Why was the one Spice Girl who was black called "Scary Spice"?

are you fucking kidding?!? of course its totally racist duh

Because she was like the Gene Simmons of the Spice Girls.

http://img.tesco.com/pi/entertainment/CD/LF/297625_CD_L_F.jpg

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/world/europe/0012/racial.equality.ad.gallery/gallery.melb.cre.jpg

I didn't give much thought to Spice Girls back in the day... Was the issue of her name ever brought up in the media when they were big?

Yes it was

Google "scary spice racist" and the first result is a CNN story wondering if Scary Spice would be "scarier" if she were paler than Posh Spice.

This would have been a great Nat X skit.

okay not the first result but still

racist construction of persona discussed here

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v655/lixnixn/week.jpg

Oh, I only drank a few beers tonight, just got home, head full of philosopshicasl questions.

one can only imagine the discussion between the subeditors deciding on her name at the photo shoot....

Well that classist, sub-academic blither-blather proves it.

Making the Spice Girls out to be far deeper than they were.

welcome to ilx

yeah taking a black person and dressing them in conventional "savage" costumes and calling them "Scary", that's not racist at all, nope no historical context to that at all nosiree amirite

I just mean that book excerpt. Rich college white kid crap, projection, driven by ideological intprepation, not actual evidence. The author has a worldview going in and will use all kinds of linguistic tricks to shoehorn the subject to fit that.

But perhaps I am a knee-jerk anti-intellectual.

Huh? I wasn't saying it's not racist, it's just that I never delved deeper into the Spice Girls lore, so I just wanted to know whether some other justification was given to her scariness than her race.

(x-post)

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8783/weekrn3.th.jpg

Animal prints are sexy. You find them savage?

I took her facial expressions to be the origin of the "Scary" moniker.

whut dally? why are you assuming the author of that book is rich and white?

and why would that matter?

Why did my comic tuern smaller?

Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), professionally known as Melanie Brown and Mel B, is an English pop singer and songwriter turned actress and television personality best known as one of the members of the girl group the Spice Girls, one of the most successful female groups of all time.[1] She was given the nickname "Scary Spice" by the British media because of her outrageous, "in-your-face" attitude, 'loud' Leeds accent, throaty laugh, manner of dress (which often consisted of leopard-print outfits), and her voluminously curly hair.

Animal prints are sexy. You find them savage? I took her facial expressions to be the origin of the "Scary" moniker.

no single element is racist in itself, its the use of them all together that construct an identity that is basically a racist caricature - its in the tradition of the Imp in Little Nemo, etc.

What, theirn names were given by the press? I thought they had them from the beginning.

Sorry, I didn't mean the author, I mean the academic institution in a metaphorical sense. By and large it's a white upper middle class thing, a vacuum of priviledge. Weeks off. You can be terrible at your job and not get fired (tenure). It's an insular, elitist construct.

Shakey: Or Jar Jar Binks?

ugh don't get me started about Jar Jar

...and therefore can't have serious opinions?

(xx-post)

By and large it's a white upper middle class thing, a vacuum of priviledge. Weeks off. You can be terrible at your job and not get fired (tenure). It's an insular, elitist construct.

what institutions does this sweeping generalization not describe

i doubt it was the british media. i think it was part of the group's overall plan, ie the group's management's overall plan.

Is Bugs Bunny homophobic? He is a bit of a "dandy."

http://i8.tinypic.com/67fppbc.jpg

She was like the Neneh Cherry/Skunk Anasie of the group.

conventional "savage" costumes:

http://www.babble.com/CS/photos/babble/images/2320/275x350.aspx

I think the author of that excerpt is projecting her own racist constructs on Scary, and hiding that in academic jargon that, in the end, says very little.

