My freshman year of college, October 2011, students at Ohio University created a poster campaign that went viral featuring minority students holding up pictures of white students dressed up as them for Halloween. The slogan read, "We're a culture, not a costume:" with captions like "This is not who I am and this is not okay" and "You wear the costume for one night, I wear the stigma for life." One member of the club that created the posters told CNN that the intention was "to make revelers think twice before reducing a culture to a caricature."
Growing up in a liberal bay area town, I hadn't realized that blackface was still used by college students who didn't realize its implications. After seeing these posters, that Halloween I saw pictures posted on Facebook by a friend who attends school in St. Louis, and there were students dressed up in blackface. After doing these readings about Minstrelsy, I see many connections behind the use of blackface in these performances and the use of blackface (and other ethnic costumes) during Halloween.
In "The Wages of Whiteness," David Roediger wrote that "Blackface whiteness meant respectable rowdiness and safe rebellion" (127). Similarly, during Halloween students are able to rebel against the expectation of maturity and social pressures in a way that is still "respectable." In "The Rise and Fall of the White Republic" Alexander Saxton wrote about "the tolerance of sexuality in general, the realism and flexibility of standards that flourished behind the false facade of blackface presentation" (171). Once again, there is a parallel to the modern day Halloween celebration - at least on college campuses - where hyper-sexual behavior and clothing is expected and encouraged without the usual backlash of "respectability."
Finally, Saxton wrote that "Blackface defused such meanings without denying them. It did so by placing social content in the background of a conventional proscenium that permitted instantaneous escape through shifts of scene and mood and that constantly intervened to discredit serious implications" (170). This description of the effects of racial costumes holds just as true for modern Halloween celebrations as it did for minstrelsy. Because the costumes are worn during a "conventional" holiday celebrating "escape," the "serious implications" of these costumes are dismissed. (Predictably, as the campaign gained visibility the backlash increased, and people made usual comments about people being "too sensitive" and many spoof posters were made as well.) I found this campaign remarkable and effective in its ability to show that these implications should not be dismissed and actually do have effect on everyday life. Like minstrelsy, these ethnic costumes serve to set whiteness as the standard of the American identity, a standard that does serious harm to minorities.
One discussion question I have is, what are the effects of the fact that Halloween lacks the minstrel scene's performance aspect and stage, and thus there is no line between performer and audience? Does blackface in this everyday holiday setting rather than on a stage make it less or more influential in the definition of the American identity?
4 comments:
I think blackface in this everyday holiday setting influences American identities in that it is so ingrained in our society that we don't even feel the need to put it on stage. We laugh it off like it's no big deal, that people aren't racist anymore, when in fact that is not the case. Halloween creates a "socially acceptable illusion" that everything you want to "be" is totally acceptable and appropriate, but only for that one day. I had a friend last week tell me that he planned dress up with his friend as Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus. Even though he understood the problems with their performance in the first place, he though it would be funny to duplicate it. In a similar way, people dress up as cowboys and Indians even though it's wrongful cultural appropriation.
However, I'm not sure why society has deemed Halloween the day to be absolutely inappropriate and disguise it as acceptable.
I think something that is interesting about Halloween blackface is that it almost always occurs in tandem with overt sexuality (i.e. how many times have you heard, “I’m going to be sexy Pocahontas for Halloween”?). To be clear, I don’t have a huge issue with how sexually provocative or not people choose to dress on this day, which is not to say that I don’t think the gender politics of holidays like Halloween is something worth discussing. But what I do take issue with is the idea that those two things are linked. It’s not a new idea either—the exotic turned erotic. The fact that in most places this practice is acceptable indicates that we’ve normalized minstrelsy again: we’ve cleverly disguised it through a fun, whimsical holiday and ostensibly strips it of its racist motivations.
In a way, Halloween does provide an audience-performer relationship for its participants. While the holiday tradition lacks a literal show setup, how each person decides what to “be” for Halloween is a process that somewhat separates the performer from his/her audience. Halloween is not really an “everyday” setting, as it happens once every year, is seen as a time of celebration, and is often anticipated with days and even weeks of excitement and preparation for events and especially costume ideas—like a show. People often choose their costume in the hopes of being perceived as the cleverest, most outrageous, or sexiest in a group of people. “Blacking up” becomes a way for people to earn individual attention. Like with amateur minstrelsy, however, it allows audience members to participate in the show, making it a shared experience, something in which people of all backgrounds can take part, making it extremely influential in the formation of American “common sense”. In a way it can be seen as a celebration of individuality and “otherness”, but the indulgence of many of its participants in “respectable rowdiness” and “safe rebellion” through the promotion of offensive stereotypes and hyper-sexuality often turns Halloween into an unfortunate reminiscence of racism in blackface minstrelsy.
Where do we draw the line from racially inappropriate to having fun and imitating another person?
I think that dressing up as a person from a different culture can and should be fun. For example, if a white person wants to dress up as 50 cent, he or she should be able to wear what could be considered a "gangster" outfit, in a way of mimicking him. However, painting one's face to portray 50 cent would be insulting, because of the cultural connotations and history associated with blackface.
Conversely, dressing up as an Indian or a Mexican is inappropriate because it plays on stereotypes. For example, if one were to dress in a sombrero and carry a bottle of tequila, it is extremely offensive. However, if one dresses as Frida Kahlo, they are imitating a person, and only Frida, from her grave should be offended.
To give a different opinion from Dani, I think that one can make a "sexy" costume if they are portraying a character. Being a sexy Pocahontas can either be imitating the real Pocahontas. or the Disney character. And the majority of the time, people portray the Disney character, who could be considered as scantily clad and therefore sexual. (For example, Disney Pocahontas would not have fit into my high school's dress code). A student dressing as a sexy Pocahontas could say that she has her own sexual power. That in today's reenactment she could stand up to John and have her own rights as an individual.
The problem with dressing up as a person or character, is that outsiders can not tell whether a person is imitating/mocking a culture or person. It is for that reason that I believe the public should be more relaxed on Halloween. If one is concerned about the racial implications of another's costume, they should respectfully ask what the other is trying to convey. A change should start with the Halloween costume industry. Rather than labeling costumes as "Mexican", "Black Gangster", "Asian", etc. they should label a costume with a character or famous person's name, therefore negating relationships with stereotypes.
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