"race lift" meaning in English

See race lift in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: race lifts [plural]
Etymology: Modeled on face lift. Head templates: {{en-noun}} race lift (plural race lifts)
  1. The changing of the race of a character, protagonist, etc., in a work of art, literature, etc.
    Sense id: en-race_lift-en-noun-qa7xMiPB Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 59 41

Verb

Forms: race lifts [present, singular, third-person], race lifting [participle, present], race lifted [participle, past], race lifted [past]
Etymology: Modeled on face lift. Head templates: {{en-verb}} race lift (third-person singular simple present race lifts, present participle race lifting, simple past and past participle race lifted)
  1. To change the race of a fictional character.
    Sense id: en-race_lift-en-verb-Z65NQwXa

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for race lift meaning in English (4.0kB)

{
  "etymology_text": "Modeled on face lift.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "race lifts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "race lift (plural race lifts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "59 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014, Richard Rosenbaum, Raise Some Shell: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, page 26",
          "text": "Characters who are ethnic minorities in original works are recast as Caucasians in adaptations so frequently that the phenomenon has its own nickname: it’s called a race lift.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 April 1, Arthur Chu, “Not your Asian ninja: How the Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps failing Asian-Americans”, in The Daily Beast",
          "text": "But here's what gets me: They did do a \"race lift\" of a martial arts-oriented character. They took Elektra Natchios, who, if you couldn't tell from her name, is supposed to be Greek, and cast the French-Cambodian actress Elodie Yung to play her.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 March 17, Phoebe-Jane Boyd, “Imagine if all our childhood TV favourites went 'dark and gritty'”, in The Guardian, Opinion",
          "text": "2017 Rangers' \"gritty\" teaser trailer sees five stroppy teenagers (all smooth enough to have come from the High School Musical set) glower at one another in clothes most of us probably can't afford (styled to look almost-crap), get CGI powersuits, and fight a villain that's had a Hollywood \"race-lift\" for no reason other than I-don't-know.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 18, Arthur Chu, “Model minority rage: Why the Hulk should be an Asian guy”, in The Daily Beast",
          "text": "No, I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon in the wake of Marvel Comics' announcement of a black Captain America and a female Thor—although if there were ever a politically opportune moment to give the Hulk a Race Lift, this is it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The changing of the race of a character, protagonist, etc., in a work of art, literature, etc."
      ],
      "id": "en-race_lift-en-noun-qa7xMiPB"
    }
  ],
  "word": "race lift"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Modeled on face lift.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "race lifts",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "race lifting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "race lifted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "race lifted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "race lift (third-person singular simple present race lifts, present participle race lifting, simple past and past participle race lifted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011 November 14, Steve Rose, “G2: Bend it like Heathcliff: An Afro-Caribbean Heathcliff, a Caucasian anime hero and an all-black take on Tennessee Williams”, in The Guardian, page 6",
          "text": "The movie industry has supposedly cleaned up this particularly shameful act, but it has been replaced by a subtler form of race-lifting: rather than hiring actors of the same ethnicity to play non-Caucasian characters, Hollywood often simply changes the ethnicity of the characters themselves. Instead of hiring a black actor to play Othello, you just make Othello white.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 April 22, Prathibha Joy, “Row over Samuel L Jackson's portrayal”, in The Times of India",
          "text": "\"This is not the first instance of race lifting in Hollywood. In the past, Idris Elba has played the Norse God Heimdall. Will Smith's character from I am Legend was originally white, as was Shawshank Redemption's Red (played by Morgan Freeman),\" says movie buff Vinu S",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change the race of a fictional character."
      ],
      "id": "en-race_lift-en-verb-Z65NQwXa",
      "links": [
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ],
        [
          "race",
          "race"
        ],
        [
          "character",
          "character"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "race lift"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Modeled on face lift.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "race lifts",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "race lift (plural race lifts)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2014, Richard Rosenbaum, Raise Some Shell: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, page 26",
          "text": "Characters who are ethnic minorities in original works are recast as Caucasians in adaptations so frequently that the phenomenon has its own nickname: it’s called a race lift.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 April 1, Arthur Chu, “Not your Asian ninja: How the Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps failing Asian-Americans”, in The Daily Beast",
          "text": "But here's what gets me: They did do a \"race lift\" of a martial arts-oriented character. They took Elektra Natchios, who, if you couldn't tell from her name, is supposed to be Greek, and cast the French-Cambodian actress Elodie Yung to play her.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 March 17, Phoebe-Jane Boyd, “Imagine if all our childhood TV favourites went 'dark and gritty'”, in The Guardian, Opinion",
          "text": "2017 Rangers' \"gritty\" teaser trailer sees five stroppy teenagers (all smooth enough to have come from the High School Musical set) glower at one another in clothes most of us probably can't afford (styled to look almost-crap), get CGI powersuits, and fight a villain that's had a Hollywood \"race-lift\" for no reason other than I-don't-know.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2018 July 18, Arthur Chu, “Model minority rage: Why the Hulk should be an Asian guy”, in The Daily Beast",
          "text": "No, I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon in the wake of Marvel Comics' announcement of a black Captain America and a female Thor—although if there were ever a politically opportune moment to give the Hulk a Race Lift, this is it.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The changing of the race of a character, protagonist, etc., in a work of art, literature, etc."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "race lift"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Modeled on face lift.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "race lifts",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "race lifting",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "race lifted",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "race lifted",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "race lift (third-person singular simple present race lifts, present participle race lifting, simple past and past participle race lifted)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2011 November 14, Steve Rose, “G2: Bend it like Heathcliff: An Afro-Caribbean Heathcliff, a Caucasian anime hero and an all-black take on Tennessee Williams”, in The Guardian, page 6",
          "text": "The movie industry has supposedly cleaned up this particularly shameful act, but it has been replaced by a subtler form of race-lifting: rather than hiring actors of the same ethnicity to play non-Caucasian characters, Hollywood often simply changes the ethnicity of the characters themselves. Instead of hiring a black actor to play Othello, you just make Othello white.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 April 22, Prathibha Joy, “Row over Samuel L Jackson's portrayal”, in The Times of India",
          "text": "\"This is not the first instance of race lifting in Hollywood. In the past, Idris Elba has played the Norse God Heimdall. Will Smith's character from I am Legend was originally white, as was Shawshank Redemption's Red (played by Morgan Freeman),\" says movie buff Vinu S",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To change the race of a fictional character."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ],
        [
          "race",
          "race"
        ],
        [
          "character",
          "character"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "race lift"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.