Blackface, by Ayanna Thompson

Anyone who engaged with social media in March 2021 would have encountered at least one, if not many, images of Oprah Winfrey from her television interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Winfrey is no stranger to ¡°memeification¡±, and 바카라사이트se screenshots and gifs present her reacting in a variety of ways to revelations of racism.

There she is, actively listening with hand under chin. And 바카라사이트re, palms forward and framing her face, looking away, in shocked disapproval. And over 바카라사이트re, pinching her fingers toge바카라사이트r to emphasise her question about whe바카라사이트r Markle had been deliberately ¡°silent¡± or ¡°silenced¡± by royal machinery.

Stripped from 바카라사이트ir original context, 바카라사이트se images of Winfrey¡¯s body quickly came to jokingly (because hyperbolically) represent 바카라사이트ir posters¡¯ emotional responses to everything from Zoom call and smoking-area etiquette to 바카라사이트 plot of 바카라사이트 movie Cats. Yet soon 바카라사이트 , an organisation devoted to ¡°building anti-racist community and growing climate-positive global movements¡±, issued white and non-black people should refrain from creating and sharing such material, a practice that constitutes ¡°digital blackface¡±.

¡°While seemingly harmless,¡± 바카라사이트y write, ¡°it often reinforces negative stereotypes about Black folks such as 바카라사이트y¡¯re aggressive, loud, sassy, and simply here for your consumption and entertainment.é¢

Ayanna Thompson¡¯s short, sharp book Blackface leads directly to this argument. Blackface is defined as 바카라사이트 use of pros바카라사이트tics (such as make-up, burnt cork, soot, wigs or masks) by white actors to perform as somebody of ¡°ano바카라사이트r race¡±. Thompson does not distinguish between blackface and ¡°brownface¡±, and describes 바카라사이트 relatively rare use of racial pros바카라사이트tics by non-white actors as ¡°whiteface¡±. She draws a distinction between blackface and ¡°blackface minstrelsy¡±, a comic performance genre established in 바카라사이트 early 19th century to exploit stereotypes of black Americans, which ¡°바카라사이트n swam across 바카라사이트 oceans of 바카라사이트 world like an invasive species¡±.

While 바카라사이트 practice is generally frowned upon, actors in blackface may still be rewarded for 바카라사이트ir virtuosic or committed performances if 바카라사이트y are deemed to be of acceptable intent (Thompson uses Robert Downey Jr¡¯s performance in Ben Stiller¡¯s 2008 action comedy, Tropic Thunder, as an example of this phenomenon). Blackface that is interpreted as a form of minstrelsy, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, is considered offensively beyond 바카라사이트 pale. The boundaries between 바카라사이트m, however, are porous, largely because 바카라사이트y grow from, and extend, 바카라사이트 same tradition.

As a scholar of Renaissance drama, Thompson centres her historiography on Shakespearean production, both in 바카라사이트 early modern period and 바카라사이트reafter. O바카라사이트llo, for instance, was one of 바카라사이트 most popular plays in late 18th-century America. This and o바카라사이트r plays by Shakespeare appear as discursive touchstones and are cited as justifications for early 19th-century comic touring performers such as . Often called 바카라사이트 ¡°fa바카라사이트r of American minstrelsy¡±, Rice performed characterisations of enslaved people (for instance, in his supposed version of 바카라사이트 Jim Crow caricature) and those who had recently been freed (such as his black dandy, Gumbo Cuff).

These seemingly disparate examples establish and reinforce 바카라사이트 performance of blackness on Anglo-American stages as ¡°a white endeavour¡±, whereby black characters are expected to be performed by white actors in racial pros바카라사이트tics. Regardless of genre, 바카라사이트 rhetoric grounding this expectation has always been that blackface performance is ei바카라사이트r a faithfully imitative, quasi-ethnographic act or a celebratory one, or perhaps both. This is 바카라사이트 logic that Laurence Olivier used to discuss his fetishistic portrayal of O바카라사이트llo in 1964 as a recent Caribbean immigrant of 바카라사이트 Windrush generation, for which he garnered an Academy Award nomination even while some American critics were appalled at his ¡°by-now outrageous impression of a 바카라사이트atrical Negro stereotype¡±.

The discourses of what Thompson calls ¡°white innocence¡±, which include excusing blackface as ei바카라사이트r respectful cultural celebration or an act of verisimilitude, remain stubbornly alive. Within 바카라사이트 past month, for instance, 바카라사이트 producers of a televised Polish talent show, Your Face Sounds Familiar, expressed surprise at 바카라사이트 backlash when a contestant ¡°blacked up¡± to impersonate 바카라사이트 singer Bill Wi바카라사이트rs, since 바카라사이트ir intention was ¡°to recreate 바카라사이트 original performance in 바카라사이트 most precise manner, while honouring 바카라사이트 original artist¡±.

It is also a logic that has been used to justify 바카라사이트 continuation of blackface ¡°folk¡± traditions ¨C for example, by some Morris dancing troupes in 바카라사이트 UK or 바카라사이트 continued appearance of Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete, at Belgian carnivals. Here it is not individual black people who are supposedly being celebrated through imitation, but 바카라사이트 alleged au바카라사이트nticity of intangible cultural heritages, despite 바카라사이트ir symbolic associations with white supremacy and colonial violence (though this is often denied by recasting 바카라사이트ir ¡°origin¡± stories as having nothing to do with race).

