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