“Nina Simone’s Face” (2016) is a piece Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote for The Atlantic about the upcoming film “Nina” starring Zoe Saldana:
“When I was kid, I knew what the worst parts of me were – my hair and my mouth. My hair was nappy. My lips were big. Nearly every kid around me knew something similar of themselves because nearly every one of us had some sort of physical defect – dark skin, nappy hair, broad nose, full lips – that opened us up to ridicule from one another. That each of these “defects” were representative of all the Africa that ran through us was never lost on anyone. …
“Did we want to be white? I don’t think so. … What we wanted was to be on the right end of the paper bag tests. We wanted hazel eyes. We wanted wavy hair. I had neither hazel eyes nor wavy hair. But I also didn’t suffer in the same way that I saw other kids around me suffer. I was not dark-skinned. And, more importantly, I was not a girl.”
Boys could have, say, a killer jump-shot in basketball, but girls were judged almost completely by their looks. And yet:
“Simone was in possession of nearly every feature that we denigrated as children. And yet somehow she willed herself into a goddess. …
“We look at Nina Simone’s face and the lie is exposed and we are shamed. We look at Nina Simone’s face and a terrible truth comes into view – there was nothing wrong with her.
…
“Saldana could be the greatest thespian of her time, but no one would consider casting her as Marilyn Monroe. Indeed Nina’s producers have gone to great ends – tragicomic ends – to invoke Nina Simone’s face, darkening Saldana’s skin, adorning her with prosthetics. Neither the term blackface nor brownface is entirely appropriate here. We are not so much talking about deliberate mockery as something much more insidious. …
“It’s possible that the producers were not, themselves, personally racist. This has no bearing whatsoever on anything. In America, racism is a default setting. To do nothing, to go along with the market, to claim innocence or neutrality, is to inevitably be a cog in the machine of racist hierarchy. …
“… there is something deeply shameful – and hurtful – in the fact that even today a young Nina Simone would have a hard time being cast in her own biopic. In this sense, the creation of Nina is not a neutral act. It is part of the problem.
“It’s here that the term appropriation bears some usage. We’re not talking about someone inspired by the deeper lessons of Simone’s life and her music. We are talking about people who think it’s fine to profit off her music while heedlessly contributing to the kind of pain that brought that music into being. …
“Cynthia Mort, the film’s director, has pleaded with us to see the film before judging. … in some deep way, black women have already seen Mort’s film. Indeed they’ve been seeing it all their lives.”
Read the whole thing at The Atlantic.
See also:
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Nina Simone
- Zoe Saldana
- Trailer: Nina
- Zoe Saldana to play Nina Simone – from 2012.
- blackface
- cultural appropriation
- internalized racism
536
No Black person is ugly. -Lil B @LILBTHEBASEDGOD
(https://youtu.be/83p69JhDnwU)
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Perfect hair, perfect nose, perfect lips, perfect skin, perfect eyes. Perfect beauty.
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TNC is such a powerful writer. His craft is superb: simple, clear, concise construction of phrases, sentences, paragraphs. Superb and sublime, exactly what is needed, nothing more, nothing less. It leaves so much space for the strength of his words, which are massive because they are based on simple truths. And he keeps getting stronger. He is nowhere close to peaking.
Agabond, you are also a fantastic writer. However, I have to say that TNC’s writing is strong beyond any other contemporary writer I can think of.
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And still refuse to pay money to see this garbage. I will watch What Happened Miss Simone instead. They directors and producers are trying to play obtuse about why this mess is so offensive.
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Typo *the*^^^
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“Is that creativity or quality of performance should never be judged on the basis of color, or ethnicity, or physical likeness.” – Robert Johnson
Really! This is nothing but empty phraseology because this is exactly what happened to Nina Simone. If what Robert Johnson says is true, although I seriously doubt it, well then, I could hardly wait for the upcoming movie titled: The Life and Times of Nancy Reagan, as portrayed by Cicely Tyson.
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European Caucasoids are on average more attractive than African Negroids. I don’t see why a fact should be controversial
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@Bobby M
Did you have a specific fact in mind or were you just letting everyone know where you stand on facts in general?
