dynastylnoire: raimagnolia: atacoinside: johnnyjoestarrelatable: dynastylnoire: thawrah: 8figs: with
dynastylnoire:raimagnolia:atacoinside:johnnyjoestarrelatable:dynastylnoire:thawrah:8figs:with huge noses and over lined lipsI JUST HAD TO CLOSE MY EYES FOR A SECOND AND LIKE……..DIGEST THIS WHA T THE HELL You know whyclowns actually originated in egypt to entertain royalty- they wore weird masks and imitated gods. there were also clowns in ancient china, greece, and italy. it wasn’t “black face and then switched to white face” like i saw in the notes– the clown white paint was invented in 1801. the big, red nose is associated with alcoholism/being drunk (heavy alcohol usage can lead to severe rosacea and swelling of the nose), because drunkards in ye olde times were seen as fun for the whole family. the overlined lips create an exaggerated smile). curly or big hair was seen as whimsical and fun, as was a lack of hair (if you look up ‘vintage clowns’, you’ll see their hair is puffed out to the sides or upwards. nowadays, people probably wear afros because they’re cheap, and don’t involve lots of styling. i am passionate about clowns They are a terrifying breed of monster, and must be eradicated from the face of the earth, but it’s relieving to know they weren’t born from a place of racial prejudice. Guys…From at least the 1810s, blackface clowns were popular in the United States.THIS… is the reason why they began wearing afros. You say that at the start of the 19th century they had white paint? Yet these were still a thingClowns, or “court jesters” themselves, didn’t originally derive from a place of racism, but at some point I believe blackfacing comedians and “minstrels” influenced the modern day clown. ESPECIALLY regarding the afros. And what’s worse? It wasnt just their appearance they used to stereotype black people, but they mimicked black hymns and speech dialects, too. The English blackface comedian Charles Mathews came to America in 1822 to perform and studied black life and customs. Like American minstrels after him, Mathews claimed to have derived his music and dialect from slaves. He even transcribed a stump speech at a prayer meeting.In his next show, A Trip to America, Mathews sang a version of the popular slavefreedom song, “Possum Up a Gum Tree”, performing in dialect and possibly in blackface.It’s especially difficult to distinguish between blackface and blackface-clowning in these times, because…whenever someone used blackface during a performance piece, their character was usually the comedic relief or the butt of a joke.It makes you wonder how the “comedic black friend” trope beganThe racists in the thread reached all the way to Egypt to try to gaslight and silence me. But somehow cartwheeled right over these facts.It’s not an accident that the big red nose got tied into things either. Slaves were already considered intemperate and incapable of the self control that a “proper man” might demonstrate, and in the American North there were strong associations made between the disadvantaged, dispossessed, and oppressed black community with alcoholism, laziness, heightened libido, and mania and madness. The association between severe generational poverty and alcoholism was already known to the general public, and yet all of these factors were blamed on an intrinsic blackness.Put it all together and you get an excellent target for the vaudeville performer to imitate - a black man with makeup-exaggerated features, a big alcohol-reddened nose, who acts zany and fun and makes ludicrous sexual overtures. A real laugh for the people with any true power. It was a caricature of the racialized underclass - a real screwup who might have been dangerous, but was so stupid and clueless and generally ineffectual that he would never really amount to anything.Following the collapse of slavery and the sudden presence of freedmen in the South, this was weaponized further to show the freed black workers as incompetent and no comparison to the white man: any businessman with half a brain wouldn’t conceivably think of replacing a white worker with one of those incompetent black clowns, after all!The portrayals played a role in spreading new associations for black people in the minds of the white gentry, then to the broader white population. It was just one of the countless mechanisms used to help white capitalists control black bodies throughout the nation, and changed with the times to maintain its relevance. Black people in America are still dealing with its long-term fallout, the various ripples it has created through law and policy and custom and expectation and stereotype. -- source link
#blackface#racism#alcoholism#addiction