Blackface, white noise : Jewish immigrants in the Hollywood melting pot
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Blackface, white noise : Jewish immigrants in the Hollywood melting pot
（A centennial book）
University of California Press, c1996
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Note
Filmography: p. 317-321
Includes bibliographical references (p. 269-315) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The tangled connections that have bound Jews to African Americans in popular culture and liberal politics are at the heart of Michael Rogin's arresting and unnerving new book. Looking at films from "Birth of a Nation" to "Forrest Gump", Rogin explores blackface in Hollywood films as an aperture to broader issues: the nature of "white" identity in America, the role of race in transforming immigrants into "Americans", and the social importance of popular culture. From their very beginnings, Rogin claims, motion pictures created a national culture by taking possession of African Americans. Immigrant Jews inherited the blackface role in vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, and Hollywood, and blackface, either literal or figurative, became a rite of passage to "white" America. Rogin shows how blackface representations were ethnically inclusive and racially exclusionary, and he argues against those who reduce race to simply one more ethnic identity. Juxtaposing movies like the first talking picture, "The Jazz Singer", with such early civil rights movies as "Pinky" and "Gentleman's Agreement", he demonstrates how the blackface tradition infected even those films that he wished to repudiate it.
Rogin discusses the common experiences of Jews and African Americans that made Jews key supporters in the fight for racial equality. But his book also looks at the Jewish stake in "whiteness", challenging us to confront the harsh truths behind the popularity of racial masquerade. Accompanied by over fifty compelling illustrations, Rogin's forcefully argued study illuminates the commercial, cultural, and social reach of mass entertainment.
by "Nielsen BookData"