Blackface, Yellowface...Fatface?

So last week we examined blackface and what it is along with yellowface and other ways of white people negatively depicting other races by dressing like them, changing their skin tones, etc. so i really wanted to write this weeks blog on that topic and relate it to something in the modern media that portrays media and made lots of money yet didn't really get called out. After alot of research trying to find this big hit that portrayed blackface, yellowface, etc that wasn't really blown up in the media I finally stumbled upon the perfect choice: Norbit!

Norbit is a movie that came out back in 2007 and was an instant success, I will admit I watched it 2 or 3 times in the theatre as did many other viewers due to its outrageous comedic appeal. The movie is basically Eddie Murphy playing 3 different roles in the same movie. He plays Norbit [a very timid man that allows everybody to walk all over him], Resputia [an obese woman that acts as if she owns the world], and Mister Wong [an Asian man that is the owner of a Chinese Restaurant that's also an orphanage].




These are the 3 characters he played in order from the way i listed them in the previous paragraph. He clearly didn't use blackface in this due to the obvious fact that Eddie Murphy is African-American and it is very obvious that he used yellowface, but has he added in a new twist on blackface? In my opinion I would say yes and I would deem it fatface. Throughout the movie alongside the extremely racist characteristics of Mr. Wong there are jabs at obese women, thus brining it back to the days when it was funny to make a white person black and do some rediculous shenanigens because now Eddie Murphy is an obese woman and making her look crazy but doing it in a comedic way; thus the same as the old blackface films, shows, etc.

In my opinion the idea of the blackface will prefail through each and every generation. Back in the day America had the black face, then during the war we had yellowface, but in modern day its very subtle and we have more than just one blunt negative dpeiction of a particular group of people and the one that is sticking out is my idea of fatface. The 21st century has taken a turn for the worse with so many young people with eating disorders, thinking they're fat, or being at all selfconcious due to their appearence. Think back to the days when blackface was popular, do you think African-Americans' self esteem was sky rocketing? No is the correct answer, connection much? I'd say so. People say we're past all of those negative depictions of different groups of people but we're clearly not because look at this! We're making fun of obese people and laughing about it, back then they were doing the same thing about African-American people. It's just awful to realize this connection, because its apart of my life because I'm one of the many many people that do this. As much as I hate to admit it, its the truth; I laugh at this awful depiction of obese people. All I can hope is that future generations learn from our mistakes and eliminate racism, sexism, or any sort of segregation of particular groups of people.

In case you haven't seen the movie, here's the trailer for it that I got from youtube.




*first photo from http://www.commentbuddy.com/image-code-comments/Funny-Movie/norbit-how-you-doin.gif-80.html
*second photo from http://www.asianweek.com/top-25-yellow-face-performance-20-16/
*third photo from http://www.hahahaimontheinternet.com/male-actors-who-cross-dress-for-success/
*fourth photo from http://twogirlsandagay.blogspot.com/2007_01_21_archive.html
*trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmSZJ17ppEQ