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i feel a large degree of reticence and trepidation even to comment on this thread, but the ‘bobby m’ character started it!
maybe the delta (read: difference) of the female actresses’ complection and features and miss nina here and what’s her name? saldana? is the xenophobic markers that trigger a racist attack on a white person’s behalf? idk
it’s writ large that another actor particularly of the same phenotype is not offered a chance that could launch a career for an unknown person, it shows hollywood’s inclusively exclusive nature as well. and prosthetics? a nose? jesus that’s lame why don’t you just hire a dark black actor too with african features it makes no sense
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i reckon that all is of little concern at 150 meters!
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In a system of white supremacy racism wherein you can be socially rewarded for having the “right” color skin or texture of hair, it is inevitable that those possessing those features will be seen as more attractive. Perception of attractiveness is an emotional response not anything that can be classified as a fact. If features aren’t desirable, because they may put you at a disadvantage, they won’t be considered “attractive”. This is a social construct, and since black people are colonized, it has been imposed along with language, religion and other things.
However our guest seems to be implying that the preferences of white supremacist culture represents some kind of universally desriable aesthetic. I have to challenge that. Completely pale organisms are actually rather rare in nature. I seldom see white squirrels or birds outside. They’d be easy prey. Consequently complete paleness is made less likely in the genetics of most organisms by being recessive. White tigers, when inbred to pass the color to offspring, eventually develop genetic deformities and early mortality (see Kenny).
Furthermore, so many creatures that are devoid of color in the natural world are either parasites (tapeworm) and/or inhabit locations where there is little to no light (naked mole rat). Pigmentation is always evidence of interaction with light since our eyes detect what *hasn’t* been absorbed/transmuted by the surface. So certainly, plants without pigment are relegated to a life of parasitism and consequently some do not even bother to have leaves (eg. dodder).
The visual properties of the interaction of light with darker surfaces is the reason most bodybuilders darken themselves for competition/posing. They think it makes their form “pop” better because of the contrast between the bright specular highlights and the darker shadowed areas of skin. Comparing a nice picture of Lupita Nyong’o with, say, Britney Spears you’ll see Lupita’s features appear more 3D in photos because of the constrasts the interplay of light creates. Your visual system uses those cues to understand the form. Bodybuilders exploit that.
Let’s not forget also that darker skin helps prevent the life-giving sun from causing death-dealing cancer. All things considered, I would not consider pale skin inherently desirable. However, I’ll readily concede that things can be different under an artificially constructed system that puts dark-skinned people at a disadvantage. Yet there are many people, like Nina Simone, who’ve risen above even those hurdles.
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I usually lurk. However, but as a woman with what one would consider more traditional African features, I feel I must comment.
Many black people believe that we have similar experiences as black people, but your facial features also impact your experience in America and the world. People see you differently and treat you differently; both whites and blacks alike. For example, I try to travel internationally as much as I can afford. Within the last few years, I try so consult various “traveling while black” websites to find how black people are treated in certain countries. Now, many people will tell you they had no problems at all traveling through certain countries. For instance, this one woman said that she travelled to Morocco with absolutely no problems, had a fabulous time, no racist incidents, etc. I looked at the woman’s picture and she was clearly multiethnic and have a much easier time blending in in Morocco. On the other hand, there are accounts of African Americans being called names and even being spat at because Moroccans are deeply racist against their neighbors to the south, and will do anything to separate and differtiate themselves from “Africans.” Based on those accounts, I quickly changed my plans.
Most black people will admit that there is color privilege and discrimination, but will ignore the fact that having any African feature can make you susceptible to discrimination. Many AAs live in fantasyland where we all have the same experiences. However, I realize that I will/have experienced less color discrimination than a dark skinned person, but also realize that I sometimes get treated differently because of my broad nose and full lips. When I went to Istanbul, I was stared at and people wanted to take pictures with me. I doubt I would have had nearly the same experience if I had more European facial features (well, not as many).
Ms Saldana would have no way of knowing the pain and experiences of Nina Simone. All the make up and prosthetics will not fill that void.
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@Patent Clerk
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The world does not respect the Black Man. Perhaps it’s time they learn to.
