Sign in or register
for additional privileges

Birth of An Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation

Nicholas Sammond, Author

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Introduction, Page 4

The classic minstrel show may be gone, but blackface is a living international tradition. In his 2000 film Bamboozled,  Spike Lee commented on this durability and its effect on African American performance. Here, Savion Glover and Tommy Davidson apply burnt cork to their faces. (African American performers in the 19th and 20th centuries often had to black up to play "themselves" in front of white audiences.)

Another clip from Bamboozled features Glover's and Davidson's characters Mantan (named after the actor Mantan Moreland) and Sleep 'n' Eat (named after the stereotypical propensities of the minstrel) performing indefinite speech, a fantasy of telepathic communication between African Americans, and of a secret "code" opaque to whites. 

Controversial 21st century South African rap group die Antwoord also repeatedly plays with blackface in its music videos.  Fatty Boom Boom deploys full-body blackface and whiteface, with singer Yolandi sometimes appearing as a living "gollywog" doll. Another die Antwoord video, Ugly Boy, features a man in blackface, and an Afro wig wearing a sweat shirt emblazoned with the words "Hi My Name is God."

Yet another international example of contemporary blackface is Australian comedian Chris Lilley's rapper character s.Mouse, from his Angry Boys series (2011). Here, viewers are first introduced to s.Mouse, through a satire on hip-pop culture with the absurdly titled single "Slap My Elbow". Another s.Mouse video, the Animal Zoo, features women dressed up in animal costumes in a Safari themed landscape that makes a parallel between women and non-human animals.

Other examples of contemporary blackface include a tragicomic scene in the prime-time cable show Madmen (2009), in which Roger Sterling blacks up to sing "My Old Kentucky Home" at his daughter's wedding, or  Billy Crystal reprising his blackface impersonation of Sammy Davis Jr. (from his television special, Don't Get Me Started) for
the 2012 Academy Awards.

And so on. Blackface as a performance practice is still very much a part of mainstream popular culture.


Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Introduction, Page 4"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Introduction, page 3 of 17 Next page on path

Related:  Introduction, Page 14Space, Page 182Introduction, Page 30Conclusion, Page 275Race, Page 258Performance, Page 41Conclusion, Page 300Space, Page 175Space, Page 138Conclusion, Page 291Conclusion, Page 296Space, Page 165Race, Page 247Performance, Page 60Performance, Page 44Race, Page 232Labor, Page 122Conclusion, Page 292Race, Page 221Conclusion, Page 278Race, Page 224Performance, Page 46Performance, Page 82Space, Page 163Conclusion, Page 298Conclusion, Page 284Introduction, Page 16Labor, Page 113Conclusion, Page 290Space, Page 183Introduction, Page 1Conclusion, Page 273Space, Page 181Race, Page 235Space, Page 178Labor, Page 98Labor, Page 109Space, Page 170Race, Page 204Labor, Page 133Race, Page 252Space, Page 146Performance, Page 84Space, Page 197Conclusion, Page 303Performance, Page 74Race, Page 219Introduction, Page 23Labor, Page 132Race, Page 229Introduction, Page 15Introduction, Page 21Race, Page 206Space, Page 188Labor, Page 128Labor, Page 110Performance, Page 72Space, Page 150Race, Page 253Introduction, Page 6Performance, Page 42Race, Page 220Performance, Page 43Conclusion, Page 304Introduction, Page 29Race, Page 239Labor, Page 112Space, Page 177Space, Page 155Space, Page 194Conclusion, Page 289Space, Page 143Race, Page 248Performance, Page 54Space, Page 148Conclusion, Page 271Introduction, Page 2Conclusion, Page 286Performance, Page 77Performance, Page 34Race, Page 225Space, Page 172Performance, Page 45Space, Page 189Performance, Page 35Space, Page 190Race, Page 230Race, Page 213Labor, Page 123Race, Page 261Conclusion, Page 302Space, Page 141Space, Page 187Performance, Page 47Space, Page 191Performance, Page 52Performance, Page 50Race, Page 251Labor, Page 88Space, Page 162Space, Page 193Race, Page 254Race, Page 231