Modern Black Face?

Disparaging images of African Americans have long been a part of popular American culture. Negative images of African Americans solidified white hegemony in the eighteenth century. During the antebellum period, negative portrayals of African Americans were used as tools to keep slaves oppressed under the domination of white American society. And today African Americans have become commodities of entertainment for mass media consumption.

Whether it was white men dressing up in blackface or African American actors portraying images developed by white producers, minstrelsies sought to interpret African American culture by displaying pervasive stereotypes concerning blackness. Blackface was originated as the act of White performers using burnt cork and later greasepaint or shoe polish to blacken their skin and exaggerate their lips, often wearing woolly wigs, gloves, tailcoats, to perform theatrical performances of African American life and culture. Later, African American performers would also perform in blackface. These performances were always exaggerated stereotypical presentations of "Blackness." The very first minstrel show occurred in the 1800s in New York City and within a year it became the most popular form of live entertainment in America.

There is a movie coming out called Tropic Thunder. Robert Downey Jr. essentially plays a White character playing an African American character in the film. The biggest question that comes to mind is why could they have not got an African American character to play the role. Perhaps it’s funnier when a White person plays an African American character, because black people are funny. The movie is meant to be a comedy, but like traditional American popular culture, so were minstrel shows.

There has been minimal controversy over the film and Downey’s role, but Downey seems to have no problems with playing the character.

“Downey, meanwhile, is confident he never crossed the line. ''At the end of the day, it's always about how well you commit to the character,'' he says. ''I dove in with both feet. If I didn't feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell in [Soul Man], I would've stayed home.'' –Entertainment Weekly.com

I watched the trailer and did laugh at one of the scenes in the end. But I don’t know. It just doesn’t sit well with me. Minstrel shows were meant to be funny, lynchings were meant to be entertaining, and African Americans were once meant to be property. Thus, the intention is much larger then the proposed effect. While many will argue, “It’s JUST A MOVIE!” The fact is, the effects are much larger then getting a few laughs at your local theater. As taught by The New Yorker, Obama is a muslim.

What’s the reality?... “The ‘Nigger’ [was and continues to be] one of the most significant and popular themes in American entertainment” (LaGrone 2000, 117). Yeah, I typed the N Word.