Blackface in Contemporary Cinema
Thanks to the Civil Rights movement, among a mass of other factors, blackface has generally fallen out of use in any major release picture. No summer blockbuster will contain a serious usage of blackface, though it would appear to be the case that some Hollywood film makers have taken to making light of the fact that Hollywood resorted to such methods for entertainment purposes. One example that comes to mind is from a recent film titled Tropic Thunder in which one of the main characters, played by Robert Downey Jr., portrays a famous actor that went through a skin coloring procedure to more accurately portray an African American. While this is put into a medical context, it is akin to donning blackface. Throughout the movie, Downey Jr. acts in a way that he would expect African Americans to act, which is his own stereotype. The character of Sergent Lincoln Osiris is the embodiment of the way blackface was used in old Hollywood cinema, and the situation is made light of throughout the film.
Take a look at this clip from the movie:
Does this mean Hollywood has reached a turning point and is ready to poke fun at the way it treated other races in the past? Perhaps not, but this satire at least shows some self-awareness within the industry. Tropic Thunder is meant to be a satire on all of Hollywood, and blackface in an unfortunate aspect of is history. I contend that Ben Stiller, the director and co-star of this film, was influenced by the presence of blackface and the controversy it caused and drew from that source material for his comedic film. While they may not have named any specific films in their interview for Entertainment Weekly, Ben Stiller defends his decision. “For starters, Hollywood satires have a rocky box office record. And then there’s that little issue of a white guy playing a black guy. Stiller says that he and Downey always stayed focused on the fact that they were skewering insufferable actors, not African-Americans. ‘I was trying to push it as far as you can within reality,” Stiller explains. ”I had no idea how people would respond to it.’ He recently screened a rough cut of the film and it scored high with African-Americans. He was relieved at the reaction. ‘It seems people really embrace it,’ he says” (1).
It would seem that the general public has turned a corner with the issue of blackface in cinema, if only a small amount. According to Stiller, the African American community was not up in arms over the usage of blackface in Tropic Thunder. Perhaps this means the public is ready to move on, perhaps not. It is refreshing to note that blackface is only used in Hollywood movies as a satirical element, rather than a serious portrayal in this day and age.
Vary, Adam B. “First Look: Tropic Thunder.” Entertainment Weekly. 09 March 2008. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20182058,00.html?iid=top25-20080306-First+Look%3A+Stiller%27s+new+movie. 25 September 2013. Website.