Blackface

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Reproduction of a Minstrel Show poster from 1900. It shows the transformation from “white” to “black”.

Blackface is a theater and entertainment masquerade that became popular in the minstrel shows of the 18th and 19th centuries in the United States . White actors painted their faces dark and played a black man . The representation of black people by white people with dark make-up is known as blackfacing (roughly blackening of the face ).

history

In the classic tradition of the fool from the Italian Commedia dell'arte, a mask had the function of granting the speaker hidden behind it the freedom of the fool . He “could play his jokes unhindered and did not have to fear any consequences. This mask enabled the Minstrels to express serious criticism without having to be taken seriously. ”However, Blackface differs from the Commedia dell'arte masks, which are often made of wood, by the typical feature: black-colored face and parts grotesquely emphasized by the make-up technique and released mouth.

In the course of European expansion , court or chamber moors came into fashion at royal and aristocratic houses . They had the double function between servants and decorative objects. They often wore white gloves, which later became a common feature in the Blackface minstrelsys .

The first varieté-like blackface minstrel shows took place in the United States around 1830 and were performed in Great Britain a short time later . In the United States, the shows were particularly popular before and after the American Civil War and were supplanted by vaudeville and film in the early 20th century, as well as because of growing criticism. Blackface minstrel shows were performed in Great Britain until the 1980s, such as the Black and White Minstrel Show on the BBC . Blackface was used to amuse a white audience. White artists, whose skin was colored dark, combined with the painting of bulging accented lips, depicted stereotypical figures of blacks. Plantation workers or domestic workers were mocked as naive, happily singing slaves. The racist images, initially popularized in minstrel shows, became part of everyday culture; they found their way into radio broadcasts, film and television and were used to market consumer goods such as B. used jam or shoe polish. Children's book characters like Golliwog were inspired by blackface stereotypes. In America the audience consisted mostly of working class men, in Great Britain the events were attended by socially better off spectators. Best known blackface actors include Thomas D. Rice , known as " Jim Crow, " Joel Sweeney , Al Jolson , Emmett Miller, and Eddie Cantor .

After the American Civil War, Afro-Americans who painted themselves jet black with charcoal also took on these roles, but used them to ironize the discriminatory culture of whites.

In September 2019, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced allegations of blackfacing in the parliamentary election campaign because he had appeared as Aladin at the West Point Gray Academy for a costume evening with a dark complexion in 2001 . This appearance was criticized by political opponents and discussed in the media.

Debate about blackfacing in Germany

In 2009 there was a discussion about the new edition of the blackface term in relation to the film Black on White and the book From the Brave New World by Günter Wallraff . Tahir Della, chairman of the Black People Initiative in Germany , criticized the fact that, as is so often the case, people talk about black people, but not with them. According to other commentators, Schwarzer's empirical knowledge and analyzes have been available for a long time, but are being ignored.

In September 2011, the satirist Martin Sonneborn caused a sensation when he was the top candidate of his satirical party Die PARTTEI in the election campaign before the election for the Berlin House of Representatives in 2011 with a black face and the slogan “Ick bin ein Obama” and so mainly in the USA evoked memories of blackface ideas.

After the preview of the play Ich bin nicht Rappaport on January 5, 2012 in Dieter Hallervorden's Berlin Schlossparktheater , in which the black made-up white actor Joachim Bliese portrayed the figure of the African American Midge Carter, the theater was exposed to protests. The main reason, in addition to the use of the mask itself, was that the theater justified the use of the white actor in a letter to critics by stating that the usual repertoire of German-speaking theaters hardly permits a permanent position for a black actor. In the opinion of the critics, including Bühnenwatch , the Schlossparktheater had unwittingly admitted a general, unspoken practice on German-speaking theaters, which is based on the view that white actors are suitable for all roles, even for black - black actors, but at most for black roles. This was followed by a debate about the general ban on blackfacing. In this context, consideration was given to renaming the play Die Neger , which was performed at the Wiener Festwochen in 2014, and to cast classical pieces such as Othello . The literary critic Denis Scheck appeared on his ARD show Hot off the press with a face painted black in order to oppose the deletion of historical racist words and figures. The deposit met with criticism.

Nintendo changed the textures of the faces of the Pokémon Rossana to Pokémon Red and Blue for North America and Europe, and of the Horror Kid from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask to avoid misunderstandings about the Blackface.

In December 2013, ZDF was accused in Twitter comments of broadcasting Wetten, dass ..? of 14 December 2013 to have carried out a city ​​bet reminiscent of blackface . Augsburg citizens were asked to come on stage disguised as Jim Knopf and Lukas the engine driver in pairs . Such allegations were described in the press as "wrong". The “courageous, adventurous and likeable hero” Jim Knopf is a role model with whom generations of children of all skin colors have identified.

Faces with black make-up are often not seen as discriminatory or as "blackfacing" when singing carolers in Germany (picture from 2014)

Blackfacing was voted Anglicism of the Year 2014 in Germany. Anatol Stefanowitsch from the Anglicism of the Year initiative said: “Every time a white man with black make-up appears somewhere, he says: Blacks can't do it. We don't know black people. There are no black people in our midst. We are not interested in what blacks would think of this role if they were in our midst. "

On the other hand, reference is made to the different histories and traditions of face blackening in the USA and Germany. In many places, star singers have blackened the face of one of the three kings for centuries ; The background is not discrimination, but an openness towards Africa. In Germany, there is accordingly no uniform approval of the comprehensive tabooing of facial make-up in the sense of blackfacing. Members of the Afro-Germans disagree with this .

