Yea, but midgets are usually entertainers because of their stature, right? They’re making a living in a career they’ve been pigeon-holed into, because people find their stature amusing. People laugh at midgets, so midgets oblige them and entertain them. Isn’t it comparable to black folks putting on minstrel shows so whitey can laugh at them funny neeegroes?
[quote]The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the American Civil War, African Americans in blackface. Minstrel shows portrayed and lampooned blacks in stereotypical and often disparaging ways: as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical. . . As African Americans began to score legal and social victories against racism and to successfully assert political power, minstrelsy lost popularity. . .
Most minstrels projected a greatly romanticized and exaggerated image of black life with cheerful, simple slaves always ready to sing and dance and to please their masters. . . The lyrics and dialogue were generally racist, satiric, and largely white in origin. Songs about slaves yearning to return to their masters were plentiful. The message was clear: do not worry about the slaves; they are happy with their lot in life. . .
Popular entertainment perpetuated the racist stereotype of the uneducated, ever-cheerful, and highly musical black well into the 1950s. . .
Meanwhile, African American actors were limited to the same old minstrel-defined roles for years to come and by playing them, made them more believable to white audiences. . .[/quote]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show
Sounds like midgets, no?
I was in Phnom Phen once when I saw a large crowd gathered beside the river and I approached to see what they were watching. It was a boxing match and other entertainment between two midgets and everyone was laughing hilariously to see the crazy antics of those funny little men. I admit, it seemed exploitive and I felt a little guilty laughing.
On the other hand, when Dorothy first lands in Oz and the movie bursts into technacolor and she’s surrounded by the singing and dancing midgets (ding dong the witch is dead, etc), THAT is one of the fantastic moments in movie history and is terrific entertainment. Good songs, good choreography, good talent, I definitely enjoy that scene, and yet that too just seems a little wrong.
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