http://www.thecriticscorner.com/Covers4/SkunkAnanD2-Cover.jpg

that wikipedia entry is nearly identical to the dissembling about Jar Jar - "he's just being goofy! he's the comic relief who just happens to have a Jamaican accent!" These kind of excuses are offered as a deliberately ignorant deflection tactic that tries to set the characters outside of any legitimate mass media/historical context. They act like the racial factor is just a coincidence, rather than the being the key factor that binds the persona together and places it within what happens to be a completely racist and offensive tradition.

http://www.buddyx.com/NenehCherry/images/news/fashionjunkie.jpg

(note that Skunk Anansie were not re-named SCARY DARKIE ANANSIE by their managers)

hiding that in academic jargon that, in the end, says very little.

ur reading comprehension sux

the author of that excerpt is projecting her own racist constructs on Scary,

also waht does this mean

http://www.buddyx.com/NenehCherry/images/news/fashionjunkie.jpg

^^^^ see, this woman is not particularly scary. Giving her the name "Scary" otoh begs the question what is so scary about her (oh right, SHE'S BLACK AND CRAZY)

i mean shit dally i think youre projecting your own constructs on this chick's text and hiding behind bullshit non-starters like "rich white institution"

but what the fuck maybe im just anti-retard

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Little_Nemo_the_Imp_2.jpg

That's Neneh Cherry holding up the shoe. If she were a Spice Girl she would be Cheery Spice.

John, there is that, but Tuomas comes from a place where MY PUPPIES: LET ME SHOW YOU THEM means you get to see baby dogs when you go with the decrepit next-door neighbour.

why was the one moomin character who was black called stinky?

i really wish ILX didn't have only one person from Finland who also just happens to be somewhat 'eccentric', only one person from Norway who also just happens to be somewhat 'eccentric', only 63 people from Britain who also just happen to be a somewhat 'eccentric'...

I remember NME decicing they liked the Spice Girls quite early on just as Wannabe blew up but their names weren't set in stone so you'd see things like The One Who Is Only Fifteen Years Old, The One Who Clearly Used To Be A Model and similar bandied around briefly.

Yes. This was around when Spice Girls stage-rushed a Blur gig at the Astoria; people there found it hysterically funny.

She had other qualities that were supposed to be scarey, Tuomas. Like, she was kind of in-yer-face and shit.

http://www.rob-clarkson.com/duff-brewery/poochie/01.jpg

http://members.tripod.com/~Reco_Williams/natx.jpg

So she's too scary for Tripod?

Maybe she IS a tripod!?? That would be scary, yeah.

I always assumed she was the scariest one because she could actually sing.

lol @ suzy being a dumbshit; weird to mostly agree with shakey mo :/

Twizzat. ^

Suzy's OTM.

Why, exactly, do people allow someone from Finland to drag them into a debate about ethnic and racial distinctions?

Wtf, do you think that ethnic and racial distinctions don't exist here, or that Finns can't talk about them?

weird to mostly agree with shakey mo :/

/\ dumbshit shockah

john justen gets very intolerant when he can't get his killfile to work.

http://www.intermix.org.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=603

LOL @ Dan utterly pwning Shakey Mo upthread.

I always assumed she was the scariest one because she could actually sing.

But her voice isn't that great at all! The best singer was always our football-mad scouse chum.

Three of them could sing (Sporty, Scary, Baby).
One of them could fake it (Ginger).
One of them... well... (Posh).

scientists later engineered clones of Posh Spice, who collectively became known as "The Pussycat Dolls"

I think you mean scientists later engineered infitely-hotter clones of Posh Spice, who collectively became known as "The Pussycat Dolls"

Or even infinitely

oh no! FITE!! oh NO!!

Boy howdy, this thread has been a trainwreck!!

-- King Boy Pato, Wednesday, 11 July 2007 08:44 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

“I Want You Back” could well be the drabbest song to which Missy Elliott has ever lent her credibility.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIhCaMvfz04

Why, exactly, do people allow someone from Finland to drag them into a debate about ethnic and racial distinctions?

Wtf, do you think that ethnic and racial distinctions don't exist here, or that Finns can't talk about them?

