seriously. You can't even show Speedy Gozoles any more -_-
    Click to expand...


    Yeah, I agree with you. I think it gets kind of ridiculous. I see nothing insulting about Jynx.
    x.x
     
    The Episodes were shown in the UK with Jynx in them. They also got the Donphan episode which was skipped in America along with both Pacifidlog Contest episodes.
     
    WHy was the Donphan episode skipped?
     
    Dragonite Tamer said:
    I reckon it's stupid to get so worked up about something like that.
    Click to expand...
    Yes, to get mad over something so trivial is just that trivial.

    Jynx looks was an amalgamation of varying things including the black face actors as well as opera singers as well as other stuff.

    Complaining about Jynx would be like complaining about Mr. Mime and his portrayal of clowns and mimes and I think we all can agree to complain about that would be laughable at best.
     
    Oy Vey...this is getting way out of hand.

    Really now, society today is getting a little...well, over dramatic.

    I mean, with the holidays, they wanted to change the Christmas tree to the...Holiday tree. Merry Christmas into...Happy Holidays. Heck, I'm Jewish and I don't mind if people come up to me and say "Merry Christmas." I know their being polite, and I can just come around and say "Happy Chanukah." >.<

    I don't know why, it's just bothering me that they're doing this to a TV show. Jynx is clearly not African American, and even if she resembles it...she does nothing that would put the African Americans to shame. To some she looks like a prostitute, but still...she does nothing of the sort. She's a Pokemon for goodness sake...
     
    DreamBandit298 said:
    Why is Jynx considereed rascist? They haven'tt been airing episodes that have it in them, why?
    Click to expand...
    Because of Carole Boston Weatherford. She is an African American writer who took offence to Jynx, calling her a negative stereotype of Afro-Americans.

    More info here and here.

    Btw, its funny how she tried to change the Darlie toothpaste's name here in Hong Kong.
     
    DreamBandit298 said:
    Oh i see but that seems kinda [for lack of a better word] stupid (no offense to any1). So there NOT gonna show the Paciflog episodes?
    Click to expand...
    They could decide to show it (which I doubt).
    Still...I don't see anything offensive about the purple faced Jynx (or the black one).
     
    I really hope the show it but your prolly right. I always thought that Jynx was okay. But i first noticed something wrong when someboyd at my books-a-million wouldnt let me play a Jynx with the original Black skin, then the annoncment on PPN
     
    Jynx's original design bore a striking, but possibly coincidental, resemblance to entertainers in blackface. A strong case can be made for Jynx being a parody of or homage to the Japanese Ganguro and Yamanba fashion trends, which were extremely popular when Pok?mon was first released, but it can't be denied that blackface-influenced characters have appeared elsewhere in anime and manga - examples can be found near the beginning of Osamu Tezuka's early graphic novel, Metropolis.

    As Pok?mon became more popular in the US, this similarity to a particularly racist image from America's past offended some. In particular, it had offended children's book author Carole Boston Weatherford, who accused Jynx of being a racist stereotype in an article titled Politically Incorrect Pok?mon in the magazine Black World Today, shortly after the anime episode Holiday Hi-Jynx aired.

    In response to this controversy, in 2002, Nintendo changed Jynx's face from black to purple and its hands from blue to purple in Pok?mon games, a change which would be reflected in the anime three years later in Advanced Generation.

    That is what I know.
     
    Chiru said:
    *sigh* Some people take things way too seriously. You can't even show Speedy Gozoles any more -_-
    Click to expand...

    Actually Boomerang has been showing several Speedy Gonzoles cartoons during The Acme Hour and various Looney Tunes shows.
     
    I suppose there is nothing offencive about jynx, I was not even aware they had banned her! The only little thing some parents may not like is jynx's erm.. bossom:P
     
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