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
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.

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
  • Local Discussion
    •
  • Popout
    •
 

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
Walter Lantz    Max Fleischer    Dave Fleischer    Black and White    1920s    Ub Iwerks    1930s    Cartoons    Moving Image    Oswald the Lucky Rabbit    Silent    Mickey Mouse    Sound    Bimbo

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