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Burlesque is its inception was a radical form of theatrical performance art and "the performances included a ' chaotic and nebulous combination of dancing, singing, minstrelsy (black face), witty repartee, political commentary, parodies of plays and scant clothing ' as well as cross dressing and comedy." (Nally, 2009) When you hear burlesque now the first thing that probably comes to mind is Dita Von Teese. The black hair, fair skin, sultry yet flirtatious aura, the 50s pin-up style that makes you wonder whether or not she’s found a time machine. The second thing to come to mind are slim women who make big bucks working in Vegas or other big metropolitan cities giving shows that sell out. For quite a few individuals unfamiliar with burlesque …show more content…
Burlesque Goes Delightfully Mainstream”, burlesque is the “rising tide of sexy, saucy stripping as retro art follows a trend of burlesque going mainstream.” and based on the pictures she decided to attach to her article, associations of burlesque with White, heterosexual, slim yet voluptuous in “all the right places” female sensuality is telling of what society feels comfortable mainstreaming, consuming, digesting, and shows a lack diversity. In Sydney F. Lewis 's article “Women of Color in Burlesque: The Not-So-Hidden-History”, she gives a thoughtful understanding and reason for why women of color who did burlesque had limited documentation. She states that after browsing online for eight hours and flipping through documents containing Black strippers from the 1940s-70s "I have come to the conclusion that, just as I suspected, the omission of Black Women and other Women of Color from the realm of burlesque...is willed ignorance-ignorance, lazy scholarship, and yup, I 'll say it, racist brands of white feminism." (Lewis, 2011) I 'm going to first discuss how the neo-burlesque/queer burlesque movement uses the performance of gender to depart from and reinforce heterosexual cultural …show more content…
They 're either the "Mammy" older/non-sexual, with stereotypical black features the big breast, wide hips with protruding ass, big lips, wide noses, while also having the potential to be sexually deviant. Then there’s the Jezebel, created during slavery "to mask the sexual and economic exploitation of young black women."(Willis, 71), was used and attached to young black females during slavery to mark them as "primitive, seductive, and always eager for sex." (Willis, 71) Both caricatures are lasting nametags for black female sexuality. There is never an in between version of the mammy or the immoral jezebel/primitive ‘ho’. Black burlesque performers use their bodies/attitudes in a way to promulgate that yes, I am sexual, yes, I am flirtatious, yes, I enjoy the attention, the applause, the laughter, the audience support, and yes, I can woo a crowd by using my sexuality and body in a way that makes not only a personal statement but meaningful political statement that I have chosen to showcase to my body which is mainstreamed, copied, and remanufactured on more acceptable bodies. In bell hooks ' piece “Selling Hot Pussy: Representative of Black Female Sexuality in the Cultural Marketplace” which was about how black women are presented in popular culture, it 's noted that: "when Black women relate to their bodies, our sexuality, in ways that place erotic
“A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem” by Eric Garber discusses how the Great Migration to Harlem was not only significant for blacks but for gays and lesbians as well. Garber argues that Harlem’s gay subculture was at its peak in the 1920’s and declined to shell of its previous self after the Stock Market crash in 1929. He goes on to discuss how in black communities, specifically Harlem, there were troubles of segregation, racism, and economic despair, but that being gay in Harlem added new troubles.
When I was a little girl I often saw the caricature of a big black woman holding a broom I was always curious as of who she was and what she portrayed. I quickly came to find out that this would be the mammy character. She was characterized to care for her white family and be pleased by doing so. Even though the mammy is well loved and has considerable power with her white family, she still knew her place as a servant. Annie played a big role as a black maid in imitation of life. Even though she was given an immense role not overshadowed by a white actress, she was still stereotyped by playing a mammy role. The mammy character was seen as a good figure to the whites but it was seen
Tap dancing, an art grounded in African American culture, has moved from an upbeat style with its collection of steps that characterize the Jazz Age, such as the Charleston and the Stomp Time Step, to a style that better mirrors rap’s explosive rhythms and tendency towards synchronization. Much like African American music, tap- dancing’s evolution has been closely aligned with social progress and the slow breaking-down of stereotypes developed in the minstrel shows of the late 1800’s. The direct effects of racist stereotyping on tap-dancing are best observed in pre- 1960’s Hollywood films because these films reached a wide, mostly white, audience and were financed and directed by Whites. Tap legend, Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, the star of Stormy Weather (1943), was forced to funnel his talent through a colander of social prejudices set to White Hollywood’s liking, and these social confines are visible in his dancing in this film. It was not until the 1980’s that modern tap emerged in Hollywood as an energetic battle cry from young African American dancers who demanded respect for their art form by refusing to conform to stereotypes. The film Bamboozled (2000), directed by Spike Lee, contrasts modern-day tap to the old-school style. In it, Savion Glover performs both the funky, urban style in street scenes and the smiley, traditional style in modern-day minstrel shows recreated for the film. In order to demonstrate how early conformity with and later break away from stereotypes have fueled the formation of two different generations of tap dancing, I will discuss historical context, and specifically the influence of minstrel shows on Stormy Weather and the 80’s tap revival on Bamboozled, before isolating and analyzing a scene from each film as representative of the two styles of tap-dancing.
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black women. As hip hop music continues to become more popular, the sexist messages presented in lyrics and music videos are becoming more common to the everyday public, including young black girls developing a self-image. Instead of these girls being exposed to healthy, positive role models who encourage individuality and that there is more to a woman than her body they are given hip hop video models whose only purpose is to look sensual on screen. The strong women that do exist in the hip hop genre are pushed to sexualize themselves or their lyrics to sell records or stay relatively unknown. Although Perry’s arguments are logical, I believe that she is creating a slippery slope of logic. A genre of music cannot destroy the self-image of black women that has existed for generations.
Jessica Dunegan is an incredible artist from Charleston who currently resides in Boston. Her works have been displayed in numerous shows in the United States, and her art went through different stages over the years. At one point Jessica created a series of works titled Scrambled Porn. According to her, she has an issue with porn because “this media epitomizes and fosters a male-centered culture” and “contributes to the degradation of women” (“About Scrambled Porn”). The show at the Robert Lange Studios called the Other Side has nothing to do with porn; however, it continues to explore the issues contemporary women have to struggle with.
Women during this Jazz era were freer about their sexuality, but due to this freeness, an article called “Negro Womanhood’s Greatest Need” criticized the sexuality of Black women. In this article, the writers criticized Black women of the Jazz era; one part stated “.“speed and disgust” of the Jazz Age which created women “less discreet and less cautious than their sisters in the years gone by”. These “new” women, she continued, rebelling against the laws of God and man” (p.368). Women expressing their sexuality is not only an act against God, but also against men. In Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” Twyla’s mother Marry had no problem expressing her sexuality because she was a stripper, who danced all night, she wore a fur jack and green slacks to a chapel to meet her daughter Twyla.
It is hard to imagine drag not consisting of a type of stage activity and of being a part of a theatrical performance. Contreras also points in Ester Newton’s book, Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. In framing drag’s importance to queer theory, it is also important to consider drag practice also a particular expression of racial identify (Contreras, 2005). In this book, Contreras explains that drag´s relationship to sexual and racial identities are discussed in a context in which relatively is visible academic work about drag, such as Marjorie Garber’s books Vested Interest: Cross Dressing and Cultural Anxiety where she elides these
“Portraying African-American women as stereotypical mammies, matriarchs, welfare recipients, and hot mommas helps justify U.S. black women’s oppression” (Patricia Hill Collins, Feminist Thought Sister Citizen 51). In early American history, racial stereotypes played a significant role in shaping the attitude African Americans. Stereotypes such a mammy, jezebel, sapphire and Aunt Jemimah were used to characterize African American women. Mammy was a black masculine nursemaid who was in charge of the white children. The stereotype jezebel, is a woman who wants sex all the time. White Americans saw black women as loose, oversexed and immoral. This stereotype still lives today because men especially whites look for black women to be their prostitutes.
Drag exploded in the 1990s, which was very different from how it was look at in the 70s (Brinkley). Drag had become more popular in LGBT+ community and in American culture (Miller). RuPaul was in high interest in the early 1990’s because his album “Supermodel of the World” that came out in 1993.He was the first drag queen ever to get onto the pop charts. When asked to comment about being a drag queen he said, “Drag Queens are like the Shamans of our society, reminding people of what’s funny and what’s a stereotype”. Many drag movies also got national attention. Some of these movies were “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” in 1994 and “Too Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar” in 1995 (Miller). One of the most famous drag movies to come out of the 1990’s is Jenny Livingston’s “Paris is Burning” which features African American drag ball culture and showed what goes into transforming into drag
Aunt Jemima is described as a misrepresentation of the mammy stereotype: the domestic female slave responsible for the preparation of the master’s food. Aunt Jemima was not only the preparer but also the food itself. Her recipe was a secret known only to the slave women. The myth of mammy is an image for and consumed by White America. Mammy is the most well-known racial caricature of African American women. She “belonged" to the white family and she worked hard to do the things she was obligated to do. People would know mammy when a person sees her because she was obese, old, very dark-skinned, and she always wore a bandana. Research states, that her look was to protect the myth that White men did not find Black women attractive, and that there was no sexual contact between them within the plantations. An example of different mammy’s can be something as simple as Tyler Perry’s Madea.
...d image of black women as purely sexualized creatures are now used by hip-hop and porn industry. Even though its survival and popularity have overcome the former representation of black sexuality, black women’s bodies are still seen as object for business purposes. We can now see black sexuality as authoritative, legitimate and powerful identity.
Burton explains the image of a woman in the 1920s like this, “Held’s woman was a skinny figure, body contorted in the throes of the latest dance, lips holding a dangling cigarette, with short skirt and short hair” (Burton 388). Women were embracing their rebellion, they were showing off their bodies in different ways that women in the previous generations had not done in a very long time. They were smoking, drinking, and pursuing their pleasures. The women in that period must have done it out of spite, as well as for themselves, against men. They probably loved the new attention they received, when they may have been ignored by society. Even if they knew what they were doing was wrong, they most likely loved the thrill of taking a new
Latham, Angela J.. Posing a threat: flappers, chorus girls, and other brazen performers of the American 1920s. Hanover, NH: Published by University Press of New England [for] Wesleyan University Press, 2000. Print.
This fieldwork aims to sociologically analyze gender roles and expectations within the movie White Chicks. In this film brothers, Marcus and Kevin Copeland, play the role of two black FBI agents looking to get back into good graces with their superior after they accidentally ruined a drug bust. They are assigned to escort two rich white females, Brittney and Tiffany Wilson, to the Hamptons for Labor Day festivities. While traveling they experience a minor car accident, leaving the girls with a single scratch each on their face. Because of their socialite status, the sisters no longer wish to continue their trip in fear of humiliation. The agents fear losing their chance of redemption, so they decide to disguise
We recently watched the film Paris is Burning, a documentary about black drag queens in Harlem and their culture surrounding balls. Directly related we also read two feminist critiques, Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion by Judith Butler and Is Paris Burning by bell hooks. Two areas of critique I focus on and question are the critiques regarding the filmmaker, audience and drag queens and how they participate to reinforce a heterosexual racist patriarchy. Furthermore I ask if this line of investigation is the most beneficial way to view and understand the film and its various participants.