What Role Does Blackface Play In Popular Culture

Humorists are enjoyed more today than ever before, through the means of the internet and television and media, however their vital role in society is often overlooked. De Botton is correct, people react much better when statements are sugar coated in comedy rather than bluntly stated. Statements are not always positive, as seen many times throughout American history. In the mid-1900’s a style of stage make-up called “blackface” was used in both plays and movies alike. Blackface was a racist portrayal of Africans and African Americans, usually showing characters that were very stupid and outlandish. Actors used the make-up to mock African Americans and send a message of racism in a comedic way that doesn’t leave people feeling like racists,

War comedies, for instance, have an underlying theme in which war is negative and horror filled, but to say it outright show the grotesque horrors of war would get the movies struck down and hated and coming out and publicly speaking of the negativities of war would get the speaker labeled as a coward, weak and unpatriotic. There is also people such as John Stewart or Stephen Colbert who use comedy and satire in order to bring upon a great justice, to inform the people of the news and current events. While many consider their work to be funny, it also carries with it knowledge, in a medium in which it can be well understood and well received. Artists like Charlie Hebdo, drawing political cartoons that mock violent ideologies, die because of their messages, showing just how large the cause actually is and just how important the humorists really are. Without someone to speak the uncomfortable truth, in a way the people will listen, the world would not be where it is today. If there was no one to challenge the “norm”, how could people ever change? Humorists today are more important than ever as people grow increasingly ignorant of the issues that surround them and the messages they don’t want to