Blackface Anthropology.
by J_Frank_Parnell | created - 9 months ago | updated - 1 month ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Jazz Singer (1927)
Passed | 88 min | Drama, Music, Musical
The son of a Jewish Cantor must defy the traditions of his religious father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer.
Director: Alan Crosland | Stars: Al Jolson, May McAvoy, Warner Oland, Eugenie Besserer
Votes: 11,080 | Gross: $7.63M
Probably the most famous blackface performance.
2. Bamboozled (2000)
R | 135 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A frustrated African-American TV writer proposes a blackface minstrel show in protest, but to his chagrin, it becomes a hit.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Rapaport
Votes: 12,353 | Gross: $2.27M
Spike Lee's pretty hit-or-miss... But when he's good, he's GREAT. A very under-rated comedy.
3. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
TV-PG | 195 min | Drama, History, War
The Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
Director: D.W. Griffith | Stars: Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Henry B. Walthall, Miriam Cooper
Votes: 26,348 | Gross: $10.00M
Controversial early popular historic epic, about the rise of the KKK (portrayed sympathically to the klan), where almost all black roles where played by white actors in blackface.
4. Mickey's Mellerdrammer (1933)
Approved | 7 min | Family, Animation, Short
Mickey Mouse and his friends perform "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Director: Wilfred Jackson | Stars: Elvia Allman, Billy Bletcher, Pinto Colvig, Walt Disney
Votes: 385
Back when "Disney race-swapping characters" meant Mickey Mouse in blackface...
5. Tropic Thunder (2008)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, War
Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.
Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Kahn
Votes: 448,299 | Gross: $110.52M
I have to wonder how many big-name Hollywood actors would have the balls today, to do a part like this.
6. Watermelon Man (1970)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Jeff Gerber, a racist white man, wakes up one morning to discover that he has become black.
Director: Melvin Van Peebles | Stars: Godfrey Cambridge, Estelle Parsons, Howard Caine, D'Urville Martin
Votes: 2,870 | Gross: $1.50M
Rare example of "whiteface"
7. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Passed | 126 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf
Votes: 16,867 | Gross: $11.80M
Jimmy Cagney does blackface
8. C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America (2004)
PG-13 | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Through the eyes of a British "documentary", this film takes a satirically humorous, and sometimes frightening, look at the history of an America where the South won the Civil War.
Director: Kevin Willmott | Stars: Greg Kirsch, Renee Patrick, Molly Graham, William Willmott
Votes: 5,162 | Gross: $0.67M
9. The Mighty Boosh (2003–2007)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Musical
Surreal British comedy in which Vince Noir and Howard Moon have adventures filled with oddball characters while working as Zoo Keepers, before pursuing a musical career and running a second-hand shop.
Stars: Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Michael Fielding, Rich Fulcher
Votes: 24,053
10.
The Mighty Boosh (2003–2007)
Episode:
Journey to the Centre of the Punk
(2007)
TV-PG | 58 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Musical
Vince is infected by a rogue Jazz virus, and it's up to the only person who knows Jazz and Vince well to reluctantly save him, "Fantastic Voyage"-style
Director: Paul King | Stars: Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Dave Brown, Michael Fielding
Votes: 299
The Mighty Boosh "Blackface" episode, that got the show pulled from Netflix, where Noel gets possessed by "The Spirit of Jazz".
11.
The Goodies (1970–1982)
Episode:
South Africa
(1975)
Comedy
The boys visit South Africa.
Director: Jim Franklin | Stars: Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Philip Madoc
Votes: 49
Very early in the protest movement, against South Africa's 'apartheid' racial sergregation policy (before 'Rock Against Racism' popularised the issue), this episode of 'The Goodies' used blackface to mock the South African government.
12. Top of the Town (1937)
Passed | 86 min | Comedy, Music
Diana Borden (Doris Nolan, a bleeding-heart rich-girl, returns from a trip to Russia filled with sympathy for the "little" people of the slums and wants to do "something" artistic and ... See full summary »
Directors: Ralph Murphy, Walter Lang | Stars: Doris Nolan, George Murphy, Ella Logan, Hugh Herbert
Votes: 84
13.
