Where Do We Draw The Line?

Where do we draw the line?

Was it acceptable for Yul Brynner, an actor of Russian descent, to play the role of the King of Siam?

Was it acceptable for Elizabeth Taylor to play Cleopatra?

Was it acceptable for Charlotte Heston, who was not Jewish, to play Moses and Judah Ben-Hur?

Is it acceptable for a British actor to play the role of Hamlet, a Danish prince?

Is it acceptable for English actors to portray Italian lovers Romeo and Juliet, or Julius Caesar?

Is it acceptable for any European actor to play Jesus of Nazareth?

Who gets to decide what is and isn’t acceptable? Is this something that can be determined rationally, or is it based on the whims of society at the time? In Shakespeare’s England, women were not permitted on stage. Female roles were played by young or effeminate men. Would that be acceptable today?

I understand that some cross-racial portrayals are clearly offensive. ‘Charlie Chan’ movies starring English and American actors in the title role were awkwardly stereotypical. Far and away, the most offensive performance that I have ever seen is Jerry Lewis’s horrifyingly insensitive Asian caricature in ‘The Nutty Professor’. Lewis should have been banned from the movie industry after that disaster. That said, when Eddie Murphy reprised the Nutty Professor role, he did it in a fat suit. Was his pretend obesity offensive to people who have trouble losing weight?

Make Believe

There idea of dressing up to pretend that we are someone other than who we are is not unusual, nor is it scandalous. Actors spend their lives pretending to be someone other than who they really are, an athlete, a criminal, a billionaire, a historical figure, a superhero, a computer genius. 

Those of us who aren’t actors have fewer opportunities to pretend that we are someone else, but opportunities do occur: Halloween, Madrid Gras, carnival-themed holidays, parades, costume parties, even sporting events. (Any Raiders fans out there?)

I don’t recall there ever being standards about what types of costumes were appropriate and what would be deemed offensive. As long as it’s even moderately tasteful, people do pretty much what they want to do. In fact, the more creative and outlandish the costume, the more attention it will receive. 

Standards have a way of going over a slippery slope of oppression and control. Do we want parents to discourage their daughters from dressing up as doctors and encouraging them to dress as nurses instead? That would be tragic.

Blackface 

You saw that coming, didn’t you? