[interesting trope]Jokes about blackface that avoid actually doing blackface

[u/DifficultHat]

1. In Zoolander when Hansel and Derek are in disguise, they are played by other actors. Derek removes his face makeup off screen so Ben Stiller is never seen in blackface except for his neck and ears

2. In The Neighbors the Weaver family is picking a Halloween costume. During the montage of them trying on options the parents and both daughters are wearing semi formal clothing (business suit, pantsuits etc) looking in the mirror looking disappointed, while Max is dressed as a dog. After a beat one of them says “No one is going to be able to tell we’re the Obamas”. The youngest daughter innocently suggests painting their faces and the parents immediately tell her no. (I hate that I couldn’t find a clip or a picture of this)

3. One episode of Ellsbeth included a plot point about a model being blackmailed with the negatives from a “cultures around the world” photoshoot where she was in makeup to portray multiple races. The photos are discussed but never seen.

4. In an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show, Rob and Laura accidentally dye their hands black the morning before attending a gala for “The Committee for Interracial Understanding”. They wear fancy gloves to hide it but then reveal their predicament when Rob is giving a speech.

5. Similar to Zoolander, in Master of Disguise when Fabbrizzio is disguised as Michael Johnson, he is played by Michael Johnson & his exit from the disguise is covered in a camera flash as he holds up the constitution he just stole.

[u/Phewelish]

https://giphy.com/gifs/134BfF8UiBiVUc

Hes a drow or dark elf in DND.

whats the verdict on asian people doing blackface?

[u/DifficultHat → u/Phewelish]

Kind of the opposite of this trope. I was talking about jokes where black face is mentioned, but no actors actually paint their face.

[u/Arimm_The_Amazing → u/DifficultHat]

The joke is predicated on this not actually being blackface because he's dressed as a completely fictional race of elves that have literally pitch black skin nothing like IRL black people. So technically they did avoid actually doing blackface... sorta

Sorta because unfortunately unless you're familiar with D&D it ends up just coming off like kinda an excuse to get away with it

[u/LordShittingtonXIV → u/Arimm_The_Amazing]

its such an amazing joke because he's not doing blackface, but people not knowing what a drow is think he is doing blackface and then its also completely insane for this guy to be so invested in a tabletop game he heard about probably the night before and HE DIES IMMEDIATELY so he basically put on that insane makeup for literally like 5 minutes of game time

[u/lanceturley → u/LordShittingtonXIV]

Also the joke that he put in all that effort on the makeup and the hair, but didn't want to wear armor or any kind of fantasy clothing. Because he's a drow, not a nerd.

[u/Old_Dependent_2147 → u/DifficultHat]

Yeah. People must stop thinking this way, just painting your face plain black (like for some
Fantasy race cosplay) is not blackface.