Whiteface

Two Black cops dress up as White, blonde-haired females. In other words, whiteface drag.


I am ashamed to say that I did not detect the major race issues during the first viewing of this film. Perhaps it is because we are less inclined to detect racism when it is against 'White' people. This film plays on numerous stereotypes that have very real effects on people and we need to be able to recognize them, no matter which group of people they are targeting.


The film plays on the 'dumb blonde' stereotype--'plays on' being a gross understatement. The message? Black (male) characters are 'cool', they can dance better than White people, and in fact, are better White people than White people themselves--"We're so bummed! We liked Brittany and Tiffany like... so much more when you were them." White people are either shallow, materialistic females, or cigar-smoking, greedy males. 


Of course, Black people are also stereotyped in this film. However, the difference being is that these black characters represent themselves in a certain way; these 'white chicks' are actually being represented by black men who, by acting shallow, plastic and stupid, can pass off as being 'white chicks'. The task is achieved without too many hardships as these female's best friends are clearly not the smartest group of people.





A 1986 film titled 'Soul Man', revolves around a blackface:





This film, although much older than 'White Chicks', portrays blackface with a certain caution, and makes a comment on society and the way it views and treats black people. Being a comedy film as well, it surprised me that a film so much older would approach this similar idea in a much more respectful and thought out way. The blackface character does not change dress code and does not alter his behaviour in order to pass of as 'Black' (he does so in some occasions, however only to mock people who expect him to behave in a certain way due to their racist ideologies). He is subject to discrimination and learns through being a blackface important lessons about race issues. I found it interesting that nonetheless, there were protests at the time of this film's release by people who were offended by the use of the blackface in this film.


Comparing these two films gives us a great example of how the events of the past have impacted our perception of who can be affected by racism. 'White Chicks' is a tasteless, clearly racist film that is not generally regarded as being as such. It uses whiteface, and clearly does so with no apprehensions of what may be a racist representation. In this blog, I have not gone into depth with regards to what exact representations in the film are racist. The reason being: the film is saturated with these stereotypes that I am sure after watching a few minutes (because you'll be bored if you watch any longer) and you will detect numerous examples of racial stereotyping. 'Soul Man' being an example of, in my opinion, a film that transgressed through the sensitivity with blackface to make a legitimate commentary on society and 'White Chicks' highlighting our double standard when it comes to recognizing racism. Clearly, there are important historical reasons for why this is such, but does that make this double standard any more just?