The Goodies (1970–1982)
Episode:
Alternative Roots
(1977)
Comedy
Tim, Graeme, and Bill study their ancestry and come up with theories as to how their families first met.
Directors: Jim Franklin, Bob Spiers | Stars: Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Bryan Pringle
Votes: 27
'The Goodies' episode, spoofing the then-popular 'Roots' miniseries, about slavery in the American South, including white actors in blackface (in one of a half-dozen skits)
14. Little Britain (2003–2006)
TV-MA | 29 min | Comedy
Matt Lucas and David Walliams, the creators of this character-comedy sketch show, delight in all that is mad, bad, quirky and generally bonkers about the people and places of Britain.
Stars: Matt Lucas, David Walliams, Tom Baker, Paul Putner
Votes: 26,143
Dumped from Netflix, for white actors in blackface.
15. The Cure: Why Can't I Be You? (1987 Music Video)
3 min | Music
Director: Tim Pope | Stars: The Cure, Simon Gallup, Robert Smith, Porl Thompson
Votes: 21
Fat Bob Smith (back when was skinny) does blackface
16. Southern Fried Rabbit (1953)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Family, Short
Bugs heads toward the record carrot crop in Alabama but runs into Colonel (Yosemite) Sam who is under orders to let no Yankee cross the Mason-Dixon line.
Director: Friz Freleng | Star: Mel Blanc
Votes: 758
Bugs Bunny does a blackface minstrel show bit
17. All This and Rabbit Stew (1941)
Approved | 7 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
Bugs heckles a black hunter and escapes from a bear.
Director: Tex Avery | Stars: Mel Blanc, Darrell Payne, Danny Webb
Votes: 865
Bugs Bunny does blackface
18. Mississippi Hare (1949)
Approved | 8 min | Family, Animation, Short
Cotton pickers mistake Bugs' tail for a ball of cotton and toss him in with the rest of the haul. On the riverboat Bugs takes on the gambler Colonel Shuffle.
Director: Chuck Jones | Stars: Mel Blanc, Billy Bletcher, The Sportsmen Quartet
Votes: 768
Bugs Bunny does blackface
19. Camptown Races (1948)
7 min | Animation, Short, Music
Directors: Seymour Kneitel, Al Eugster | Stars: Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer
Votes: 35
Cartoon minstrel show
20. His Darker Self (1924)
50 min | Comedy
A small town man takes a mail-order detective course. When a Black friend is murdered, he goes undercover in black-face to investigate at a notorious, knife-wielding bootlegger's roadhouse.
Director: John W. Noble | Stars: Lloyd Hamilton, Tom Wilson, Tom O'Malley, Lucille La Verne
Votes: 24
21.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005– )
Episode:
The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6
(2013)
TV-MA | 19 min | Comedy
After creative differences over what constitutes tasteful nudity cause Frank to pull his money out of Lethal Weapon 6 during filming, Mac, Dennis, and Charlie screen their rough footage for... See full summary »
Director: Daniel Attias | Stars: Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson
Votes: 2,410
The Gang Does Blackface
22.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005– )
Episode:
Dee Day
(2019)
TV-MA | 25 min | Comedy
The guys are in the final preparation stage for an unknown scheme when Dee excitedly enters to inform them that today is "Dee Day" and the guys must do everything she wants without complaint.
Director: Pete Chatmon | Stars: Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson
Votes: 2,251
23. Swing Time (1936)
Passed | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Roguish gambler/dancer "Lucky" Garnett is challenged by his fiance's father to come up with $25,000 to prove he's worthy of her hand. But after he falls in love with a dance instructor, Lucky'll do anything to keep from earning the bucks.
Director: George Stevens | Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick
Votes: 14,589
Fred Astaire does blackface (in a tribute number to influential black dancer, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson)
24. Holiday Inn (1942)
Passed | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
At an inn which is open only on holidays, a crooner and a hoofer vie for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.
