Blackface Makeup and Mickey Mouse Character in the Context of Racism and Discrimination
Abstract
Degrading stereotypes of black people, created with the contribution of Blackface make-up in the 19th-century Minstrel shows, also showed themselves in popular cartoons published until the 1990s. Our study investigated the historical origins of the slavery and discrimination processes against black people in the USA and the claims that the design of Mickey Mouse was based on these processes. The subject was carried out with secondary data analysis and the use of existing sources. Animated cartoon films and the design of the characters in them that are about our discussion are analyzed with an iconological methodology. The findings obtained through these comparative studies were evaluated together and innovative results were obtained. Our research; aims to contribute to the understanding of today's USA collective unconscious on this subject, through the slavery and discrimination applied to blacks in the USA in the historical process, and the understanding of various racist sensitivities. With this aspect, the study aims to contribute to other art genres and other related branches of social sciences, as well as address the subject-specific of the art of animation.
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References
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