Althouse: Is blackface humor acceptable?

October 30, 2006

Is blackface humor acceptable?

Some people think so.

21 comments:

Peder said...: Well at least they didn't suggest that a blond white woman would be interested in a single black man. Because that would be too much.; 10/30/06, 7:04 AM
El Presidente said...: How about a black Republicn senatorial candidate in blackface.

http://www.urbangrounds.com/images/Steele_Blackface.jpg

Those pure democrats would never stoop to that.; 10/30/06, 7:18 AM
KCFleming said...: Blackface is only appropriate if you're a coalminer, on a military reconnnaisance mission, or you buy your masacara in bulk from Tammy Faye Baker.

P.S. Edward, I think you missed the point. It's not the target of the humor, it's the use of minstrel blackface. Do you think it's racist, or just, as you say, not as funny as firedog?; 10/30/06, 7:47 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: I saw this last night via one of the far-left lib blogs in Philly. And I sent it off to Instapundit and Malkin to see if it would get some legs.

The answer to your question is yes but only if it's done by a liberal democrat.

And crazier still, how can you logically equate Lynn Cheyney to Jim Webb? Webb is running for the senate and the other was apperaring on CNN to promote her newest kid's book.

The netroots are just nuts and I give you Derve and Edward as evidence to support my claim. And of course, Billmon, the Philly nutroots idiot.; 10/30/06, 7:58 AM
KCFleming said...: Re: "I also generally disapprove of making a big fuss over whether the mainstream media leans conservative or liberal."

At least, as long as it remains reliably liberal.; 10/30/06, 8:19 AM
Paco Wové said...: I'm beginning to doubt your connection to this reality.

Edward pretty much lost me when he started seeing naked people that weren't there.; 10/30/06, 8:37 AM
bill said...: Acceptable? Usually not, but this mostly depends on the person and the intention.

There's Spike Lee's Bamboozled. Tracey Ullman has done blackface. Billy Crystal played a number of black men; then there's his brownface Fernando Lamas. Gene Wilder in Silver Streak. Eddie Murphy and Dave Chappelle have both performed in white face. Can't even begin to count the number of performers that have mimic'ed other races and ethnicities without putting on the makeup. Is The Simpsons racist for letting Hank Azaria, a non-Indian, voice Apu? C Thomas Howell's Soul Man. The Black and White Minstrel Show was a BBC show that ran until 1978

Then there's the odd popularity of Shirley Q. Liquor -- a large, gay man cross-dressing and black-facing as a black woman.

Looking outside comedy, there's the controversy of Angelie Jolie playing Mariane Pearl. Both are from amazingly complex ethnicities and with a little bit of makeup, Jolie is almost identical to Pearl. Yet there are people crying blackface and pretty much insisting on octoroon laws when it comes to casting. Person in question has a drop of African blood, better find a like actor. For Pearl, better make sure she's also Cuban and Dutch, because Afro-American could be just as racist.

Is blackface humor acceptable? Usually it isn't; but I wouldn't state unequivacably "no." For an entertaining and informative read on the history of blackface and minstrelism, check out John Strausbaugh's Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture.; 10/30/06, 8:50 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Bill: Actors playing characters of a different race is not "blackface humor." The reference is specifically to minstrel shows. The linked thing with Wolf Blitzer is especially weird because the story that was the basis for the mockery wasn't even about race.; 10/30/06, 9:17 AM
Maxine Weiss said...: I know I've been frequently told that, if these were Slave times, I'd have made a good Massa!

Personally, I prefer a Czarina and her Serfs.

Peace, Maxine; 10/30/06, 9:49 AM
Beth said...: Pogo, I really miss Tammy Faye. Remember those great "I ran into Tammy Faye at the Mall" t-shirts?

Maxine, you have been on a journey lately; I know not where it's leading you, but thanks for sending dispatches from way out there now and again.; 10/30/06, 11:04 AM
Beth said...: Lynne Cheney is an acquired taste. I have a rare moment of synmpathy for poor Mary Cheney whenever I think of her mother. If my mom had written a novel complete with a heaving thighs and pulsing bosom lesbian scene, I'd probably have stayed in the closet a few more years, too. And therapy. Lots of therapy.; 10/30/06, 11:18 AM
jimbino said...: I think that if you can't something offensive, you shouldn't say anything at all.

The best response to annoying speech is more speech.; 10/30/06, 11:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Remember those great "I ran into Tammy Faye at the Mall" t-shirts?

LOL! I always thought those were hilarious.; 10/30/06, 12:19 PM
garage mahal said...: Blitzer, Matthews et.al. get paid millions of dollars to cozy up to whoever is in power, have dinners/drinks with, in return for exclusives, and access. This is why Blitzer was surprised, it didn't follow the normal script.

And what the hell was she wearing anyway?? Ann?; 10/30/06, 12:57 PM
KCFleming said...: Elizabeth,
Tammy Faye's husband was imprisoned in my town, and at the time I actually did run into her at the mall. Poor thing, she got her picture in the local paper looking at the sales racks, all smiles. I don't think she's got a mean bone in her body.

Her husband, in contrast was slimey. Little known fact: he and Lyndon LaRouche were cellmates! The blind Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was there at the same time, during which his lawyer, Lynne Stewart, was commitig the acts for which she was later convicted. Fun!

I have to agree about Lynne Cheney's erotica. Oy. Vey. Florence King, author and curmudgeon, wrote this about her own soft core porn, erotica, and "sweet-savage" historical novels:
"I threw the porns out years ago and kept only the contract letters. It was a matter of pride. Living alone as I do, I started to worry that if I should die suddenly and the authorities had to enter my apartment, they would find the porns and think that I read them. I don't care if people know I wrote porn, as long as they don't think I read it. "

Only a strong daughter could grow up with that novel sitting on the shelf. Yipe.; 10/30/06, 2:58 PM
Away From The Brink said...: What about Whiteface Humor?; 10/30/06, 6:51 PM
Revenant said...: "redneck" is the new "blackface"

There's not hing "new" about redneck humor -- Americans have been poking fun at uneducated country rubes since the days of Mark Twain.; 10/30/06, 7:32 PM
Gaius Arbo said...: Ann, Thanks very much for the link. I see at least one of your commenters thought I originated the picture. I did not. That was Billmon from Whiskey Bar. I have seen about every form of trying to justify this picture today on my comments.

This picture was not witty. This picture was not "razor sharp commentary". This picture was racist, as were the words. Blogger Prometeus 6 put it this way (paraphrasing here): if you would not walk into a room full of black people you did not know and say the words, then back away from the ketyboard.
Might want to try understanding that rather than defending the indefensible, Salvage.; 10/30/06, 7:42 PM
Charlie Eklund said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 10/30/06, 7:55 PM
Charlie Eklund said...: As Gaius Arbo said, the picture was racist and the verbiage was racist.

In answer to Ann's question, my response is a resounding "no".

Exclamation point!; 10/30/06, 7:57 PM
Beth said...: Pogo, I agree; Tammy Faye is no meanie. Let's wish her well and pray she's comforted as she's being treated for cancer.

Excellent reference to Florence King: my favorite curmudgeonly, Southern, rightwing lesbian. I have a couple of her books on the shelf. What a great attitude, and how very Southern: I don't want to be thought of as reading porn, when all I do is write it!; 10/30/06, 10:35 PM