BLACKFACE IN DENMARK AND AMERICA

The study of culture, one of my areas of professional expertise and a strong personal interest, can unearth provocative, shocking, disturbing, surprising and simply interesting things. One such area of culture is in humor — that which a culture finds humorous, funny or entertaining. It reveals a lot about the character of a culture and what is in the collective mindset of those offering up the humor and those laughing at it and enjoying it.

 

Denmark and the USA ave a historio-cultural connection in this area: In the 19th century (and carrying for as late as the 1960s) in the USA, the use of blackface was thought to be funny. People with dark skin, specifically those who were African or of African heritage, were sources of humor. Whites put greasepaint and other things on their skin to blacken it, except for a large area around their lips. The intent was to convey the message that Black, inherently inferior, definitely inhuman and more certainly impulsive animals, had BIG flashy lips, and could be seen by the whites of their eyes (always wide open) and grinning with huge white teeth. It was used to advertise many types of entertainment from the opera to blackface minstrel shows.  Singer Al Jolson made his career singing “Mammy” in blackface. Oh, and it carried across the pond to England where blackface has still been used as late as the 1980s. Using blackface, White would sing, shuffle, talk in subservient dialects, and act in ways they would describe as “hysterical” because that was what Blacks were determined to be by racist Whites. Blackface was a way of saying that Black people were cannibalistic, jungle-living, uneducated, irrational, uncivilized, dancing fools with natural rhythm, It was and is derogatory, racist, and not funny to Blacks or any non-Blacks who are possessing ogf intelligence, decency and humanity. It certainly was an ugly piece of American history, enmeshed in the entertainment industry.

 

Now here in 2013, in Denmark comes the new Cult Shaker outdoor advertisement for its energy drink Cult Shaker Zulu. It is one of those drinks that promises to give you that extra boost, legally. You know, those drinks that contain ingredients which speed you up, promise to boost your energy level etc. They are those drinks that are the favorites of high and college students pulling all-nighters, with a desire to stay awake.

 

People are talking about it and it is clear that in the culture of Denmark’s international community, people are not happy about it. However,  in Danish culture blackface is still considered to be very funny. Portraying Blacks as spear-throwing cannibals running around with human bones in their hair, hysterical, irrational, big-lipped, wide-eyed and grinning broadly while “hysterically” (read: out of control) dancing is an immense source of humor. This is 5 steps backwards in the area of intercultural and international relations in Denmark and Danish culture.

 

Danes would not find it funny if they were constantly depicted in Viking clothing as uneducated, raping. pillaging, thieving, violent, drunken vandal invaders, as a source of humor.

 

It finally sunk into the collective mindset of the USA by the mid-1960s that the derogatory use of Black ethnic facial features and racist stereotypes about Blacks for any reason is inapprpriate and unacceptable in the civilized world.

 

Free speech requires thatyou not yll “fire” in a crowded room and cause damage to the lives of others. The same goes for derogatory and racist advertising and programming. Such is hate speech and is supposed to be a crime in Denmark.

 

This ad is hate speech, not free speech.

 

It is clear this racist entertainment and advertising has long passed its expiration date everywhere in the world in the 21st century. It is not harmless. It is not humorous. It is certainly not an attractive piece of Danish culture (which is something in itself which I will get around to examining and defining by example in future columns).

 

What do you think?