Celebrating Robert Downey Jr.'s blackface at the Oscars? (The week we inaugurate Obama?)

It appears all but certain -- based on nominations for a Golden Globe, SAG, Broadcast Film Critics Award, Satellite Award and even a BAFTA Award; widespread praise from critics; and the vocal support of his peers -- that Robert Downey Jr. will receive a best supporting actor Oscar nomination on Jan. 22 for his performance in the summer comedy "Tropic Thunder." Maybe it's just me, but I find that pretty shocking.

Because comedies don't usually get nominated for Oscars, you ask? No, because people wearing blackface don't usually win widespread approval in this day and age.

In the film, Downey plays Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor who has won five Oscars and recently undergone an operation to alter his skin pigmentation to portray a black soldier in his next film. He has also donned an Afro wig and attended "Ebonics vocal training" in order to play the part.

Look, I get it -- I'm no bluenose prude -- it's so absurd and over-the-top that it's not meant to be taken seriously. Still, I can't help but feel a certain degree of shock and dismay that the Academy might well hold up and nominate this type of performance, regardless of its intentions, in the 21st century, and just two days after Barack Obama is sworn into office and becomes our nation's first black president.

Where is the outrage? I posed that question to Mark Feeney, who is (a) my friend, (b) the Pulitzer Prize-winning arts critic for the Boston Globe, (c) a big fan of Downey's performance, (d) white, and (e) as far from racist as anyone could possibly be. Here's what he had to say:

I think there are three primary reasons for the lack of criticism. First, the movie's so wildly outrageous, not to mention so ecumenical in its eagerness to offend, that getting worked up over it would be a mite silly. (If anything, the physically handicapped -- and agents! -- have a lot more to complain about.) Second, criticism *is* voiced -- within the movie -- by [actor/real African American] Brandon T. Jackson's character. It's a case of heading 'em off at the pass. Finally, it's pretty plain that [director] Ben Stiller is your basic Hollywood liberal (Downey too); so it's not as if they're either unaware of what's going on or, certainly, trying to be racist; if anything, they're seeking to mock on-screen racism.

That's as strong of a circumstantial defense as anyone could make, but I guess I just can't imagine any circumstance under which a blackface performance would be acceptable, any more than than I can imagine any circumstance under which the use of the N-word would be acceptable.

Further, Downey himself acknowledged that Jackson's part was added only after Stiller and screenwriter Justin Theroux realized they needed to try to preemptively temper anger about a white person playing a black person by having a black character criticize him for doing so. ("They had him saying things to my character like, 'Dude, you are so stereotyping yourself' and 'I am so embarrassed for you' and 'You wouldn't last a minute in my neighbourhood,'" Downey recalled.) Though Jackson now supports the film, he has said he was initially shocked by the script ("I was like, 'What? Blackface?'") and only agreed to play the part after the script's one use of the N-word was removed.

You can sugarcoat it all you want, but blackface is blackface. The fact of the matter is that top actors, like Downey, have given performances in blackface in successful films since the birth of filmmaking (see a list of examples below the jump). Many of them have gotten laughs. Many of them have been done rather skillfully. And all of them have been justified by their practitioners as acceptable for one reason or another. The passage of time and the growth of understanding in this country have helped us to recognize that the vast majority were not.

I will grant that some blackface performances are probably more insulting than others. There is a noteworthy difference between what Al Jolson did in the movie "The Jazz Singer" (1927) or what Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll did on the radio-turned-TV show "Amos 'n Andy" (1951-53) and what Angelina Jolie did by darkening her skin to portray and help call attention to the story of Mariane Pearl in "A Mighty Heart" (2007). But it's the practice of blackface itself, more than any specific incarnation of it, that will always strike a nerve for some because it was so much a part of our nation's shameful history in the area of race relations.

Chances are you've heard of the "Jim Crow laws" that segregated black and white Americans from 1876 to 1965, but you may not know about their namesake. Jim Crow was not a real person, but rather a fictional old black slave portrayed as a singing, dancing, bumbling moron by Thomas D. Rice, a white actor in blackface, during the 1830s. This hallmark blackface (or minstrel) performance, like those that came after it in other forms of entertainment, entailed the white appropriation of black identity for the purposes of mockery, and inherently added to the racial intolerance and hate that manifest themselves to this day in ways both big and small.