-- Tuomas, Sunday, September 23, 2007 1:32 PM (9 hours ago)

Ethnic composition, language, religion
ethnic groups: Finn 93%; Swede 6%; Sami 0,1%; other 1%
languages: Finnish, Swedish (both official); Sami, Russian
religious affiliation: Evangelical Lutheran 86%; Finnish (Greek) Orthodox 1%; non-religious 12%

FROM THIS WEBSITE

that might have some relevance if tuomas was being disparaging about other races. as it is he is being sensitive, while perhaps not being clued in. after all, if you're going to suggest people who might not be suitable to talk about these matters, how about brits and americans because of their horrendous history, which the finns don't share?
disregarding tuomas' own personlity and ideas, why do you want to stifle debate with someone merely because of their racial backround?

Well, I don't think those numbers are accurate, and even if they were,

1) I live in Helsinki where almost 10% of people are immigrants or children of immigrants,

2) I interact with black people and immigrants practically every day at work,

3) even if I lived somewhere else and didn't know any black people, I don't see why this would make me unqualified to talk about racial stereotypes, which are something anyone with a bit of knowledge can rexognize.

So fuck you and your prejudices!

(x-post)

How can you tell they're really black people? I bet you guys don't even know what one is.

Oh I know what they look like, I've seen them in movies:

http://www.deucesblog.com/weblogs/archives/blackface.bmp

Ok, let me put this another way. I think that by starting threads about racial issues while maintaining some "gee golly this just occurred to me because I'm so gosh-darned clueless" persona and then getting up in arms about how I called you clueless about racial issues is pretty much A+ 100% irritating troll behavior. And when we all get into the umpteenth empty argument because no one seems to be able to not run to every race related thread to say the same thing they've said a whole bunch of other times, it's even more irritating.

Although that last picture doesn't make you seem like a troll, oh no, not at all.

i agree. but ur feeding him like everyone else.

point taken. I'm done.

Ever heard of a thing called "humor"?

My cluelessness wasn't about race rather than about Spice Girls. I've never given them much consideration, so I hadn't really thougt about the name Scary Spice until someone mentioned it in a random coversation. And I wanted to ask people who know more about them about the basis for her name. Plus I can't see the point of complaining about "empty arguments". This thread has 100+ posts, so clearly some people want to contribute to the discussion. If you find it empty, no one's forcing you to post to the thread.

(xx-post)

This is a fine thread, I think maybe next time you should just name yr thread "TITS" instead of a question, so as to appear less clueless and more sexy.

She was called "Scary Spice" because she was a little overbearing.

OK, Thanks, Close thread.

Why is the one member of Bloc Party who is black called "douchebag"?

I thought all of them were

Weren't they named by Smash Hits (which is probably?
Anyway xpost on the Northern, gobby and working class thing. Class (and the north/south divide thing) trumps race every time in what the southern middle classes are expected to find even ironically scary...

Whose parentheses should have enclosed the words: "which is probably a sociological essay in itself"

Andii Peters came up with the five names.

Kicking, Screaming, Gucci, Little, Piggy.

i thought top of the pops magazine came up with the names.

*checks*

yup: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1831497,00.html

"Kicking, Screaming, Gucci, Little, Piggy"

Sporty, Scary, Posh, Baby, Ginger?

They were named by the now-defunct Top of The Pops magazine. Plus, it's totally about class and regionalism.

x-post with Charlie

lolololol at the Radiohead names

wait, that radiohead thing has just totally blown my mind.

:D i had actually heard that one before, but it's still awes

Well that classist, sub-academic blither-blather proves it.

Making the Spice Girls out to be far deeper than they were.

-- dally, Friday, September 21, 2007 11:07 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

welcome to ilx

-- omar little, Friday, September 21, 2007 11:09 PM (3 days ago)

guys, this ^

why was the one ilxer who was finnish called "tuomas"?