Sign in or register
for additional privileges

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

Nicholas Sammond, Author
Space, page 29 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 190

The Fleischers' Snow White (1932) features Cab Calloway as Ko-Ko, who is shown as a "spook" dancing in front of a ghastly backdrop associated with jazz and the ghetto. Depicting Calloway singing St. James Infirmary Blues, this cartoon projects fantasies of African-American life and culture as a dangerous yet desirable underworld, playing on the ambivalence of stereotype. Note also the addition of the minstrel face in the Queen's mirror.

Walter Lantz's Scrub Me Mama to a Boogie Beat (1941) features a southern backwater, Lazytown, only somewhat shaken out of its torpor by the rhythms of Harlem, animated by the arrival of a female cityslicker. The cartoon creates the seamless geography of blackness that links the South to Harlem via jazz and the black body, while reproducing the fantasy of that body as torpid, sensual, and rhythmic.
Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Space, Page 190"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...

Previous page on path Space, page 29 of 36 Next page on path

Related:  Labor, Page 123Conclusion, Page 290Space, Page 150Space, Page 165Space, Page 187Performance, Page 42Race, Page 231Race, Page 206Introduction, Page 29Space, Page 175Space, Page 188Space, Page 152Space, Page 143Race, Page 221Race, Page 224Performance, Page 77Conclusion, Page 289Introduction, Page 21Race, Page 225Space, Page 193Race, Page 252Space, Page 189Performance, Page 74Space, Page 146Race, Page 248Race, Page 220Race, Page 235Labor, Page 109Space, Page 177Race, Page 232Space, Page 181Race, Page 230Performance, Page 47Race, Page 253Performance, Page 45Space, Page 137Performance, Page 70Labor, Page 112Performance, Page 84Space, Page 197Introduction, Page 2Space, Page 163Labor, Page 98Race, Page 247Introduction, Page 23Space, Page 178Introduction, Page 6Space, Page 184Race, Page 204Labor, Page 128Race, Page 239Performance, Page 82Space, Page 148Space, Page 155Space, Page 138Introduction, Page 30Race, Page 251Introduction, Page 14Space, Page 172Labor, Page 96Performance, Page 46Space, Page 182Conclusion, Page 291Labor, Page 119Labor, Page 110Space, Page 194Performance, Page 54Race, Page 254Space, Page 170Race, Page 213Performance, Page 50Labor, Page 88Space, Page 162Conclusion, Page 286Conclusion, Page 296Conclusion, Page 300Performance, Page 72Performance, Page 52Labor, Page 113Labor, Page 101Performance, Page 34Conclusion, Page 298Space, Page 191Conclusion, Page 275Race, Page 258Labor, Page 132Labor, Page 133Space, Page 195Labor, Page 122Race, Page 261Introduction, Page 4Conclusion, Page 304Performance, Page 43Space, Page 141Race, Page 229Space, Page 183Performance, Page 60Conclusion, Page 302Introduction, Page 1Conclusion, Page 292Space, Page 156Labor, Page 129Conclusion, Page 273Conclusion, Page 278Labor, Page 97Labor, Page 131Performance, Page 41Conclusion, Page 284Performance, Page 44Performance, Page 35Space, Page 171Performance, Page 40Conclusion, Page 303Race, Page 219