Why do so many people humanise Twilight as dark-skinned?

[OnHerForehead 19]

Hi MLPForums, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this or not, but I have a quick question as you can see in the title:

 

Why do so many people humanise Twilight as dark-skinned?

 

I'm not trying to be racist here but I've never seen Twilight as someone who would have dark skin, especially since the voice is done by Tara Strong.

[Archer Dash 163]

I don't know, I see mostly white humanizations these days.  Don't get why she'd be portrayed as black.  It's just one of those things that you read in a humanized fic and it keeps irking you until you can't read it anymore.  At least to me it is. 

[Keen Blade 64]

Maybe just because it contrasts well with her hair color.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,856]

Because politically correct.

 

They all have white-girl mannerisms and white-girl auras about them - if they made all of them white, people would be like "Racist!!!" or something - I personally have no clue other than that. 

In my opinion, they'd all be white if they were humans. Not a racist thing, but they all just seem like white girls to me.
 

Edited June 9, 2014 by ghostfacekiller39

[M'aiq the Liar 5,804]

Because in order to count as a true blue tumblr social warrior you gotta have those racial quotas filled. Because having them be the canon colors depicted in their human forms from EqG would be racist as you have no "oppressed people of colour". And it is the same reason they depict fluttershy wearing a shawl or burka. Because according to the "least racist" people on the internet, all women of Islamic faith are shy, and have a super passion for animals.

 

 

But really, there is no reason. It is just to fill a social justice quota so they can get praise on their tumblr sphere.

[Silver Letter 1,830]

I don't know why but Twilight is clearly purple-lavender. If they were trying to make a non-EQ humanized version of the ponies then some choose east Asian due to stereotypes about intelligence or whatever. Thanks to silly stereotypes, the ponies might be any number of "races"; but Twilight in particular might provoke an identity closer to what we see some people make her as.

[Ribbonfree 2,382]

Her having the darkest coat shade out of the Mane Six is the reason I hear from some of my artist friends as why the like it. I don't mind, personally, I can see it potentially being the case. Because humanity is wide, varied, and horrible wonderful, any of the girl's personalities would work with any race. Yes, even AJ.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Puerto Princessa

[Adorkable 2,737]

Probably because she's purple.

 

I guess that somehow relates?

[Wingnut 6,725]

 

 

Maybe just because it contrasts well with her hair color.

 

Her having the darkest coat shade out of the Mane Six is the reason I hear from some of my artist friends as why the like it.

 

My thoughts echo these two.  Twilight has the darkest coat of the Mane 6 ponies and I believe most artists who humanize her are trying to capture that in a humanly possible way. 

[Guest]

I wouldn't mind if Twilight was kind of Asian because she's so intelligent. But that's just stereotyping.

Really it's just up to the artist themselves.

[Kay Dreamer 884]

I love depictions of Twilight as a black girl. It works really well with her hair colour. Seriously, if anyone is offended that someone is depicting a character they love as a minority race, I'd encourage them to take a long hard look at the reasons why they find it upsetting...

 

Skin colour doesn't determine aptitude or personality, after all. An artist is free to imagine these characters however they'd like to, stereotypes be damned.

 

Fyi, with most of the art of burqa wearing Fluttershy, the artist's rationale for it is usually because of the way her hair frames her face is reminiscent of a shawl, not because she's shy and demure. It makes logical sense to me, and it's an excuse to draw absolutely gorgeous clothes so there's no real downside.

[Kaneki 1,072]

I really wouldn't be sure without someone yelling "racist" at me, even though it would be unintended. But probably, I would agree with many of the above replies. I do think the hair or skin would match up in a humanization, but I also think it may be due to the fact that some artists wouldn't feel right if they didn't have at least one darker-skinned humanization. It's sad the world is like this, where if you don't include certain things, someone will make a big deal about it. I'm all for everyone getting equal respect and such, but some people make bigger deals about it than it actually is.

[Quarium 108]

I like to imagine her as asian, now. Before you call me something, let me explain: Coming from several asian friends of mine, the reason why they actively seek the "smart" kid archetype is due to very high expectations from parents/authority figures, not that their parents would get too angry but they do give a lot of importance to it. I can see Twi having something similar going around, but in a positive and not very stressful manner.

My friends might just be coincidentally on that same situation tho.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

Maybe because she would be part-asian, part caucasian, not to stereotype in any way shape or form. 

[Kawaii Besu 28,009]

Because it's closer to her purple coat? 

[Nulln 754]

I haven't seen that.  Do you mean human skin tones, or just a dark purple?  I can see her being pretty light though, since she probably stays inside reading and studying all day out of the sun.  Applejack would probably be a pretty good tan color though.

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

Because having Zecora as the Token black pony just wasn't good enough....

 

No, I have no idea..... She's literally the whitest character (other than Cheese Sandwitch and the Cakes) in the entire show.......

[Sir Wulfington 276]

I guess just because. Honestly, having her with really dark skin looks bad. While a wide variety of hair colors can work for light skinned people, people with brown skin just look bad with most colors beyond black.

 

Example:

 

 

This looks okay

 

THIS:

 

 

Does not. Sorry, but dark brown does not look good with purple or pink. At all. That's not to be racist (I'm half black ffs), but it's true. It looks bad.

[Guest]

I was surprised the first few times I saw it, but I actually kindda like it.

 

 

[Quarium 108]

 

 

 

Alternate theory, Megasweet is one of the first big name artists of the fandom and he used to do it, so maybe a lot of people just picked it up from there and it spread? that sounds kinda reasonable as well.

[Sir Wulfington 276]

Alternate theory, Megasweet is one of the first big name artists of the fandom and he used to do it, so maybe a lot of people just picked it up from there and it spread? that sounds kinda reasonable as well.

 

I guess. Tho I'd think anyone would be able to see that the colors clash horribly.

[Kay Dreamer 884]

@@Sir Wulfington, 

 

The only reason the colours clash there is because they chose the wrong shade of brown. For Twilight, I'd have gone slightly darker, with the brown having a blue/purple undertone to it. The brown in the picture you picked is too orange and this is why it clashes with her hair.

 

Dark brown skin works with plenty of hair colours if you know what you're doing.

[Sir Wulfington 276]

@@Sir Wulfington, 

 

The only reason the colours clash there is because they chose the wrong shade of brown. For Twilight, I'd have gone slightly darker, with the brown having a blue/purple undertone to it. The brown in the picture you picked is too orange and this is why it clashes with her hair.

 

Dark brown skin works with plenty of hair colours if you know what you're doing.

 

Eh, I don't really think I've seen deep or dark brown work with purple.

 

Here:

 

 

That looks dark brown to me, and yeah.....they don't really compliment each other.

[Arctic Night 884]

In Equestria Girls, she had purple skin...

 

Clearly she suffers some condition causing her to have purple skin. It's canon.

[Jammo 986]

Because dark skin and purple hair is hot.  Just ask Yoruichi.