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