Sign in or register
for additional privileges

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

Nicholas Sammond, Author
Race, page 6 of 25
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.

Race, Page 221

Trader Mickey's African river adventure appeared year after the release of Trader Horn (1931), a pre-code adventure film and the first non-documentary shot on location in Africa; and Frank Buck's Bring 'Em Back Alive (1932), another "jungle" film based on the popular works animal collector Frank Buck.

Mickey appears to be peddling goods, but which? Perhaps he is a dry-goods merchant, shifting between various colonial outposts. Perhaps, in a darker reading,  Mickey is a slave-trader. A minstrel, neither black nor white, Mickey inhabits a liminal zone, in his body and in space. 

The geography of Trader Mickey blurs the images of the Old South with those of Africa, suggesting the fantastic, transnational blackness at the roots of minstrelsy. As a performative practice, minstrelsy used the ethnographic conceit of being based upon the dances and songs of enslaved Africans on plantations. 

Comment on this page
  • Local Discussion
    •
  • Popout
    •
 

Discussion of "Race, Page 221"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Race, page 6 of 25 Next page on path
Cartoons    Image    Moving Image    Sound    Black and White    Walt Disney    1930s    Mickey Mouse    Live Cinema

Related:  Performance, Page 70,  Race, Page 224,  Space, Page 183,  Introduction, Page 14,  Space, Page 143,  Introduction, Page 6,  Labor, Page 119,  Space, Page 146,  Introduction, Page 2,  Conclusion, Page 289,  Space, Page 165,  Race, Page 254,  Race, Page 248,  Race, Page 252,  Labor, Page 133,  Performance, Page 34,  Space, Page 188,  Introduction, Page 26,  Labor, Page 122,  Labor, Page 109,  Conclusion, Page 291,  Introduction, Page 9,  Performance, Page 82,  Performance, Page 72,  Space, Page 137,  Space, Page 191,  Space, Page 155,  Introduction, Page 21,  Space, Page 175,  Race, Page 232,  Performance, Page 43,  Performance, Page 84,  Conclusion, Page 273,  Race, Page 258,  Labor, Page 88,  Labor, Page 112,  Performance, Page 67,  Space, Page 172,  Space, Page 187,  Race, Page 251,  Performance, Page 74,  Introduction, Page 1,  Space, Page 178,  Space, Page 177,  Space, Page 182,  Race, Page 230,  Performance, Page 50,  Race, Page 225,  Space, Page 152,  Labor, Page 128,  Race, Page 231,  Labor, Page 110,  Space, Page 162,  Introduction, Page 23,  Space, Page 169,  Space, Page 194,  Space, Page 171,  Race, Page 206,  Labor, Page 126,  Race, Page 261,  Labor, Page 132,  Introduction, Page 29,  Conclusion, Page 278,  Race, Page 235,  Labor, Page 113,  Race, Page 213,  Space, Page 141,  Space, Page 184,  Space, Page 138,  Conclusion, Page 296,  Race, Page 220,  Introduction, Page 30,  Conclusion, Page 298,  Space, Page 193,  Conclusion, Page 268,  Labor, Page 102,  Race, Page 229,  Labor, Page 98,  Labor, Page 123,  Conclusion, Page 303,  Space, Page 189,  Labor, Page 101,  Performance, Page 40,  Space, Page 163,  Space, Page 148,  Introduction, Page 4,  Space, Page 170,  Space, Page 181,  Performance, Page 52,  Performance, Page 42,  Conclusion, Page 300,  Race, Page 253,  Race, Page 219,  Race, Page 247,  Conclusion, Page 284,  Conclusion, Page 274,  Space, Page 197,  Space, Page 150,  Performance, Page 46,  Conclusion, Page 272,  Conclusion, Page 275,  Performance, Page 44,  Labor, Page 129,  Labor, Page 131,  Conclusion, Page 304,  Performance, Page 77,  Race, Page 204,  Introduction, Page 18,  Conclusion, Page 290,  Conclusion, Page 302,  Performance, Page 80,  Performance, Page 35,  Race, Page 239,  introduction-page-22,  Space, Page 156,  Performance, Page 60,  Race, Page 257,  Performance, Page 47,  Space, Page 190,  Conclusion, Page 286,  Introduction, Page 12,  Performance, Page 41,  Performance, Page 56,  Labor, Page 93,  Introduction, Page 20,  Conclusion, Page 292,  Space, Page 192,  Space, Page 159,  Introduction, Page 16,  Performance, Page 54,  Labor, Page 96,  Space, Page 195,  Performance, Page 62,  Introduction, Page 15,  Performance, Page 45,  Race, Page 245,  Performance, Page 78