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[Cthulhu]

Spoiler: There are no black people in Poland (click to show/hide)

[G-Flex]

They did an extremely piss-poor job of it, but honestly, I can understand the reasoning behind it.

If you're distributing material for a certain region, you're going to want to represent the demographics of that region.


And there are, in fact, hardly any black people in Poland.

[cowofdoom78963]

And there are, in fact, hardly any black people in Poland.

That may be true...

but there are even fewer white people with black peoples hands in Poland.

[Aqizzar]

And what about that guy on the left?  What is he, a Mongol?  He looks like Dwayne Johnson with no muscles.

[G-Flex]

Yeah, I don't even know. And like I said, it WAS a terrible shop job, I was just defending the premise.

Basically, when localizing something, sometimes the aim is to make it appear as it would if it had been made in the region for which you're localizing. Changing what people look like can be part of this.


The leftover black-guy hand isn't even the worst part. The guy's neck doesn't match up to his torso properly, especially in the back, and it looks... jarring. Oh, and in his universe, the light is coming from the opposite side.

[Rooster]

Thanks Cthulhu.
But comparing the amount of Asian people that are selling stuff on a bazaar (no offence, but that's what they sadly, mostly do) and Black people, then what was said here it's true. There are hardly any.

BUT I'm offended because of that picture. Why did they do that? I understand that polish people are mostly conservative religious zealots, but this is wrong. *sigh*

I like my linux thank you.

[G-Flex]

It's not about religion or anything, it's about what I said: Making it look like it was made where you live. Corporations generally try to match the look/feel/culture of where they do business, for obvious reasons.

For a more extreme example, if I were looking at a company brochure and saw that every single person in every picture were, I don't know, Malaysian, it would stand out as odd to me, and probably more odd to someone who lives in a less ethnically-diverse place than me. It's not like any particular racism is involved, it just makes it more intuitive and obvious that the company is from someplace foreign. Granted, this isn't a bad thing EITHER, in most ways, but people still respond more positively in general to things that look more close to their own culture and life.

[Aqizzar]

Which there's nothing wrong with.  Familiarity is the basis of trust, and you want people to trust you when you sell them stuff.  Of course, if you're cynical enough the blatant attempt at approachability can be insulting.  Especially in American advertising where the folks in the ads are often more diverse than the people most Americans interact with day to day.

I have no idea where or why I heard this (probably TVTropes), but it's one of few anime factoids I know.  The people who own Sailor Moon had a bitch of a time getting it on American TV, because the only executives they could get to listen said they wouldn't air it unless they could make one black and another crippled.

[G-Flex]

That sounds kind of apocryphal to me, but considering the state of animation on TV at the time, it wouldn't surprise me.


America is something of an odd case because of its diversity, though. Like you said, familiarity breeds trust, so it helps to try representing everyone who's likely to see it when dealing with a diverse crowd.

[Leafsnail]

Which there's nothing wrong with.  Familiarity is the basis of trust, and you want people to trust you when you sell them stuff.  Of course, if you're cynical enough the blatant attempt at approachability can be insulting.  Especially in American advertising where the folks in the ads are often more diverse than the people most Americans interact with day to day.

I have no idea where or why I heard this (probably TVTropes), but it's one of few anime factoids I know.  The people who own Sailor Moon had a bitch of a time getting it on American TV, because the only executives they could get to listen said they wouldn't air it unless they could make one black and another crippled.

Dunno about crippled, but isn't Japan less varied in terms of America due to historical differences?

I mean, while America is made up a variety of immigrants (voluntary or involuntary) from a lot of different places, Japan was completely closed off until the mid-19th century.

EDIT: Uh, I'm actually struggling to think of any western cartoons with disabled main characters (excluding wheelchair bound villains)...

[Muz]

I find it a bit amusing that people are against Photoshopped pictures, but not against make-up. I dated a girl once who would never go anywhere without make-up, because she was ugly without it. With make-up on, guys would fight over her.

I dunno, I like my magazine cover girls Photoshopped. They're hotter that way, if done right. But then, I took image processing, so I could be biased

[Duke 2.0]

I understand that polish people are mostly conservative religious zealots, but this is wrong. *sigh*

What the hell does this have to do with anything? Are you saying Polish people don't like foreigners because they are conservative religious people?

 Then you are not quite getting the message here.

 And yeah, localization. Some things work better in certain cultures. Some plot devices or some jokes or some risky things work a lot better in some cultures than others. This is to the point where a Japanese joke would make no sense to Americans contextually, or where characters looking like the prominent race there can make people think of the product as more homely and less exotic.
 
 So long as these are derived from actual population statistics and not racial stereotypes then I'm cool with it.

[Aqizzar]

Thinking about my Sailor Moon reference though, I've always wondered...

Why are virtually all anime characters more or less Caucasian, instead of, y'know, Japanese?

[Duke 2.0]

 Because the only distinguishing characteristics between recycled character designs is skin color and a few comic relief faces?

[Leafsnail]

Thinking about my Sailor Moon reference though, I've always wondered...

Why are virtually all anime characters more or less Caucasian, instead of, y'know, Japanese?

They look more mixed, or indeterminate.  I always assumed that anime characters are generally idealised by the artists, and thus have no real race.  That and possible influence from western animation.

I find it a bit amusing that people are against Photoshopped pictures, but not against make-up. I dated a girl once who would never go anywhere without make-up, because she was ugly without it. With make-up on, guys would fight over her.

But you can put on makeup when meeting people, but you can't Photoshop yourself.  You could say it creates an impossible ideal.