The resurfacing of “Black face”

When I saw White Chicks for the first time I was amazed by how two black men could seemingly appear as two white women. While watching the movie I couldn’t believe how we’ve evolved so much technologically to be able to do things such as these. Yet, this month I was utterly disgusted witnessing several Americans nation-wide wearing blackface attempting to portray well-known African-Americans. Some white men as well as a little white boy dressed up as Ray Rice for Halloween “complimented” with brown face paint as well as blow up dolls being dragged on the groung meant to portray Rice’s wife, Janay Rice. A white college-aged woman dressed up as Nicki Minaj complete with her arms, legs, neck, and face covered in black paint as well as a big cushion added to her ensemble to resemble Minaj’s backside. Last year there were a multitude of Trayvon Martin costumes complete with blackface, hoodies, skittles, and Arizona ice tea. A well-known actress, Julianne Hough, wore blackface as well as bantu knots to “help” create the character Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black.
There was once a time when Halloween was all about being able to dress up as someone you thought you couldn’t be year-round. Costume ideas have ranged from favorite cartoon characters, to favorite celebrities, to favorite occupations, to trashy versions of all three of these, or simply something witty. In recent years the reemergence of blackface has become rather popular as a costume idea. White Greek sororities and fraternities have been getting themselves into trouble hosting “MLK Day” parties, “Hip Hop” parties, “Ratchet” parties, or “Twerk” parties which all consist of white people coming together to mock, imitate, and attempt to portray black stereotypes and celebrities.
Prior to minstrel shows with the blackface makeup as either a layer of burnt cork on a layer of coca butter or black grease paint alongside gaudy red lips resemblant to that of modern day clowns, blackface was a familiar theatrical device in Europe. The most famous blackface performance is Shakespeare’s Othello, which was first produced in 1604. Although blackface was first represented in a legitimate theatre using this production, Shakespeare did not invent theatrical blackface. Shakespeare attempted to “consciously” use blackface as a convention with tradition and specific implications for his audience. In that time a lot of the content in Shakespeare’s plays were based upon the contrast between good and evil. That concept extended to the symbolism of day being associated with good because of the presence of light, which linked these things to the color white. Meanwhile, night being associated with evil because of the presence of darkness linked these things to the color black. A black face and black skin were associated with evil and folly. Europeans consistently carried the symbolism over to lighter and darker skin. The sign of the scapegoat in pagan rituals would be a blackened sooty face. Blackface, black masks, black gloves, “frizzy”-haired wigs were all made up to represent the costumes of Satan, Satan’s fallen angels, and the souls of the damned.
In Othello, what was thought to be “creative” and an extension of “symbolism” the skin color of the characters began to symbolize good and evil. And the time it was stated that there weren’t many skilled black actors and Shakespeare took from street performers the idea for his actors to don dark make up popularizing what we know to be blackface. Actors symbolizing fools and villains in Othello wore blackface. As late as 2005 in Cornwall (Padstow), England, every year during the wintertime townsfolk would blacken their faces and parade throughout the streets in festivities that sprouted from the event Feast of Fools. This particular day out of the event was referred to as “Darkie Day.”
With blackface comes a history of prejudice, hostility, and ignorance towards black people, which has endured a unique longevity to stereotypes in comparison to other minority groups. It is 2014 and it is obvious that blackface has in no way gone away for good. It is morally incorrect and has resurfaced as a form of comedic relief when in reality it displays a blatant insensitivity towards the discrimination, racism, and prejudice that the black race has endured historically as well as in modern times. It’s not acceptable to paint your face black and attempt to portray black individuals. With that said, choose a different costume next year – I promise you’ll still get candy.