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.

Labor, Page 109

Walter Lantz’s Voodoo In Harlem (1938) is an excellent example of the fantastic geography of some early sound cartoons. This geography imagined Africa, the Deep South, and the urban ghettoes of the northern United States (typified by Harlem) as one continuous space unified by black bodies. In this clip, stereotypical natives sing about Haitian voodoo practices taking place in the jazz clubs of Harlem.

Also, the inkwell was a powerful trope which was celebrated by animators in their works - the source material from which life sprang, where an ideal, fantastic blackness materialized into being.  Here, savage characters emerge from ink spilled on the floor and at the end of the cartoon return to the inkwell from which they sprang.

Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Labor, Page 109"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Labor, page 8 of 21 Next page on path

Related:  Performance, Page 35Conclusion, Page 303Introduction, Page 21Space, Page 177Introduction, Page 29Space, Page 193Race, Page 239Space, Page 165Performance, Page 47Space, Page 188Race, Page 230Space, Page 183Space, Page 170Space, Page 191Conclusion, Page 290Space, Page 189Race, Page 253Space, Page 194Race, Page 247Conclusion, Page 286Labor, Page 110Space, Page 152Conclusion, Page 296Space, Page 187Space, Page 148Race, Page 229Performance, Page 46Race, Page 231Performance, Page 74Performance, Page 50Introduction, Page 6Labor, Page 113Race, Page 248Race, Page 235Labor, Page 133Space, Page 184Space, Page 178Space, Page 182Conclusion, Page 298Conclusion, Page 300Conclusion, Page 291Performance, Page 82Labor, Page 123Labor, Page 98Race, Page 261Performance, Page 45Race, Page 225Space, Page 143Race, Page 224Space, Page 175Performance, Page 54Race, Page 206Labor, Page 122Performance, Page 72Introduction, Page 2Performance, Page 60Space, Page 137Conclusion, Page 292Performance, Page 43Labor, Page 129Space, Page 172Introduction, Page 1Labor, Page 132Performance, Page 52Space, Page 181Introduction, Page 23Performance, Page 44Introduction, Page 14Conclusion, Page 302Space, Page 138Race, Page 204Space, Page 163Introduction, Page 4Space, Page 190Space, Page 155Labor, Page 88Performance, Page 84Performance, Page 42Race, Page 252Space, Page 162Labor, Page 101Race, Page 221Performance, Page 34Labor, Page 119Introduction, Page 30Space, Page 150Race, Page 220Labor, Page 128Space, Page 195Conclusion, Page 289Race, Page 213Labor, Page 112Race, Page 232Race, Page 258Space, Page 197Race, Page 254Race, Page 251Space, Page 146Performance, Page 41Conclusion, Page 273Performance, Page 70Race, Page 219Conclusion, Page 304Conclusion, Page 278Performance, Page 77Space, Page 141Space, Page 171Labor, Page 131Conclusion, Page 275Conclusion, Page 284