Sign in or register
for additional privileges

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

Nicholas Sammond, Author
Labor, page 9 of 21
Previous page on path     Next page on path

 

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 110

This Out of the Inkwell cartoon from 1927 features the continuing Fleischer character Ko-Ko the Clown, who appears to draw himself and then battle with his drawn environment—a self-referential trope in early animation in which creations were made to rebel against their makers. 

Ko-Ko travels through time to 1999, when everything is automated. Eventually, a machine creates a wife and children for  Ko-Ko, who is unwilling to settle down; his enraged wife rips the clown to shreds and tosses the fragments into Max's "real" cinematic space. Max takes the paper shreds and creates two real women, ready to clean up the day's mess by putting it all back into the inkwell. 

Early animated characters often performed a fantasy of seeming autonomy, drawn by the animators only to be punished and constrained by their "masters" for their misdeeds. This sort of rebellion was a key characteristic of the blackface minstrel. 
Comment on this page
  • Local Discussion
    •
  • Popout
    •
 

Discussion of "Labor, Page 110"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Labor, page 9 of 21 Next page on path
Max Fleischer    Dave Fleischer    With Live Characters (Animators)    Trick Photography    Cartoons    Out of the Inkwell    Moving Image    Ko-Ko the Clown    Sound    Black and White

Related:  Labor, Page 101,  Space, Page 148,  Space, Page 163,  Space, Page 188,  Race, Page 252,  Labor, Page 98,  Introduction, Page 29,  Race, Page 230,  Performance, Page 50,  Labor, Page 132,  Space, Page 155,  Labor, Page 133,  Race, Page 239,  Introduction, Page 6,  Performance, Page 47,  Conclusion, Page 290,  Labor, Page 113,  Space, Page 152,  Space, Page 143,  Space, Page 175,  Performance, Page 70,  Space, Page 172,  Race, Page 220,  Space, Page 182,  Race, Page 206,  Space, Page 194,  Labor, Page 128,  Performance, Page 84,  Race, Page 224,  Race, Page 253,  Conclusion, Page 296,  Conclusion, Page 284,  Conclusion, Page 302,  Space, Page 150,  Performance, Page 35,  Conclusion, Page 300,  Race, Page 258,  Space, Page 170,  Race, Page 251,  Space, Page 178,  Conclusion, Page 289,  Conclusion, Page 298,  Race, Page 225,  Space, Page 146,  Performance, Page 44,  Space, Page 197,  Performance, Page 74,  Introduction, Page 2,  Race, Page 231,  Performance, Page 54,  Race, Page 221,  Space, Page 177,  Race, Page 247,  Performance, Page 82,  Race, Page 248,  Space, Page 187,  Space, Page 181,  Race, Page 229,  Performance, Page 43,  Labor, Page 123,  Introduction, Page 4,  Performance, Page 34,  Labor, Page 88,  Labor, Page 112,  Conclusion, Page 303,  Performance, Page 77,  Space, Page 193,  Race, Page 235,  Introduction, Page 30,  Performance, Page 46,  Race, Page 204,  Space, Page 162,  Race, Page 254,  Space, Page 165,  Conclusion, Page 292,  Labor, Page 122,  Labor, Page 119,  Conclusion, Page 304,  Conclusion, Page 278,  Performance, Page 41,  Race, Page 261,  Introduction, Page 1,  Space, Page 189,  Space, Page 183,  Space, Page 190,  Introduction, Page 14,  Labor, Page 97,  Performance, Page 42,  Conclusion, Page 291,  Performance, Page 72,  Conclusion, Page 273,  Race, Page 232,  Labor, Page 129,  Space, Page 156,  Introduction, Page 21,  Labor, Page 96,  Performance, Page 45,  Race, Page 213,  Performance, Page 52,  Introduction, Page 23,  Space, Page 141,  Labor, Page 109,  Performance, Page 60,  Space, Page 184,  Space, Page 138,  Space, Page 191,  Conclusion, Page 286,  Conclusion, Page 275