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