Downey's character may be "a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude," but who are we? Many in the film industry are so focused on the present that they forget -- or, worse still, never properly learned about -- the past. Just last night, I was waiting along a red carpet to ask questions of some of the most important filmmakers of the last 25 years, and several of the other "reporters" around me nervously scanned their "face sheets" in order to put a name to a face and still had no idea who they were. It makes you wonder what, if any perspective, they have about stuff that is really important to know about the past.

Just because we've now elected the first black president of the United States doesn't mean we've magically entered a post-racial period in which the wounds of the past have been forgiven or should be forgotten. It surprises me that so many people -- Stiller, who had previously dabbled in blackface in "Zoolander" (2001); Downey, who has no shortage of vehicles with which to prove his acting chops; and costars, audiences, critics and voters who have singled out this performance -- seem to believe they have been.

* * *

Notable big-screen performances in which actors portray characters of a different race

• Walter Long ("The Birth of a Nation," 1915)
• Al Jolson ("The Jazz Singer," 1927) SEE HERE
• Buster Keaton ("College," 1927)
• Laurel & Hardy ("Pardon Us," 1931)
• Shirley Temple ("The Littlest Rebel," 1935)
• Irene Dunne ("Show Boat," 1936)
• The Marx Brothers ("A Day at the Races," 1937)
• Paul Muni ("The Good Earth," 1937)
• Luise Rainer ("The Good Earth," 1937)
• Fred Astaire ("Swing Time," 1936)
• Judy Garland ("Babes in Arms," 1939)
• Mickey Rooney ("Babes in Arms," 1939)
• Bing Crosby ("Holiday Inn," 1942)
• Walter Huston ("Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942)
• Katharine Hepburn ("Dragon Seed," 1944) SEE HERE
• Marlene Dietrich ("Golden Earrings," 1947) SEE HERE
• Milton Berle ("Always Leave Them Laughing," 1949) SEE HERE
• Ava Gardner ("Show Boat," 1951) SEE HERE
• Orson Welles ("Othello," 1952)
• Sophia Loren ("Aida," 1953) SEE HERE
• Jennifer Jones ("Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," 1955)
• Dean Martin ("Ocean's Eleven," 1960)
• Frank Sinatra ("Ocean's Eleven," 1960)
• Mickey Rooney ("Breakfast at Tiffany's," 1961)
• Laurence Olivier ("Othello," 1965)
• Laurence Olivier ("Khartoum," 1966)
• Gene Wilder ("Silver Streak," 1976)
• Ben Kingsley ("Gandhi," 1982)
• Dan Aykroyd ("Trading Places," 1983)
• C. Thomas Howell ("Soul Man," 1986)
• Michael Richards ("Whoops Apocalypse," 1986)
• Ben Stiller ("Zoolander," 2001)
• Angelina Jolie ("A Mighty Heart," 2007) SEE HERE
• Jack Black ("Be Kind Rewind," 2008)
• Robert Downey Jr. ("Tropic Thunder," 2008)
• Jake Gyllenhaal ("Price of Persia," 2010)

Notable big-screen performances in which actors portray characters "passing" as a different race

• Mel Ferrer ("Lost Boundaries," 1949)
• Jeanne Craine ("Pinky," 1949)
• Susan Kohner ("Imitation of Life," 1959)
• Anthony Hopkins ("The Human Stain," 2003)

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Photos: (top) Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder," (below, left to right), Al Jolson in "The Jazz Singer" (1927), Sir Laurence Olivier in "Othello" (1965), Angelina Jolie in "A Mighty Heart" (2007), Paris Hilton on "The Simple Life" (2007), Fred Armisen on "Saturday Night Live"

Comments

[Rick.]

Don't write "I get it" when you don't get it. If you got it, you wouldn't have written this. This is just more knee-jerk, over-the-top, over-sensitivity to a non-issue. There hasn't been huge outrage from the black community because the community understands the context. It wasn't about being in black face (which isn't really what this is), it's about what self-important actors will do for acclaim. And all this certainly doesn't have to belittle what's going on with the new president. It's still an amazing achievement and Tropic Thunder is just a movie.

