Episode 8 - TikTok and the Look of Social Media

Describing Race and Skin Tone

I’m the kind of person who will torture himself over a flub. It starts as a niggling “Wish I hadn’t said that” feeling in the back of my mind, and grows and grows until I confess my sins and exorcize the Demon Regret.  

Earlier this week we posted an episode in which I described Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh as having a dark complexion. I then stuck with it and used the same phrase to describe his wife, Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu.

To me, that’s not a helpful description of skin tone, and it certainly isn’t an appropriate description of race. It was an unplanned phrasing that plopped from my mouth - and one that I wouldn’t normally use. But I let it slide, and here we are.

Instead of just exorcizing the Demon Regret with this blog post, I thought I might take the opportunity to talk about race and skin tone, and how I - and others - describe them. This is a hot topic in Audio Description, and it might be helpful for listeners to know how some describers approach it.

One method is to avoid mentioning race unless it’s directly relevant to the plot, image, or moment being described. I know a number of people who would suggest that their race is always relevant to daily interactions and the basic plot of their lives. And seeing and hearing about people on screen who are the same - or different - from us can be of great benefit, so I tend not to go in for the avoidance approach.

Another method is to describe race only if it’s notable in the context of the project. So if a movie is full of white people but there's one Indigenous character, a describer would only note the Indigenous person’s race or skin tone. I’m sad and embarrassed to say that this was standard practice earlier in my career. This approach “solves” a few practical problems, and the general consensus was that describers shouldn’t editorialize -  it’s not our fault that filmmakers pack their casts with white people! Don’t shoot the messenger! But these days, I just can’t get behind it. I don’t like being a part of the White Default narrative, so for that - and many other! - reasons, I try to catch myself if I start down that road. 

A third approach is to describe everyone’s race, always. That's sometimes tricky, and frankly it can lead to pretty bad storytelling. If your writing isn’t nuanced, noting everyone’s race can end up being repetitive, and can overwhelm descriptions very quickly. But there are ways to avoid that with a bit of thought and effort, and the benefits are substantial, so these days, this is what I aim for.

As for precise language - well, here’s where people can freeze up. Lots has been said about language changing over time, and how identifiers differ from place to place. And many have spoken about the anxiety and tension around accidentally offending when addressing race or gender identity. Perhaps there’s enough said about that. For me, as a describer, the interesting and challenging part about making those language choices is finding identifiers that are respectful of the person I’m trying to describe, and accurate and helpful for the people that I’m describing for.

For example, ‘Person of Colour’ or ‘Black, Indigenous Person of Colour’ (BIPOC) might be respectful identifiers, but to my mind, they’re too broad and don’t convey enough information to someone who is blind or low vision. So while I might use those terms in my daily life, I generally don’t use them in my description work.

I suppose that begs the question - what terms do I use? Well if I’m lucky enough to have specific knowledge of an actor or character’s background, I might use that to identify them. That would mean I could say “A Filipino woman approaches” instead of the more generic “An Asian woman approaches”. But if I didn’t have that extra info, I’d be comfortable identifying the woman as Asian (of course in a perfect world I would have time to identify more than just race, but sadly that isn't always the case).  I try my best to use respectful but straightforward, descriptive terms and phrases - Black, White, Brown, Asian; and then if it’s appropriate or helpful (and there’s time!) I’ll add some skin tone description or note a cultural identifier if possible. I’m not in love with the terms Middle-Eastern, or East Asian, but I have used them in a pinch.

My approach and language choices might not please everyone, and I know there are other describers and description organizations that take a different path. I certainly respect that, and I’m open to learning from colleagues and description users! We all need to be mindful of the power of our words, so we should listen and be open to change.

And for what it’s worth - Jagmeet Singh is an Indo-Canadian with an un-trimmed, greying beard, and a toothy smile, whose long, black, wavy hair is generally worn up in a brightly-coloured turban.