Hey Guys, it's Kat and I'm here to talk to you about BLACK FACE.
In light of recent controversies, the youtube community has taken to calling out problematic
youtubers. I'm a huge fan of this as I've seen very popular youtubers profit from the
perpetuation of things like sexism, racism and transphobia.
Now, let me start out by saying this: I don't blame most people for not understanding the
implications and the history of black face. Growing up being taught a whitewashed version
of history a lot of the atrocities that came from racism in this country have been down
down played and in a lot of cases completely removed from text books.
We need to accept first and foremost, that we are not taught the full history of racism
in America. Taking a black studies course in college REALLY taught me some very shocking
things about racism in America that I was astounded I never learned in highschool.
Black face is something that not only manifested on small back alley southern stages, It was
and still is international. It was on Broadway, The Silver Screen and even has a long history
in Music.
It's a part of our culture a lot of people want to ignore, but I believe we need to talk
about because it DOES still impact black people to this day.
Blackface is something that was so popular that there are several childrens cartoons
by huge animation compaines like Warner Brothers that starred black face characters.
In this video we'll be focusing on Warner Brother's Snow White Parody, Coal Black and
the Sebben Dwarfs.
Bob Clampet's Coal Black and Sebben Dwarfs is 1 of 11 Looney Tunes and Marrie Melodies
films that were censored in 1968 called the censored 11
I'll be using characters in this film to frame racist some archetypes commonly found in Black
Face productions.
First we've got the Evil Queen. The evil Queen in this film portrays the most popular of
the black stock character,The Mammy.
The Mammy archetype is morbidly obese and often portrayed with large breasts. Despite
these breasts she is seen as sexually undesireable, in fact she's regarded as quite traditionally
masculine in her demeanor.
In Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarfs she is in fact voiced by a man.
The Mammy is illiterate, loud and violent towards her own children, yet welcoming and
warm towards the white children she was made to wet nurse.
The mammy will bake a plate of warm pancakes for white soldiers but feed her children scraps.
Then we've got So White who in the title is referred to as Coal Black. So White is the
Jezebel.
The Jezebel is hypersexualized. She is seen as the polar opposite of a proper white woman.
She exemplifies the idea that black women are more sexually availible. She is portrayed
as immoral, ditsy and willing to accept and appreciate any sex that comes her way, be
it by her own will or by force.
So White is lusted after by every man in the film and never quite settles for one.
Then we have Prince Charming who in this story is Prince Chawmin. Prince Chawmin is the Zip
Coon.
The zip Coon adorns himself with proper clothing and is arrogant in his demeaner. Despite dressinglike
a wealthy man, his lack of intellect undermines him. He is portrayed as essentially a man
who is putting on airs. Not quite being able to maintain an air of high class, he is seen
and treated like an animal in man's clothing.
Finally, we have the Sebben Dwarves. They are the Sambo.
The Sambo are pickininines, unkempt black children usually depicted as having knotted
hair and large lips that can often be seen gulping Watermelon.
Sambo are often depicted as foolishly placing themselves into dangerous situations. Most
popularly hanging from trees playfully as tigers roar at them from below. They're also
popularly seen near swamps near alligators and affectionately referred to as "alligator
bait".
This is only scraping the surface of black face characterizations overall. At the time
this film was produced, it was considered to be quite progressive considering the inclusion
of black voice actors as well as musicians.
You can watch the full version of the film in the link i left in the description box.
So why is blackface harmful?
Blackface is harmful because these characters and these stereotypes were created by white
people as a means of defining and dehumanizing black people.
Blackface is to african Americans as Traditional Shakespearian theater was to women. Black
people were not allowed to perform on the same stage as white performers.
This means that whenever there was a black character in production, black actors were
not cast. Instead they opted for white actors in black face.
And these black characters were never meant to be portrayed as sympathetic characters.
They were always either comedic relief or villians.
The archetypes I described have been reproduced and perpetuated to the point where when black
actors were eventually allowed to portray themselves they almost never veered away from
these stock characters.
Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman to win an Oscar for her Role in Gone with
the Wind in 1940. What was her role? Her character was litereally named Mammy. She was a phenomenal
actress whos' roles in film were almost exclusively that of the Mammy archetype.
So what happens when a white comedian dawns dark makeup in order to portray a black character
for laughs?
It conjures and perpetuates the history of white actors darkening their skin to dehumanize
black people.
Black Face has been used to make arguments for slavery and why African Americans should
have limited human rights.
These are narratives created by white men that were made to oppress and dehumanize an
entire race. So when white men are still perpetuating these tropes in 2014 and getting paid for
it, it's not going to sit well with many people in the black community.
OH BUT WHAT ABOUT WHITE FACE??
You litereally can't compare white face to black face because white face has never limited
the options of white actors nor did it seek to represent them in a world that underrepresents
them.
White face is generally criticism, while black face is degradation.
When Dave Chapelle dawns light makeup and does the hip hop news break he's making commentary
on race and class. He's parodying racist white men who will passivly make racist comments,
while not wanting to be seen as racists.
When the Wayans Brothers went undercover as two white blonde twin sisters it was, again,
a commentary on race and class. Half of the jokes in the film depend on the idea that
these two black men are from a lower income and class and they're trying to maintain the
air of women who are from a higher income and class and they often fail.
What needs to be understood is that this isn't a "two wrongs don't make a right" scenario
because we are at a point in society where we are equal.
Equality doesn't come with one black president out of 43 white ones after only 248 years
of this country'sexistence.
Black face, demonstrably has been used to dehumanize black people and has subsequently
lead to perpetuation of insitutionalized racism.
What are the repercussions of white face? What rights were denied to white people because
Chapelle or the Wayans brothers dawned white face?
The best comedy punches upwards towards the established structure of power, not downwards
at oppressed classes.
There's a reason why black people object to black face and it's because of it's history.
It's not just the makeup, it's what happened and continues to happen because of it.
When your only exposure to black narratives are white men in dark makeup, your understanding
of black people, let alone the racism black people face is going to be very distorted.
So in this conversation, please understand that white people do not get to decide whether
or not something is offensive or oppressive to people of color.
At the end of the day, I, as a black woman have to live with these stereotypes. So you
can of course have an opinion about black face, but honestly if you don't live with
it then realize that that's privilege and that the opinions of people who live with
racism are going to give you a better understanding of this issue at hand.
Honestly, I hate being that angry black girl. I would love to feel like I'm over reacting
but I feel like people need to understand why these conversations and altercations occur.
I don't want to live in a world where these things are still issues. But these conversations
are so important and will help us get there one day.
We all make mistakes and like I said, I almost don't blame people for not understanding the
implications of black face. I just hope that these conversations will make people a bit
more aware.
We have to accept that there are certain things that we've been socialized to accept that
are problematic. We need to make the concious decision to more forward and do better.
So on THAT note thank you guys so much for watching. I put a lot of effort into this
video so if you liked it, please share it. And as usual, Always remember and never forget
that YOU are beautiful and you are loved. <3