No, not at all.
And I don’t want it to seem as if I’m completely tone deaf on the subject.
I’m not.
It’s just when you try to picture explaining it to an eight year-old…
There’s no doubt in my mind that you’re putting a lot of stuff on the kid that simply was not there to begin with.
I’m not saying I’d let my kid do it.
That’s not the point I’m trying to make.
As I said in my first sentence, it’s tricky.
Not about whether or not it’s okay. It’s not socially acceptable. I get that.
But it’s the why.
You say it’s about context, and I have to dig my heels in and say it clearly is not about the context.
The context in this case is a kid not wanting to be his superhero, in which case just wear a mask, but be him or her being their superhero.
Which sounds convoluted but would make perfect sense to a child.
There is nothing inherently offensive about that, in that context.
It’s like a couple of six year-olds playing doctors and nurses, and then calling the boy a rapist (or the girl a s.lut).
That would clearly be…just wrong…and (as much as I accept analogies are strictly limited and imperfect) an example of people putting inappropriate context on something.
Edit: Compare and contrast. A cough ‘cis’ boy wants to be a Barbie/Disney princess for Halloween.
Edit: Edit: I see you’ve answered that. Dress is fine. Boobs are offensive.
Fair point that you make about Downey’s character in TT – I’ve seen the movie but it was a long, long time ago. My abiding memory is of the studio exec played by Tom Cruise – another helluva transformation. And you’re right in saying that
and as an actor and guy, Downey’s character clearly was a tool. Apparently, partly based on Russell Crowe…
But that wasn’t my point which was that some things are just too hot, too close to the bone to be satirised. Or at least, that’s the risk they run. I can recall that TT walked a fine, fine line on a bunch of issues: race, intellectual disability etc. Comedy is often edgy – the laugh often derives from the tension between where people expect the line to be and where it actually is. And fo me, blackface is on the wrong side of the line. As is yellowface, or dressing a muslim, or a Jew. All are minorities in a country that is not entirely comfortable with their presence and thus in positions of weakness or insecurity.
Yes, it may be possible to take the p-iss out of such outgroups, but it’s a high wire act. And is it really worth it when there are so many other targets worthy of the effort? Self-important Hollywood actors for example. Which, as you say, was what TT was aiming at.