themakeupgallery | character | blackface

updated: 01/02/2007

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blackface: ethnic disguises

Slow Burn
Hustle
Race Swap
Alias
Vidocq
Now You See Her
Krippendorf’s Tribe
La Morte cammina con . . .
Gambit
My Geisha
others

These are disguises that achieve a radical change of the character’s appearance by changing their apparent ethnic background.

Hollywood has a fairly abysmal record on the portrayal of trans-ethnic roles: both the characters and the makeups have more than tended to the stereotypical. So I have to admit that mostly blackface makes me cringe and it’s a real question: is blackface ever okay?