Stepin Fetchit: Old Movies' Offensive Caricatures
I've been watching some Shirley Temple movies with my toddler. We just play the singing and dancing parts. In watching the movies, I came across various performances by Stepin Fetchit and it was like, yikes, I can't let my son watch that -- it's extremely offensive -- and skipped over to other scenes.
At the same time, in watching the films alone, I recognized that Stepin Fetchit was a brilliant character actor. What was he thinking in playing those roles? Maybe playing such caricatures was a form of rebellion? Was it an in-your-face depiction of bigots' imagination and, in effect, mockery of racists? One would have to be be uniquely educated and well-versed in racial stereotypes to play such a buffoon. That's a character straight out of people's imagination, not a real person...and it made Stepin Fetchit into a millionaire (if wealth that was later squandered). Just as I suspected, Stepin Fetchit was, in fact, a highly educated individual:
Stepin Fetchit - Biography
"A literate and very intelligent man who wrote for the premier African American newspaper, "The Chicago Defender," Perry evolved a character called "The Laziest Man In the World" as part of a two-man vaudeville act that broke through to play the white circuits."
It really does appear to me that it was an of defiance after all. From same imdb article:
"Stepin Fetchit was an evolution of a later construction, the "Coon" who undermined his white oppressors by denying his labor and cooperation through an act of defiance that included the appearance of being lazy and stupid"
At the same time, in watching the films alone, I recognized that Stepin Fetchit was a brilliant character actor. What was he thinking in playing those roles? Maybe playing such caricatures was a form of rebellion? Was it an in-your-face depiction of bigots' imagination and, in effect, mockery of racists? One would have to be be uniquely educated and well-versed in racial stereotypes to play such a buffoon. That's a character straight out of people's imagination, not a real person...and it made Stepin Fetchit into a millionaire (if wealth that was later squandered). Just as I suspected, Stepin Fetchit was, in fact, a highly educated individual:
Stepin Fetchit - Biography
"A literate and very intelligent man who wrote for the premier African American newspaper, "The Chicago Defender," Perry evolved a character called "The Laziest Man In the World" as part of a two-man vaudeville act that broke through to play the white circuits."
It really does appear to me that it was an of defiance after all. From same imdb article:
"Stepin Fetchit was an evolution of a later construction, the "Coon" who undermined his white oppressors by denying his labor and cooperation through an act of defiance that included the appearance of being lazy and stupid"
Sal
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