International

Knecht Ruprecht is the black-painted assistant of Saint Nicholas in German customs , his counterparts are Schmutzli in Switzerland and Krampus in Austria or Liechtenstein , Hans Trapp in Alsace , Zwarte Piet ( German black Peter ) in the Netherlands and Père Fouettard ( German father whip ) in France . They are all figures of tradition. Regardless of this, they sparked similar discussions in the countries concerned as in Germany.   

Yellowfacing

Analogous to blackfacing, yellowfacing , i.e. the stereotypical disguise as a person of Asian descent, is also being critically discussed. A corresponding tradition in Germany is the Dietfurt Chinese Carnival .

literature

  • Michael Pickering : Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain . Ashgate, Aldershot 2008, ISBN 978-0-7546-5859-7
  • Michael Pickering: ›Fun Without Vulgarity‹? Commodity Racism and the Promotion of Blackface Fantasies . In Wulf D. Hund and Michael Pickering (eds.): Colonial Advertising & Commodity Racism . Lit-Verlag, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-90416-4
  • Thomas Edlinger : Who is afraid of blackfacing? , in: ders .: The sore point. On the discomfort with criticism , Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-518-12693-6 , pp. 117–122
  • Tania Meyer: Opposing voices. Strategies for theater work critical of racism , Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8376-3520-1 , p. 153ff (Blackface and debate about blackfacing on Berlin theaters)

Web links

Commons : Blackface minstrelsy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jochen Scheytt: The Minstrel Show. Social aspects on jochenscheytt.de , 2000 (German). Last accessed on August 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ Tania Meyer, ibid. Pp. 153, 159
  3. ↑ Michael Pickering: Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain . Ashgate, Aldershot 2008, ISBN 978-0-7546-5859-7 , pp. 12f.
  4. ^ Tania Meyer: Opposing voice formation , s. Literature, ibid. P. 153
  5. ↑ Michael Pickering: ›Fun Without Vulgarity‹? Commodity Racism and the Promotion of Blackface Fantasies . In Wulf D. Hund and Michael Pickering (eds.): Colonial Advertising & Commodity Racism . Lit-Verlag, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-90416-4 , pp. 119-144 .
  6. ↑ John Mullen: The Show Must Go On! Popular Song in Britain During the First World War . Routledge, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-315-55293-4 , p. 54 .
  7. ^ Tania Meyer: Opposing voice formation , s. Literature, ibid. P. 154
  8. ↑ "Arabic" make-up puts Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau under pressure , Welt Online from September 19, 2019, accessed on September 20, 2019
  9. ^ Andrian Kreye : Words that are missing in German - Blackface. ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On sueddeutsche.de/feuilletonist of October 18, 2009. Last accessed on January 9, 2012. Andrian Kreye: Film und Fernsehen. ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On sueddeutsche.de/feuilletonist on November 8, 2009. Last accessed on January 9, 2012. Hannah Pilarczyk: Criticism of New Racism Film - Journalist goes undercover to Discover Life as a Black Man in Germany. On spiegel.de/international/germany of October 21, 2009 (English). Last accessed on January 9, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.sueddeutsche.de
     @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blogs.sueddeutsche.de
  10. ↑ spiegel.de: Simply only the stranger , accessed on September 2, 2012
  11. ^ Moises Mendoza: Blackface Obama billboard sparks outrage. On thelocal.de on September 15, 2011. Last accessed on January 9, 2011.
  12. ↑ [1] Wording see here: beatsandpicturesandlifeandstuff.tumblr.com, accessed on July 23, 2012
  13. ^ [2] Taz Online: "A racist exclusion tool", accessed on July 23, 2012
    [3] Gazelle Online, accessed on July 25, 2012
    [4] Migazin: "Alles nur Theater?", Accessed on July 25, 2012
    [ 5] Milagro: The convenience of definition, night review, accessed on August 2, 2012
  14. ↑ Thomas Edlinger , s. Literature, p. 116
  15. ↑ Hannah Pilarczyk, DER SPIEGEL: Denis Scheck: Racist Sketch in ARD show Hot off the press - DER SPIEGEL - Culture. Retrieved June 20, 2020 .
  16. ↑ [6] The West: "Racist city bet? - Shitstorm versus Wetten, dass ..?", Accessed on December 15, 2013
  17. ↑ augsburger-allgemeine.de: Why the racism allegations because of Jim Knopf are wrong
  18. ↑ mz-web.de: Painting the face black “Blackfacing” named “Anglicism of the Year”
  19. ↑ taz.de: Invisible through color
    sueddeutsche.de: What Blackfacing has to do with Pegida
  20. ↑ Claudia Becker (6.1.2017). Why we need dark-skinned carolers again. The World
    see also: Christian Schwerdtfeger & Kilian Tress (01/06/2014). Carol singers in NRW often without a black king. Rheinische Post
  21. ↑ Alice Hasters: What White People Don't Want to Hear About Racism, But Should Know . Carl Hanser Verlag, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-446-26425-0 .
  22. ↑ cf. Zwartepietendebat The Zwarte Piet debate in the Netherlands: Wikipedia article Zwartepietendebat
  23. ^ Condé Nast: Yellowface, Whitewashing, and the History of White People Playing Asian Characters. Retrieved September 21, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Elisabeth Nöfer: Column is it still going ?: Racism fun in carnival costume . In: The daily newspaper: taz . March 4, 2019, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed June 20, 2019]).
  25. ^ Marvin Xin Ku, Felix Dachsel: What I Learned About Racism as the Only Chinese Person at a 'Chinese' Festival. In: Vice. April 1, 2019, accessed June 20, 2019 .