Twenty-First Century Blackface
Many people often think that blackface minstrelsy is a thing of the past. It isn't: minstrelsy is very much alive today.
As a live performance form, blackface declined in the early twentieth century. But it continued to be popular on the radio, through shows like Amos 'n Andy (Gosden and Correll) and The Two Black Crows (Moran and Mack). Those performances attempted to update minstrelsy, but most of the live and film performances of the 1930s and 1940s referred to minstrelsy's heyday in the 19th and early twentieth centuries. In some instances, 20th century fraternal organizations and local civic groups mounted amateur minstrel shows for charity work.
But blackface is itself nostalgic, pointing with fondness back to plantation days, and by extension to white supremacy and black subjugation. So, some may find it surprising that even in the age of multiculturalism and (supposedly post) civil rights, there continue to be instances of white people blacking up. In fact, last ten years have seen an increase in the use of blackface.
But blackface is itself nostalgic, pointing with fondness back to plantation days, and by extension to white supremacy and black subjugation. So, some may find it surprising that even in the age of multiculturalism and (supposedly post) civil rights, there continue to be instances of white people blacking up. In fact, last ten years have seen an increase in the use of blackface.
Perhaps the most famous 21st century example of blackface is in Spike Lee's troubling film Bamboozled (2000), in which an African American television producer unintentionally creates a hit prime-time television minstrel show. The final montage of the film, which provides a capsule history of American minstrelsy, is featured here.
Even beyond Lee's film, there are quite a few of recent instances of 21st century minstrelsy, such as...
The popular broadcast television show 30 Rock.
The popular AMC drama Mad Men.
The performance artist Shirley Q. Liquor (Chuck Knipp).
The controversial film comedy Tropic Thunder (Stiller 2008)
| Previous page on path | Minstrelsy, page 7 of 7 | Path end, continue |
Discussion of "Twenty-First Century Blackface"
Add your voice to this discussion.
Checking your signed in status ...