[Joe]

Just curious, did you feel shocked at the portrayal of "white-face" in White Chicks?
Don't give us this history lesson about "black face". Things, sayings, names only have power if we hang on and keep giving them power. The past is important but if we hold on to it in the way you describe then we would have all sorts of archaic laws and rituals as everyone tiptoed around each other.
There are plenty of things black comedians do to push the racial lines and nobody gets their knickers in a knot. Humour is a way of knocking down stereotypes by showcasing their ignorance. (I say black not African American since this label is ridiculous-most American blacks weren't born in and have never been to Africa. They are Americans, period. Besides, there are white people are born in Africa too, like Charlize Theron - she is an African American so now doesn't the PC crap sound dumb?)

[Rob]

Whilst Ben Kingsley IS British, he is of Indian heritage, so I'm not sure that qualifies.

[Lucy]

As an African American woman, I fail to see how celebrating Downey, Jr.'s performance would be the same as celebrating "blackface". I find the avoidance of using actors of color in non-stereotypical roles offensive. And that is precisely what "Tropic Thunder" is a satire on. Your outrage/shock seems misplaced to me and hardly warranted writing this article unless you were to address the racial problems in hollywood casting. I hope the Academy does recognize Mr. Downey's performance as it was worthy of an Oscar.

[rockyc]

This is silly. Nicely written, but silly. There are a thousand topics the author could have written about pertaining to Hollywood and race but this is seemingly thrown together for a weekly word-count. Shocked, indeed. Seriously, in the first line it states that the role has been recognized by "Golden Globe, SAG, Broadcast Film Critics Award, Satellite Award and even a BAFTA Award." Are all those organizations too stupid to be shocked and dismayed? I think not.

[Maria]

Honestly, you're making a huge deal out of nothing at all. You obviously don't get it, and don't try to make people who do get twisted into your point of view.

Do you really want to know why Robert Downey Jr is getting celebrated for his role? Because of the amazing job that he did. Because he may have played a black man, but he didn't do it offensively. Or did you miss the part about the lack of people flaming him about it when it first came out?

Look up the word satire, watch the movie again, and then let us know if it's really worth this big huff you're in. Because, really? This is just looking for something to pick on when there shouldn't be.

[SheQuon]

And while we're on the subject, what's with all these gay-themed movies with heterosexual actors appearing in Gayface? It's be one thing to see the odd heterosexual actor earning the part of a gay character--but they do it the majority of the time!!

[Troy McClure]

Let's go ahead and ignore the fact that no black people seem to have been offended by the movie. Instead, let's all sit down and have this white guy from LA tell us what is offensive to black people.

Way to go, dude. I knew there would be one guy that didn't get the joke, and you are it.

[katie H]

"Just curious, did you feel shocked at the portrayal of "white-face" in White Chicks? " - NO, this doesn't matter as much because of History. It wasn't whites that were oppressed and silenced by the blacks, but vice versa. so remember context and HISTORY. what happened yesterday has everything to do with what happens today. This is why it is a big deal when a white guy utters the "N" word, even in friendly context, and not such a travesty when a black guy says it. Because, for the most part, it was the white population that did the most damage and humiliation to the black population.

[Shari]

I find it very interesting that the author left the Wayans off the above list of actors portraying other races. I also agree with Shequon about the abundance of straight actors appearing in "gayface" and the lack of notice about the topic and would add transvestites being portrayed by non-transvestites to the list. But I have to say, I believe that what Downey did in Tropic Thunder was brilliant and quite deserving of the award nominations he has received. I got the message of the satire loud and clear and applaud the sentiments behind it. To be shocked by others acceptance and even the recognition of the talent that went into Mr. Downey's portrayal seems to me to be taking umbrage for the sake of political correctness and missing the point. True equality comes in our acceptance of each other as human beings, not classifying and objectifying each other into and out of everyday situations. It is when we do not think in terms of color, gender, religious affiliation, physical capability, sexual identity or any of the other arbitrary delineations we make up to make the people we encounter different from just being people like ourselves that true equality occurs. And I, for one, think recognition of Mr. Downey's performance and President-elect Obama's selection for office both help break those barriers down. It is not negative or insensitive, it is, to me at least, a quite positive sign that we are making progress towards true equality, for everyone.

