Have you ever noticed how the bigger movies in the film industry and the more popular artists that you see reach success faster often have lighter skin complexions? This is because of colorism, a form of bias that causes prejudice and discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group.
Colorism is prevalent throughout the entertainment industry, particularly in music, television, and film. The breakthrough representation of minorities in Hollywood blockbusters has ignited a frequently overlooked discussion about whether prejudice isn’t just about the color of a person’s skin, but the shade. The entertainment industry has its ways and those ways are not always right, to the point where your skin color can make a difference in a role you don’t get.
The idea that light-skinned minorities are given more privilege and opportunity than their darker-skinned peers is unfair. Seeing lighter-skinned actors get bigger roles in movies or tv shows, or musical artists achieve more success in a smaller amount of time is strange. Looking specifically at the music industry, it is easy to see in rap that lighter-skinned women are marketed to success faster, marketed more openly, and given more opportunities. When you look at women rappers with dark skin complexions you see that they’re often overlooked and have to work extra hard just to be acknowledged. Rappers like Flo Milli, Bree Runway, Doechii, Kash Doll. In comparison to their peers, rappers like Ice Spice, Coi Leray, Glorilla. Who have had more mainstream success.
Examining the film and TV industry we see another example of this privilege in Zendaya. In fact, this is even apparent to her as she has opened up about her awareness of colorism in the industry. In an interview for Glamour (2017) with Yara Shahidi, she stated “I’ve talked about this before, but can I honestly say I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in if I weren’t a lighter-skinned black woman? No.”
According to the OWN website (oprah.com), “Black men and women speak out about the prevalence of colorism in Hollywood, and discuss how they grew up bombarded with images of light-skinned and white actresses in lead roles, which perpetuated the belief that dark skin was “ugly.” Lack of representation, meaning not seeing people that reflect their own identities, can make children feel like they do not fit within their immediate society.
In 2016, the film industry was buzzing over a biopic for an icon in black music history, Nina Simone. While the focus leading up to the film should have been about the artist,, significant focus was given instead to the fact that the actress playing the role was a light skinned actress named Zoe Saldana. In what can only be called an insult the wardrobe and makeup department dressed her up to look like the iconic singer in terms of wardrobe, but they crossed a line by painting her skin to make her complexion much darker and gave the actress a prosthetic nose. This travesty caused a lot of controversy throughout the industry and caused a lot of confusion as to why Hollywood would not cast a darker-skinned woman to fit the role naturally. According to The Guardian, the actress has since apologized for playing the role, “I should have never played Nina,” Saldana said, taking accountability for this situation.
The entertainment industry has wronged people of color in many ways and its exhibitions of colorism are no exception. The public needs to demand more and demand better. We need to speak up and get the industry to understand that what they are doing is wrong and that what they consider marketable makes a huge impact in how we view the industry. What has been pushed on us for years and is still happening currently is not okay and it is time for change.