Question: White people often dress up in black or brown face, tastelessly and/or sarcastically so, to imitate blacks and Indians. How does someone non-white similarly mimic a white person to achieve the same effect? And can they make the same impression? Edit: This is not a Halloween-costume-related but a socio-cultural thought query.
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I think it has something to do with keeping your butt tight when you walk.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7fDkqEPdnXY
Hard to pull off “white face” without looking like a mime. And there is already a mime in our blogosphere.
Why don’t you just put on a suit and pull your hair back and go as Bobby Jindal?
Strangely, sometimes Indians imitate blacks.
Okay, Halloween aside, I have often seen blacks make fun of whites by speaking in perfect, high pitched English.
But it all comes down to this:
http://nopers.com/video/28/eddie_murphy__mr_white
But you should go as Jindal for Halloween. Wrap up a baby doll in a blanket and hit the town.
Shit, Jeffrey beat me to it. Forget I said anything.
This is completely within the Halloween costume vein. When I moved to my new home in Carrollton in a 60% black area, the first Halloween I was there, a little African-American girl (about 4 years old or so) trick-or-treated in white face.(white shoe polish with pink cheeks and lips, and a blonde wig). She was in a flouncy dress, and was accompanied by her mother. I asked her what she was, and she said “A princess”. I tell that story and people usually react by saying “how sad”. I’m still not sure what to think about it.
Half the Indian people I know think they are white anyway.
But seriously, I would pay money to see you go as Bobby J.
Dave Chappelle did a good job of becoming white for a few of his skits.
As far as making the same impression, I don’t think you can, because the white folks causing the problem in the first place aren’t going to even notice. Too oblivious, dense, drunk, and/or moronic to consider the ramifications of their own choices, much less the meanings behind the choices of others.
Speaking of costume choices I ponder every year why so many people in Madison dress up as slutty/scantily as they do, especially when it’s so cold out. They’re just not sexy when they’re freezing and visibly shivering.
In the African films I have seen, they make a contrast between “Africans acting like Africans” and “Africans acting like Europeans” by putting the latter group in very starchy business suits (usually a contrast against a group of people in traditional clothing) and possibly having them take up “european” pursuits like cigar smoking or golf or something…
I think this might be the closest parallel..
You say “tastelessly”, but I wonder, is there a tasteful way to paint oneself to look like another race? Would anyone accept it anyway? This reminds me of the controversy around Angelina Jolie putting on “black face” to play Marianne Pearl in the film A Mighty Heart. Marianne is actually mixed race, but for the role they put brown contanct lenses over Angelina’s green eyes and colored her skin until she looked more creole. This lead many to claim “Wtf, does hollywood have a shortage of biracial actresses?! couldn’t they call Halle Berry or something?”
I see the point. But being Caucasian I can’t really relate at all since it always seems harmless or amusing to me when a non-white person dresses up like a white person. If I was part of a traditionally oppressed group, I would probably feel differently.
Do they sell Powder costumes?
There are tons of ways to tastefully dress as a black, brow, yellow or red person. My jazz singer fiance went out as Billie Holiday a few years back and looked great in the process. The reason why black face in the tradition of minstrelsy has become so taboo was because the minstrelsy itself was based in racism. So, coloring ones self in a way that is deliberately meant to lampoon the race is where taste walks out the door.
I guess just follow this rule at Halloween or whenever: When dressing up as a person of another race, be sure to dress up as them based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.