Toban B. sent in a link to a clip of a 1935 Department of the Interior movie that includes a scene with African American conservation workers. I couldn’t find an embed code, so you have to click over, but the clip clearly illustrates the “happy-go-lucky,” dancing and singing stereotype of Blacks common to the era. The person who posted the clip says,
The racial stereotyping in this clip is appalling, but not surprising for a 1935 production. Hollywood films of that era also portrayed African-Americans purely for laughs. It was a rare film that showed black people as more than two-dimensional, and when they did – as Hattie McDaniel demonstrated in Gone With The Wind – Hollywood was ready to pat itself on the back.
Of course, Spike Lee’s movie “Bamboozled” implied that this type of stereotypical Black-man-as-happy-man-child-entertainer trope is still alive and well. He’s been criticized for his portrayal, of course, but it’s food for thought.
Comments 4
Campy-Go-Lucky — June 20, 2009
On a similar tangent, what about that cultural meme in which white people can't dance, and black people have this natural inclination towards music and dance. The old happy-go-lucky stereotype got turned on its head over time; now the insult is that white people are sort-of lame because they have a hard time grasping rhythm. As a drummer, I have a lot of black people tell me that because I'm white that I'll never be good, and that I should just quit. I've even had black people tell me that I'm trying to be black becuase I play drums.
I'm curious as to the percentage of African American men in the Conservation Corps. When I see a Con-Corps van, there are rarely white men in it.
And since a lot of Corps workers come from a city background, they are often disconnected from the natural environment they find themselves working in, often using cellphones, or blasting cd-players in campgrounds, as opposed to relishing the environment they find themselves in. It's often "just a job".
On the flip side, there seem to be less African Americans and a majority of whites in the actual Parks Department.
T B — June 20, 2009
To 'riff' that comment from "Campy-Go-Lucky" -
Above all, I found this video noteworthy because it conveys how African-Americans have been assigned a 'natural' musical 'essence' for a long time now. These days, people often imply that 'blacks' have an 'innate' capacity to be hip hoppers -- whereas the video presents a variation on that basic message about a musical 'nature.'
As I'm thinking about those essentialist notions (about 'black' people, in this case), I mainly have in mind Said's concept of Orientalism -- which has a wider applicability to racism in general (particularly when that racism intersects with imperialism -- as with the British empire and India, for instance). Obviously there is other relevant analysis out there, but I find Said's work exceptionally helpful. In his book Culture and Imperialism he broadens out that earlier analysis of Orientalism; I think that book is under-appreciated.
Anyway, aside from the aforementioned links between music, ethnicity and racism -
I also found it noteworthy that the dark-skinned guys in the video were segregated -- as in contemporary ghettoes.
AG — June 21, 2009
What's interesting to me is that the band consists of spoons, a washboard, a tin pan, a jug, a piano, and a kazoo or harmonica (that one's hard to see); but they've overlaid it with something that might be Benny Goodman. Minus the commentary, and with the original music, I think it'd be a valuable artifact demonstrating some music & dancing that hollywood didn't choreograph.
links for 2009-06-26 at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture — June 26, 2009
[...] Vintage Happy-Go-Lucky Black Stereotype Movie Clip » Sociological Images "Of course, Spike Lee’s movie “Bamboozled” implied that this type of stereotypical Black-man-as-happy-man-child-entertainer trope is still alive and well. He’s been criticized for his portrayal, of course, but it’s food for thought." (tags: via:tobanb black africanamerican stereotypes) [...]