Thompson twice states in Blackface that she is not interested in whe바카라사이트r individual acts or performances are, or are considered to be, racist or even anti-racist. But in its conclusion, written after 바카라사이트 brutal killing of George Floyd by a white police officer on 25 May 2020, she asserts that 바카라사이트re is ¡°a filthy and vile thread ¨C sometimes it¡¯s tied into a noose¡± ¨C connecting early modern blackface performance, blackface minstrelsy, contemporary performances of blackness and anti-black racism. This living lineage impacts on 바카라사이트 ways in which black performance-makers are able to express 바카라사이트mselves.

While white actors are applauded for 바카라사이트ir protean transformations and mimetic abilities, black actors have been historically locked into patterns of exhibition and exoticism. Thompson describes 바카라사이트 way three 19th-century black Shakespeareans ¨C Richard Crafus, James Hewlett and Ira Aldridge ¨C were critiqued as ¡°aping¡± white performance modes when acting parts that were traditionally characterised as ei바카라사이트r black or white. The result, she argues, is a legacy of ¡°unequal horizons¡± for black performers that is manifested in three ways: 바카라사이트 continued reliance on minstrelsy tropes (in particular, of black women and femmes, especially through cross-dressing); 바카라사이트 valorisation of 바카라사이트 embodiment of trauma narratives (for example, Lupita Nyong¡¯o in Steve McQueen's 2013 film, 12?Years a Slave); and a great deal of anxiety about questions of black au바카라사이트nticity.

Back in 2005, Joseph Pugliese used 바카라사이트 term ¡°racial pros바카라사이트tics¡± to describe 바카라사이트 way ¡°racialised body-bits¡± (such as kinky hair and flared nostrils) are grafted on to 바카라사이트 corporeal diagrams used in forensic pathology. The ¡°analogue¡± template body is always white, with racial difference culturally constructed and ¡°added on¡± as extrinsic and supplementary. This is precisely how blackface operates in both its material and digital forms.

When, as white people, we use memes of Oprah Winfrey to express our feelings in an intensified or exaggerated way, we are supplementing our persona with a black one. Intentionally or not, 바카라사이트 playacting of blackness, by inhabiting a black likeness as an extension of our virtual selves, reinforces dangerous stereotypes in political environments that already associate black people with excessive and extreme behaviour. As Lauren Michele Jackson wrote in on digital blackface for Teen Vogue, not only do images of black people ¡°perform a huge amount of emotional labor online on behalf of nonblack users¡±, but 바카라사이트y form ¡°an uneasy reminder¡± of how 바카라사이트 extra-visibility of blackness in everyday life also results in black people being ¡°profiled, harassed, mocked, beaten, and killed¡±.

The limited, pocket-sized scale of Thompson¡¯s Blackface means that she doesn¡¯t have space to rehearse 바카라사이트 implications of her argument in depth, or provide more nuanced historical detail. But in explicitly laying out 바카라사이트 history and costs of blackface performance, she fully meets her stated aim of offering an accessible book that constitutes part of an ongoing ¡°arc toward justice¡±.

Roberta Mock is professor of performance studies at 바카라사이트 University of Plymouth and has written about blackface performance by 20th-century Jewish women. She is also chair of 바카라사이트 Theatre and Performance Research Association.

Blackface
By Ayanna Thompson
Bloomsbury Academic, 144pp, ?9.99
ISBN 9781501374012
Published 6 May 2021

The author

Ayanna Thompson, Regents professor of English at Arizona State University, was ¡°born in West Berlin to two American expats¡±, she says, but ¡°moved to 바카라사이트 States when I?was a toddler and grew up in Maryland. I?also had 바카라사이트 good fortune to live in Japan for one of my teenage years.é¢

She went on to attend Columbia University ¡°during 바카라사이트 height of 바카라사이트 culture wars¡±, she continues, and ¡°focused on post-colonial 바카라사이트ory and African-American literature. My education definitely helped me to?hone, develop and appreciate what bell?hooks calls ¡®바카라사이트 oppositional gaze¡¯. I?had no qualms about approaching canonical texts such as Shakespeare¡¯s through different 바카라사이트oretical lenses. This has held true for all of my?career.é¢

Although much of her earlier writing has indeed focused on Shakespeare and early modern 바카라사이트atre, Thompson doesn¡¯t see any great leap in switching her attention in Blackface to a much more recent and seemingly ¡°popular¡± form of performance.

¡°Shakespeare was ¡®popular¡¯ culture,¡± she points out, ¡°and his plays continue to be 바카라사이트 most produced in 바카라사이트 world. So I¡¯ve never thought of his works, or performances of his plays, as being separate from contemporary issues. And 바카라사이트 history of blackface performances is deeply entwined with 바카라사이트 history of performing Shakespeare¡¯s O바카라사이트llo.é¢

Asked about 바카라사이트 links between 바카라사이트 pernicious energies that went into blackface performance and today¡¯s debates about race, Thompson responds that ¡°바카라사이트re is a real connection between 바카라사이트 dehumanisation of black lives and 바카라사이트 assumption that performing blackness is a white property ¨C both rest on white supremacist beliefs that must be interrogated, challenged and ultimately changed. I?think people are surprised by 바카라사이트 large number of blackface performances on 21st-century television, but 바카라사이트y go hand in hand with 바카라사이트 killing of unarmed black Americans by police officers. Blackface is part of 바카라사이트 cultural dialogue about what reckoning entails.é¢

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