[Yes We Can]

Scott, you are 100% absolutely right. This celebration of Robert Downey Jr. is an outrage. How dare a bunch of Hollywood actors make fun of black people? No one should dare make fun of black people, our feelings are far too sensitive and we don't have the same sensibilities as white people to differentiate between satire and true racism. Thank you for looking out for black people and protecting them. We need more white people like you to stand up for our rights because we are unable to do it ourselves. The lack of outrage from my black brothers and sisters is deafening, and your insight into why we should be offended is clearly the exposure we need to fix this atrocity.

[AllAmericanCollegeBoy]

I think it's funny that there's such a commotion over a movie that wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. I think the best part was when Stiller corrected John Wayne's mistake and said "Load and Lock."

And what about black people portraying white people? That crappy movie White Chicks anyone?

[JoeCollege]

Man, stirring up controversy for a lame movie is retarded. The only thing redeemable about that movie was when Stiller corrected the cliche John Wayne started and said "Load and Lock."

Getting riled up about Downey is inane. The white community doesn't rise up in arms whenever a travesty like White Chicks gets made. Don't even try and convince me that that movie was trying to do anything different than Downey's character. Only real difference was that they played off a white woman stereotype. At least Downey's character kept his portrayal legit.

[Dogabone]

Is Robert Downey Jr. slated for the movie version of the book Running Naked? Amazon.com seems to indicate that it is already in production

[Sagana]

Neil Armstrong should be offended,lol. I'm Black and I loved the movie. Its my fave- right up there with Toxic Avenger,lol. I'm serious, its one of my most fave movies, now.

[Aura]

The only time I'm shocked when the academy nominates a "type of performance" is when that "type" is a bad performance, which this definitely is not. I think there are some people who just want there to continue to be race issues in this country. So they dig up any old excuse to find some controversy when there is none. You must have loved that abomination called "Crash".

[Kristina]

Anything I have ever heard against blackface and this particular role is from the white community not the African-American Community, why is that? Are we (I'm white) trying to hide our sin?
This performance was amazing, and in no way made fun of African-Americans, just actors. I wish people would drop this non-issue and respect the film and RDJ’s performance.

[BRockNYLA]

I agree with Scott on this one. While I wasn't offended by the portrayal, I think it is a different story to raise it to worthy of Oscar acclaim. I'm not sure yet if it is me taking offense to such a broad, silly movie being celebrated at this level or a reflection of the 'blackface' question. Or I may just be the only one who just didn't "get" the funny of this film. I mean...really. An Oscar nomination? really? REALLY?

[talli]

i think you're confused

theyre not celebrating blackface, theyre celebrating Robert Downey Jr's PORTRAYAL of an actor who does blackface

if Robert Downey Jr actually went and did blackface then there would be something seriously wrong going on here

[jayhorn5]

Eddie Murphy plays an old white man in a barber shop in Coming to America. I didn't see that one listed in the notable movies.

[Warren]

As a deranged pyschopath I am deeply offended by Heath Ledger's playing a role while wearing crazyface.

We don't all wear stage make-up you know.

Oh, hold on, my dog is saying something gotta go.

[Jeff]

My son is bi-racial, so if anyone's going to get teed-off about racism in Hollywood, it's going to be me, his loving father. And I DO get mad -- but by Tropic Thunder?? No, way! I get angry wondering why there are no blacks in the Harry Potter movies and in most TV sitcoms. Or why 90% of the black roles that do show up involve a lot of "jive" talk. Where are the articulate Obama types, or the warm and loving fathers? Where is your anger in these instances, Scott?

[Ryan]

I think the biggest problem with your analysis of blackface in Tropic Thunder is that you miss the intent. Tropic Thunder's blackface is not used to insult black people. It's used to insult pretentious actors. The movie did a great job of portraying it this way, even though I didn't really like the movie in general (it was amusing, but tended to drag on, except for the ending).

[Lauren]

The problem with Tropic Thunder doesn't stop at its numb, cultural vacuum use of blackface. The audience is not only tricked into laughing at this shameful device of American comedy - dusted off again, so sure of its toothlessness - but tricked into laughing at depictions of violence and war, to laughing at scrambled, but key images of the Vietnam War:

http://contextualhealing.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/tropic-thunder-and-post-racial-blackface/