Too bad there’s no Black superpower with access to a nuclear arsenal and an all-encompassing military. People tend to respect death and, more importantly, those who are capable of delivering it.
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If you have to add makeup to make the actor look “ethnically correct” then you’ve used the wrong actor. Simple and easy formula and litmus test.
@Bobby M: “European Caucasoids are on average more attractive than African Negroids. I don’t see why a fact should be controversial”
I look at the picture on the head of this article and many others and I would say that I have to disagree with your “fact”.
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Excuse the capslock ahead, I’m too lazy to retype below!
@ PATENT CLERK, I WANT TO VISIT ISTANBUL, TOO. I AGREE, FEATURES MATTER AS WELL. THERE ARE WOMEN DARKER THAN SIMONE, I’M ABOUT HER COMPLEXION. I’VE NEVER BEEN TEASED ABOUT MY COLOR. BUT I HAVE STAND OUT FEATURES LIKE HER: PROTRUDING MOUTH, FULL LIPS, NOT REALLY BIG NOSE BUT BIG NOSTRILS. I RESEARCHED SOME IMAGES OF SURGERY TO CHANGE THESE FEATURES, AND I CAME ACROSS SO MANY SITES FOR KOREAN SURGEONS. I WAS AMAZED THAT THEY HAD THEY HAD AND WANTED TO CHANGE THESE FEATURES, IT MADE ME FEEL NOT ALONE. THEN I THOUGHT, NOT ONLY AM I NOT THE AMERICAN IDEAL, I WOULD GET SHUNNED IN KOREA, TOO, SMH. SIMONE HAS HER BAD PICS AND HER GOOD PICS, IT’S SAD THAT WOMEN WHO LOOK LIKE HER CAN’T EVEN GET A ROLE AS HER. I INITIALLY WAS UNPHASED ABOUT SALDANA PLAYING SIMONE. I MEAN, I ENJOYED THE COMEDIAN FLEX PLAYING MICHAEL JACKSON, MANY PEOPLE FEEL OTHERWISE. BUT KNOWING MORE ABOUT SIMONE’S LEGACY, SALDANA DEFINITELY BIT MORE THAN SHE COULD CHEW.
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You know, I think it is a special cruelty that even a goddess was made to feel bad about herself for being herself.
Whether it is sentimentality as I am getting older or truly empathy and sadness for the untold women and men who are made to feel bad just because they are on the outside of the white default setting, the tragedy pains me that the cruel lies are believed by the women and men against themselves.
(My mother had a nose broader than James Baldwin and was looked upon as ugly . I am lucky- I have managed to extricate myself from that straitjacket after many years and now see can myself as a normal human being.)
I know Ms Simone is dead and yet I still am saddened (and inspired) by the her tragic life transcended.
Can’t a human being just feel normal in his or hers own skin?
Of the long catalogue of wrongs against humanity, white people seriously have a lot to account for their selfishness.
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I teach abroad so I travel everywhere but right now I’m in the USA getting ready for my expat life and waiting for my visa to go through.
I also see travel posts and if the woman looks like Nina Simone talking about her experience I know mine might be different.
I have thinner features specifically my nose and I’m aware that my features give me more leeway in many things (dating, traveling, friends) that black people with flatter features don’t really have. I also admit that my skin tone, although it’s not light, gives me less headache than a woman with very dark skin. I get treated differently than people with “black” flatter features when I travel. In Morocco (my brothers wife is from there), no one noticed me and in South America I was placed into a different group other than “African derived people”. In Italy, when I went into the lobby when I traveled to meet my fiance’s parents I was also treated more nicely than the “black looking” African’s standing behind me. I know the only reason asian guys even hit on me because they think my features “are very white” in their minds. (they are stuck on whiteness).
However, here in America, I am categorized as “black” but with with questionable looks. Despite that I think I look black as heck, some black people might want to argue that I’m not an example of black beauty. I can’t help if it some people are just ignorant about phenotypes.
Zoe Saldana looks very black to me and I wouldn’t mistake her for otherwise ever. I don’t see the big deal. Zoe has a flatter nose and facial structure. I don’t see how people are offended. Are they offended that she is pretty? Sorry blacks come in all types. Sorry she isn’t African enough.
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I won’t be seeing this movie.
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