Sign in or register
for additional privileges

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

Nicholas Sammond, Author
Space, page 20 of 36

 

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.

Space, Page 175

As sound films became popular in the late 1920s and 30s, cartoons were increasingly presented as containing sound, rather than merely accompanied by music and sound effects.

Both Amateur Nite (1929) and The Opry House (1929) use the theatre as a narrative frame for non-diegetic music, a background of sound. This framing technique for  sound soon gave way to the use of diegetic sound in cartoons. That is, sound and music changed from being a background to the action of the cartoon, to become something that the characters could hear and contribute to. 

In Amateur Nite, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit goes to a stage show and sees acts performed by animal characters with distinctly black bodies and white lips, a visual reminder of the role of blackface minstrelsy in vaudeville and in animation. Similarly, The Opry House depicts Mickey Mouse going to a show and performing three acts: snake-charming, an impression of a Hasidic Jew, and a piano solo. 

Bimbo's Initiation (1931) differed from past Fleischer cartoons that often played with the relationship between flat, 2-D drawn space and "real" cinematic space. In this cartoon Bimbo gets sucked into a manhole and ends up in a fantastic unified cinematic space that is shifting and unstable. 

Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Space, Page 175"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Space, page 20 of 36 Next page on path

Related:  Space, Page 187Race, Page 258Performance, Page 84Conclusion, Page 289Space, Page 166Performance, Page 50Performance, Page 47Labor, Page 110Race, Page 221Performance, Page 74Space, Page 190Race, Page 254Performance, Page 44Space, Page 143Introduction, Page 2Conclusion, Page 302Space, Page 183Conclusion, Page 292Space, Page 191Performance, Page 42Introduction, Page 29Race, Page 224Labor, Page 133Labor, Page 129Race, Page 219Race, Page 261Introduction, Page 1Race, Page 235Conclusion, Page 290Race, Page 248Introduction, Page 30Introduction, Page 6Race, Page 232Labor, Page 128Race, Page 239Race, Page 231Conclusion, Page 296Space, Page 146Performance, Page 72Introduction, Page 23Space, Page 189Race, Page 220Labor, Page 109Race, Page 253Labor, Page 88Conclusion, Page 304Performance, Page 35Space, Page 162Labor, Page 98Labor, Page 112Race, Page 225Space, Page 178Space, Page 177Labor, Page 122Conclusion, Page 298Space, Page 138Space, Page 197Race, Page 230Performance, Page 82Space, Page 165Labor, Page 131Space, Page 150Space, Page 163Conclusion, Page 291Space, Page 152Labor, Page 119Introduction, Page 14Space, Page 171Space, Page 193Performance, Page 34Space, Page 188Race, Page 251Labor, Page 132Race, Page 204Space, Page 148Race, Page 229Space, Page 194Race, Page 242Space, Page 155Labor, Page 113Space, Page 172Race, Page 206Performance, Page 41Space, Page 159Race, Page 213Space, Page 170Space, Page 137Performance, Page 77Labor, Page 102Space, Page 195Labor, Page 123Performance, Page 54Race, Page 247Race, Page 252Space, Page 169Space, Page 182Performance, Page 76Conclusion, Page 273Conclusion, Page 284Labor, Page 97Space, Page 181Performance, Page 52Performance, Page 46Labor, Page 101Conclusion, Page 275Labor, Page 93Labor, Page 96Space, Page 156Conclusion, Page 300Performance, Page 43Performance, Page 70Space, Page 141Introduction, Page 21Space, Page 184Introduction, Page 4Performance, Page 45Performance, Page 60Conclusion, Page 286Conclusion, Page 278Conclusion, Page 303Labor, Page 115Conclusion, Page 268