Multimedia-Blackface+Now

Everyone knows the saying, "Art imitates life." If a person wants to have an idea of the happenings of any society (be it political climate, socioeconomic situations, or sheer entertainment styles), taking a look at the multimedia that is being produced during the particular era is a guaranteed method of gaging these truths. Without fail, the arts (written and performed) will reflect the sentiments of people within races, creeds, political and religious sects.

Below are listed several examples of how racist attitudes and racial tensions are still present in America today.

//The View// ladies review Blackface performance on Australian television: media type="youtube" key="fPNiEKcka_w?fs=1" height="190" width="240" The commentary by Harry Connick Jr is amazing and the review by the ladies of the view is (for once) spot on afterward. The other judges chalked Connick Jr's outrage up to a difference in "humor." However, the Australian group was not ridiculing Aboriginals, the closest comparison that would be made if considering the ethnic/racial tensions that exist in the United States.

In 2008, Robert Downey Jr donned blackface for a role in the movie //Tropic Thunder,// where he played a white actor who underwent surgery to "become black" in order to play the role of a black man in a movie.

Theatrical trailer for //Tropic Thunder:// media type="youtube" key="HOu9TmWGKLg?fs=1" height="180" width="230" Most audience members probably aren't even aware of the existence of "blackface." People just thought this was a funny role for a popular actor. The trailer even features a "cast mate" who actually IS black commenting on the stereotypical black comments that Downey Jr's "black character" makes during filming.

Will.i.am (supposed) blackface performance at the VMA's media type="youtube" key="75Pyo8F5ceI?fs=1" height="181" width="230" The funniest thing about this so-called "blackface" performance is the fact that Will.I.am was never trying to do one. He is an artist and an entertainer, but that is the end of the similarity. He dressed all in black and adorned a black face mask. He didn't draw on big lips or adapt any other characteristics of a blackface artist. He was staying true to himself and putting on an energetic, live show like always. Immediately, a media frenzy was sparked and the criticism was out in full force.

Will.i.am responded to the issue via twitter - "1st. just because I where all black including head mask as expression and emphasize my outfit, it shouldn't be looked at as racial..." he tweeted back. "Let go of the past. there are far more important things 2 bark about. (Jobs, health, education) not a black man wearing all black everything." A few hours later Will.i.am was back on Twitter defending himself again.

"Are you guys serious? my outfit set "black people back 100 yrs" choose your twits wisely. no education sets people back, no jobs, bad health," he wrote.