Why Indians with a very fair skin tone referred to as black or brown by western people? Or the general media stereotype we see in hollywood.?

Question

I want to clear one thing here that basically you can expect the skin tone to darken as you go from north to south in India and the same thing if you go from east to west. Indians living in the southern states like Tamil nadu, Kerala etc. are black like night while if you go to places like Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh etc. in the north then you will find skin complexion as fair as that of a Caucasian. Similarly as you go from Jaipur, Udaipur, etc. You will find dark brown skinned people because they live in desert and in the eastern states like assam, meghalaya etc. you will again find fair people ( but not as fair as the northern ones).
So what's with all this brown stereotypical image of Indians? I think hollywood and the media in particular should do a little research before setting out a image cast.

P.S. I live in northern India and have a very fair complexion. A brown skin will be in stark contrast to mine.

And by the way I am not being judgemental just curious. And I hope I didn't offend anyone since it was not intentional. I am studying sociology and that's why I want to understand the perception of people in society.

Answer 1

We're Indians. We're commonly referred as Brown People. It is because we're living in the Tropical region of the Globe. And collectively, most of the Indians are Brown (Average of the Colour tones in India. If you know what i mean). The Brown colour refers to the Healthiness of the people. If someone thinks that being pale is superior, in India, Please ask them to get their body checked. It may be because of low melanin pigmentation or anaemia. Being fairer doesn't give you confidence. Colour doesn't decide your confidence. Your competency does. The media is repeatedly referring the people by colour because there is a Global Politics behind it. India is the second largest Market Globally. Hence, the western Cosmetics Giants wanted to have their roots deep in the market. And, now they are a Great Success. Indians are Globally known for their sound Knowledge and Heritage. But, they don't know that we are the fools running behind getting a fairer skin. It is the mindset of Western people to refer people by names. It has nothing to do with Who you really are. Because, You are an Indian and Be proud of it.



P.S.: You may be very fair comparatively in India. But, you may still have a lesser colour tone when compared to the Western people.

Answer 2

Black as night will be true in case of people working in the hot sun and certainly does not apply to all! Similarly, there are North Indians dark as night as well. Now, coming to your grouse, the general tendency is to call all Asians, Africans and others excluding the Europeans and Americans as black irrespective of whether they are black, brown or actually white. You cannot change this attitude!

Answer 3

Indians living in the African colonies used to ally themselves with Blacks against the Western authorities so perhaps that stereotype is what you are encountering.