Directors: Mark Sandrich, Robert Allen | Stars: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds, Virginia Dale
Votes: 17,630 | Gross: $8.18M
Bing Crosby does blackface (in a WILDLY un-PC tribute to Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves... it's really something, I promise...)
25. Show Boat (1936)
Approved | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.
Director: James Whale | Stars: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson
Votes: 3,696
Popular musical, including blackface minstrel act.
26. Uncivil War Birds (1946)
17 min | Comedy, Short
After initially joining the Union army, Moe and Larry switch allegiances to their Southern home state and Confederate brother Curley.
Director: Jules White | Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Eleanor Counts
Votes: 437
The Three Stooges do blackface
27. Pardon Us (1931)
Approved | 56 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two guys end up in prison after attempting to sell beer to a policeman during Prohibition.
Director: James Parrott | Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Wilfred Lucas
Votes: 2,819
Laurel and Hardy do blackface
28. A Day at the Races (1937)
Passed | 111 min | Comedy, Family, Musical
A veterinarian posing as a doctor teams with a singer and his friends as they struggle to save an upstate New York sanitarium with the help of a misfit racehorse.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Allan Jones
Votes: 14,586
Marx Bros (briefly) do blackface
29. Soul Man (1986)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Romance
To achieve his dream of attending Harvard, a pampered teen poses as a young black man to receive a full scholarship.
Director: Steve Miner | Stars: C. Thomas Howell, Rae Dawn Chong, Arye Gross, James Earl Jones
Votes: 9,045 | Gross: $27.82M
80's comedy, with "race-swap" premise not too dissimilar to "Watermelon Man" (but with a white actor, instead of black)
30. Masked and Anonymous (2003)
PG-13 | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A singer, whose career has gone on a downward spiral, is forced to make a comeback to the performance stage for a benefit concert.
Director: Larry Charles | Stars: Bob Dylan, John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges
Votes: 5,001 | Gross: $0.53M
Ed Harris does blackface
31. Trading Places (1983)
R | 116 min | Comedy
A snobbish investor and a wily street con artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
Director: John Landis | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche
Votes: 165,870 | Gross: $90.40M
Dan Akroyd does blackface
32. Silver Streak (1976)
PG | 114 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
On a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train.
Director: Arthur Hiller | Stars: Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, Jill Clayburgh, Patrick McGoohan
Votes: 21,727
Richard Pryor does blackface.
33. Still Smokin (1983)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Music
Cheech and Chong fly to the marijuana capital of the world, Amsterdam, for a film festival where they take Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds' place in a limo, suite, press conference and performance. They throw in some sketches as well.
Director: Tommy Chong | Stars: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Hans Man in 't Veld, Carol van Herwijnen
Votes: 8,037 | Gross: $14.75M
Tommy Chong does blackface
34. Be Kind Rewind (2008)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy
Two bumbling store clerks inadvertently erase the footage from all of the tapes in their video rental store. In order to keep the business running, they re-shoot every film in the store with their own camera, with a budget of zero dollars.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jack Black, Yasiin Bey, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow
Votes: 94,280 | Gross: $11.17M
Jack Black (very briefly) does blackface
35. Ed Wood (1994)
R | 127 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Ambitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette
Votes: 184,018 | Gross: $5.89M
(briefly) uses stock footage of a minstrel show
36. Young and Innocent (1937)
Not Rated | 83 min | Crime, Mystery, Romance
A man on the run from a murder charge enlists the help of a beautiful stranger who must put herself at risk for his cause.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney, Percy Marmont, Edward Rigby
Votes: 10,863
Hitchcock-directed blackface
37. The Littlest Rebel (1935)
Approved | 73 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Shirley Temple's father, a rebel officer, sneaks back to his rundown plantation to see his family and is arrested. A Yankee takes pity and sets up an escape. Everyone is captured and the ... See full summary »
Director: David Butler | Stars: Shirley Temple, John Boles, Jack Holt, Karen Morley
Votes: 1,678
Shirley Temple does blackface
38. The Landlord (1970)
PG | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
At the age of 29, Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) "runs away" from home. This running away consists of buying a building in a black ghetto in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Initially, his ... See full summary »
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Beau Bridges, Lee Grant, Diana Sands, Pearl Bailey
Votes: 3,089 | Gross: $0.96M
A character goes to a fancy-dress party with a partner, wearing blackface, dressed as Shirly Temple and another character from 'The Littlest Rebel' (1935)
39. The Spoilers (1942)
Passed | 87 min | Drama, Western
In Nome, Alaska, miner Roy Glennister and his partner Dextry, financed by saloon entertainer Cherry Malotte, fight to save their gold claim from crooked commissioner Alexander McNamara.
Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Margaret Lindsay
Votes: 3,253
John Wayne does blackface
40. How I Won the War (1967)
Approved | 109 min | Comedy, War
An inept British World War II commander leads his troops through a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear, Lee Montague
Votes: 2,548
41. The Sarah Silverman Program. (2007–2010)
TV-14 | 22 min | Comedy
Sarah's immature, only thinks of herself and has no inhibition nor work. Her sister Laura pays her rent. She has a gay couple as neighbors. Laura's seeing cop Jay.
Stars: Sarah Silverman, Laura Silverman, Brian Posehn, Steve Agee
Votes: 7,974
I'm not a huge fan of Silverman, but the episode where she uses the blackface trope was actually pretty funny, and well-written.
42. The Black and White Minstrel Show (1958–1978)
45 min | Music
Sing-along variety show with black-face performers.
Stars: The Television Toppers, The Mitchell Minstrels, Dai Francis, John Boulter
Votes: 82
Bizarre UK variety show, that aired in British primetime, til 1978. No self-awareness. No subversion of the trope, just a straight-up Minstrel show, that survived as a weird, dated form of entertainment for pensioners.
43. Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid (1929)
5 min | Family, Animation, Short
A cartoonist draws Bosko, who promptly comes to life.
Directors: Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising | Stars: Rudolf Ising, Carman Maxwell
Votes: 608
Not technically 'blackface'- But before Bugs Bunny, before Porky Pig, WB animation's flagship character (alongside Beans the Cat) was 'Bosko', a character (according to cannon) made of black ink, that was a racial stereotype of a black kid. It was pretty uncontroversial by 20s/30s standards, but definitely not very PC by 2023 standards.
Unlike Disney, WB takes a more nuanced approach that just whitewashing their history, and pretending that now-controversial characters never existed; WB still re-releases old Bosko material in collections of old shorts, and even puts Bosko on the DVD cover (among an ensemble of WB charcters). They just add a kind of disclaimer at the start of the collection, acknowledging that some of the shorts may seem "innappropriate" by modern standards, but that they're still historically significant, etc. Being black myself, I have 50x times more respect for this approach (I don't need any disclaimer, but I assume that's mostly for bennefit of white liberals...) than I have for Disney's shameless racial pandering, while simultaneously trying to memory-hole their own past work.
The Bosko cartoons are pretty decent, if you're a fan of old-timey "rubber-hose animation" cartoons (and aren't offended by racial stereotypes like Speeedy Gonzales, or Yosamite Sam). But like Beans the Cat (RIP), the character was retired, when Porky Pig got popular in the mid/late 30's.
44. Jay-Z: The Story of O.J. (2017 Music Video)
4 min | Animation, Music
Jay-Z explores what being successful means to black people in a world of archetypes and wasteful spending.
Directors: Jay-Z, Mark Romanek
Votes: 312
Like Bosko, not technically 'blackface', but a very well done modern version of the racial stereotypes that were common in cartoons, up til the 60s.
45. This Rebel Breed (1960)
90 min | Drama
Damon's in black-face as blacks take on whites who take on Hispanics in this very entertaining teenage gang war extravaganza. Teenage punks slice and dice each other, turn innocent young ... See full summary »
Directors: Richard L. Bare, William Rowland | Stars: Rita Moreno, Mark Damon, Gerald Mohr, Jay Novello
Votes: 196
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