16 Responses to “Downey Jr. Bringing Blackface Back”

1. greg Posted: Apr 16th, 2008 at 12:44 pm

   1 looks funny as hell to me

2. Just Arthur Posted: Apr 16th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

   2 I look forward to that, I wouldn’t believe that was Downey Jr, unless someone told me and then saw it in the credits.

3. Charlie Posted: Apr 16th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

   3 I’m going to have to agree with you. I went to see “The Ruins” over the weekend (terrible movie) and this movie was one of the previews. My girlfriend turned to me and said, “you can’t do blackface, this is not funny at all!”. I smiled and nodded to her and thought to myself - oh yeah, then why am I laughing on the inside? In my mind we are still at a point where racial tensions are too high if we live in a world where we have to feel guilty for laughing at a movie like this. Or think of it in another way, would we feel differently about an Italian like Al Pacino if Scarface took place in the Congo instead of Puerto Rico?

4. Kevin Bahrt Posted: Apr 16th, 2008 at 4:39 pm

   4 I have to agree with Charlie, one of the best ways to get over something offensive is to make fun of it. It happened, it wasn’t a good thing, let us ridicule it so that no one ever thinks it is a good thing again.

5. D-W Posted: Apr 16th, 2008 at 4:49 pm

   5 @Charlie: I’m not sure I get your analogy. I think since they are actually playing up the part of him getting plastic surgery and trying to “act black” it’s not as offense as say if he was simple cast to play a black man. Seems like it could be funny but I think I’ll catch the DVD. Besides it can’t be any worse than “Soul Man” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091991/……

6. D-W Posted: Apr 16th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

   6 Screwed up the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091991/

7. Richard "Pocky" Kim Posted: Apr 16th, 2008 at 8:35 pm

   7 “Just because it’s a theme doesn’t mean it’s not true.” >.>

8. Frozen_Cannuck Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 6:07 am

   8 Wonder if there’d be as much anger/disgust if it were a black man playing the part of a white man?

9. tt_rage Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 6:21 am

   9 I think people are reading too much into this. I think/hope they’re trying to go for the “deranged guy (the character Downey plays, not Downey himself) who’s taking his job just a bit too seriously” angle rather than the “aren’t black people hilarious?” angle. Does anyone actually know if this movie is two hours of black-face gags? To Frozen_Cannuck: “Wonder if there’d be as much anger/disgust if it were a black man playing the part of a white man?” Anyone remember “True Identity”? I recall everyone marvelling about the makeup more than anything else.

10. Wayne Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 8:40 am

    10 How about High Anxiety? It’s not a blackface movie, but certainly has racist overtones. Could Mel Brooks even make that movie these days? Probably not, but it works and people recognize it as a slam against racism, not as a racist movie.

11. Kunoichi Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 9:15 am

    11 Certainly blackface has a horrible history, but that doesn’t make “a white actor is going to be made up into a black guy” evil in and of itself. Women certainly don’t complain every time Eddie Murphy dresses up as women simply because he’s playing every role in one of his movies. Or for that matter, when black actors do “white face” (i.e. “Coming to America”). If Americans can’t stop getting up in arms over every possibly racially toned thing, they’re never going to end racism.

12. Michael Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    12 Funny is funny, it doesn’t make it any less wrong. Go see the movie. Laugh like Shell. And fell bad after like everyone with a concience. Good times are had by all!

13. Devin Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    13 I think that the fact that it’s reminiscent of black face will cause negative controversy, but in actuality, it’s not really black face. Black face was the casting of a white actor to play an african-american role, where as this is, as Jam pointed out, an actor playing an actor playing a black role. I think the degree of removal is key here. As a black male myself I admit I was horrified at seeing the pic of Downey, but after sitting here at my computer for about ten minutes rationalizing it in my head, it actually became pretty damn hilarious thinking about Robert Downey playing such an eccentric actor… And @ Kunoichi: Whiteface is SOOO not on the same level as blackface. While both seem on the surface to just be cosmetic make-up and a stereotyping portrayal, blackface was a technique created by the studios to deny blacks roles in movies in the early days of cinema because it was felt that blacks weren’t good enough or smart enough to pull off leading roles. No one is denying whites roles because of executives not thinking they’re not good enough for a part in Coming to America or White Chicks.

14. Jami Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    14 Author Comment Oh gods, White Chicks was offensive just cause someone greenlit that travesty! Blech.

15. Devin Posted: Apr 17th, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    15 And I apologize to all for mentioning that aforementioned travesty that shall never be spoken of again… :D

16. Kunoichi Posted: Apr 18th, 2008 at 6:35 am

    16 I wasn’t trying to compare blackface and whiteface. =P I *was* pointing out that the “blackface” done these days (such as Downey) isn’t the same as the blackface of the past and people needed to get over it.