Brenton
Queer eye is Blackface.
July 23rd 2007 12:09
Burn a cork in water. Let it disintegrate. Mix into a paste. Wipe over your face, making sure you apply balm first to protect your skin. Then you do the lips with Fire Engine Red Lipstick.
This is how to prepare a blackface mask. The painted on Black Faces that Minstrels had to wear for them to be accepted as performers on TV. Black people couldn’t perform just as black people in America’s olden days (America’s not-so-olden-as-we-might-wish days). They had to cover up, perform as effective parodies of themselves in order to become fodder for entertainment, something white folk could sit back and be delightfully entertained by.
These days we have black people all over our TV screens, minus the blackface and over the top self parodies. However a new group have come along to fill the space.
The gays.
They’re cute. They’re cuddly. They have sex with other men (not that that’s ever mentioned). They have lisps and girly mannerisms.
I know a lot of gay blokes. (Not many lesbians though. How odd.) Some of them are very flamboyant, so it’s easy to see the argument that there’s no sense in over analysing the roles of homosexuals on TV. “That’s just the way they are” one might say.
However, there’s little denying that on TV, gay blokes in shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy are really only accepted so long as they represent parodies of themselves. Having a gay character in a popular soapie or drama without them being “THE GAY ONE” is still the exception rather than the rule.
Until then, we’re going to have the ‘lisping faggot’ on TV, making straight boy laugh and be entertained, while still being able to maintain a sense of superiority, just like the ‘Tap-Dancing Coon’ did for white boy all those years ago.
We’ve come a long way?
IMAGE
This is how to prepare a blackface mask. The painted on Black Faces that Minstrels had to wear for them to be accepted as performers on TV. Black people couldn’t perform just as black people in America’s olden days (America’s not-so-olden-as-we-might-wish days). They had to cover up, perform as effective parodies of themselves in order to become fodder for entertainment, something white folk could sit back and be delightfully entertained by.
These days we have black people all over our TV screens, minus the blackface and over the top self parodies. However a new group have come along to fill the space.
The gays.
They’re cute. They’re cuddly. They have sex with other men (not that that’s ever mentioned). They have lisps and girly mannerisms.
I know a lot of gay blokes. (Not many lesbians though. How odd.) Some of them are very flamboyant, so it’s easy to see the argument that there’s no sense in over analysing the roles of homosexuals on TV. “That’s just the way they are” one might say.
However, there’s little denying that on TV, gay blokes in shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy are really only accepted so long as they represent parodies of themselves. Having a gay character in a popular soapie or drama without them being “THE GAY ONE” is still the exception rather than the rule.
Until then, we’re going to have the ‘lisping faggot’ on TV, making straight boy laugh and be entertained, while still being able to maintain a sense of superiority, just like the ‘Tap-Dancing Coon’ did for white boy all those years ago.
We’ve come a long way?
IMAGE
| 40 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Activist Links: (Request one)
Vitamins are criminal?
Just say Know
Could Corporate Interests Destroy The Internet as we Know it?
