Close your eyes and think of a human. Just an ordinary human. What does this person look like? Does their race match your own? Or is their race different from your own race? What about anime? Have you ever wondered why Anime characters are drawn "white" instead of "Japanese?"
Julian Abangond, a guest blogger at The Society Pages, proposed a "Default Human" theory. According to his blog post, "The Japanese see anime characters as being Japanese. It is Americans who think they are white. Why? Because to them white is the Default Human Being."
tested the "Default Human Theory" in their own post. They have a simple request for the readers, answer this question quickly- what is the race of the people in this picture?
Did you answer white?
What about their gender? Did you assume them to be a certain gender or age?
What if I were to say that this drawing was made by an Asian child that represented his Asian family? The child didn't feel the need to add slanted eyes as a stereotypical representation of his own race, then why did I as a reader fail to grasp the same?
Abangond furthers his "Default Human" theory by using an example from a popular American series: "The Simpsons."
Marge Simpsons has yellow skin and blue Afro hair, so why did I assume that she's white?
Abandon suggests, " the Default Human Being thing is so strong that lacking other clear, stereotyped signs of being either black or Asian she defaults to white."
I absolutely hate stereotypical representations of people of colour. Apu's accent from the Simpsons may have given you a few laughs but not all of us Indians sound like that!
When I played the 'picture a random human in your head' game with a white friend, she pictured a white person. But strangely, so did I.
Neither am I American, nor am I white. So if the "Default Human" theory stands true, why do I assume those stick figures to be white? Why do I assume Marge is white? Why do I picture a white person as being default? Perhaps because our perception of race is not only affected by our own but also by our surroundings and ingrained biases. I didn't grow up in India, neither do I live in an area surrounded by Indian people. In fact, when I played the game with the friend, I had been studying in America for nearly a year. Could those add to the reason for internalized bias? Or is it because British colonization continues to have lingering effect on people's minds and perception of superiority?
While I ponder over these questions myself, test this theory for yourself!
