Yesterday on NPR I heard Ben Stiller seeking to rationalize the use of blackface in his black–sorry, noir–war spoof, Tropic Thunder. He said something like, The character played by Robert Downey Jr. is a racist idiot, and his use of black face is so ridiculous that it exposes him as a racist idiot. Sorry, but Downey is on the movie poster in the New York subways. And Al Jolson was probably playing a racist idiot too, or had his own rationalization for what he was doing. Call it postmodern or call it burnt cork, it's still blackface, a comic device that plays off racial differences. I think Stiller was trying to neutralize the elite audience's reaction, going on NPR.
And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. Comic actors should use all the tools at their disposal. It's interesting that Downey's blackface doesn't seem to be thought offensive. Blackface used to be prima facie (sorry) offensive. Now apparently we can accept it in some instances. I say it's the Obama Effect, people are getting past a lot of stuff.
