Colourism in Film and Fashion

It’s 2020, and the film industry continues to thrive. Although a lot of progress has been made regarding representation in the media, Hollywood still has a long way to go until there is complete equality in films. In recent times, Hollywood struggles to showcase true representation. You may or may not be wondering, what is colourism? Google defines colourism as, prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. Many actors and actresses face this issue in their careers. It is the idea that individuals with a lighter complexion are seen as more beautiful or desirable than individuals with a darker complexion. As a Pakistani woman, my skin colour is darker than a lot of women in my family. Believing that someone is more beautiful because their skin is lighter is a very toxic mindset to have. Today we are going to discuss the unfortunate idea of colourism in the film and fashion industry, and why it needs to diminish.

The Positive Effect of Representation

Lupita Nyong’o and Naomi Campbell believe that the film and fashion industry have come a long way and made progress, by hiring a range of people of colour, but colourism is still present. Aladdin star, Naomi Scott has been praised for her “brown and exotic beauty”, when she is half white, and has a very light complexion. Don’t get me wrong, I think she is very beautiful and I’m happy that she’s half brown, but where is the true representation? There wouldn’t be that much praise if a dark-skinned actress was hired as Jasmine. Up until Never Have I Ever released on Netflix, I wasn’t a huge fan of Mindy Kaling. I believed that she always tried to hide her ethnicity from Hollywood, up until she released her new show. She made an entire show about the life of an indian girl, making the lead a dark-skinned indian actress. This truly made me very happy, because Never Have I Ever is trending on Netflix. Devi, a dark-skinned Indian girl, is constantly feeling the pressure of being compared to her cousin, Kamala. Kamala is shown as the perfect Indian girl, who attracts all of the guys, and she happens to have a lighter complexion. I really commend Mindy Kaling for adding this sub-plot, because it showcases the true reality of what every dark-skinned POC has to face at least once in their life. This show is a perfect example of representation leading to success.

Light Skin Beauty

To the fashion and film industry, black beauty means Beyonce, Rihanna, Halle Berry, Zoe Kravitz, and Jada Pinkette Smith. Women who are indeed black, but with lighter complexions. All dark skinned women in the entertainment industry believe that colourism still exists, and continues to affect darker skinned actors. Not just for women, men with dark skin also face this problem. Light skin actors like Michael B. Jordan are constantly being praised for how exoctic and hot they are, but actors with dark skin, such as Daniel Kaluuya don’t receive the same amount of praise. It’s important to show actors of all shades because representation matters. This world is full of diversity, and it needs to be shown on the big screens. Children should grow up seeing people like them in the movies they watch, knowing that everyone is beautiful. No matter what shade you are, you are beautiful.

Bollywood’s Part

Bollywood takes the cake of supporting colourism. Pushing the agenda of lighter skin being more beautiful. Deepika Padukone, Aishwarya Rai, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor and Tara Sutaria are prime examples of glorified “gori” queens. Last year the film Bala released, and it immediately received a lot of backlash for painting Bhumi Pednekar in brown face, instead of hiring an actress with naturally dark skin. Dozens and dozens of bollywood actors and actresses have promoted the skin-lightening product called Fair and Lovely. Brainwashing all of their fans into thinking that if you have dark skin, it’s ugly and you need to bleach it to be white and beautiful. This is obviously not true, and Ranbir Kapoor and Kangana have called out the entire industry for this ridiculous idea.

It’s 2020 people, and the idea that men and women with lighter skin are more beautiful than those with dark skin needs to end. No matter what race you are, no matter how light or dark you are, you are beautiful.