American Art's Representation of Race

Racism is one of the enduring features of American culture. Despite the remarkable dedication people have made to combating it, racism still exists. The entertainment sector is one area where it has consistently been significant. The issue of race in the country has been portrayed in both film and television when it comes to racial representation. Through their creative endeavors, people like Spike Lee have attempted to expose and combat racism in the entertainment industry. In Bamboozled, a bizarre satirical film, for instance, Spike Lee looks at the depictions of African Americans in American art and in so doing provides his own understanding of the same. John Strausbaugh also provides his views on race in art in his work Black Like You. The two explore the blackface culture in their works and provide their understanding of it.

History is hard to forget, and in American art history, it is hard to ignore that offensive art happened. An example of this is the blackface culture prominent in American film and television. Individuals who are not black and in some cases, blacks as well, would paint themselves with burnt cork to look black in order to play black roles. Lee and Strausbaugh provide their understanding of this phenomenon in art. From Strausbaugh’s view, blackface mimicked and ridiculed the African Americans. It was a form of sincere imitation and mockery at the same time. What is more, blackface was or is a form of a trend that displays blackness for entertaining or edifying white viewers. Lee also seemingly has the same understanding of blackface. It was offensive to him. It is for this reason that some of the characters in Bamboozled, although they are black, paint themselves black to mock the trend in a satirical manner.

Decidedly, from the two artists’ understanding, their races do not necessarily affect their understanding of blackface. The two possess a similar understanding of the phenomenon despite Lee being black and Strausbaugh being white. As noted, they both view blackface as having been offensive and a mockery of the African Americans. In the case of Strausbaugh, it is the whites who painted themselves black and degraded the African American, and this to him was offensive. On the other hand, in Lee’s case, it is the blacks who painted themselves black but instead of doing this to please the whites, they did it to mock and express their distaste towards the whites’ actions. Also, Lee’s and Strausbaugh’s races do not impact their understanding of minstrelsy especially as it was used to advance the blackface practice.

The two artists’ works are inspired by events in history and past attitudes regarding race, particularly in art. However, it is Bamboozled that is most mesmerizing. First and foremost, the film explores the issue racism which is itself a historical issue. It derives inspiration from such movies as Birth of a Nation and The Jazz Singer which are regarded as landmark American films but had prominent instances of racism in them. Lee was also inspired by the ignorant attitude of the American people that made them treat African Americans disgracefully. In so doing, Lee uses characters who are representations of individuals who have been in the American art scene but were disregarded due to their race.

The ideas that Lee has and are shown in his film are still relevant today. This is the case with Strausbaugh ideas as well. Mainly, this is because, although African Americans play blacks’ roles in film, their race is yet to be acknowledged fully. Also, African Americans are represented wrongly in the media. For instance, when an unarmed black person is killed they are quickly labeled as a thug or a brute as was the case with the killing of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Samuel Dubose, among others (Clark 1). Anti-black stereotypes are still prominent in today’s media, and unfortunately, this is the sorry state of American art. However, maybe with the works of Lee and Strausbaugh now available, there are going to be improvements in the future.







































Work Cited

Clark, Ashley. “Bamboozled: Spike Lee's masterpiece on race in America is as relevant as ever.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 6 Oct. 2015, www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/06/bamboozled-spike-lee-masterpiece-race-in-america.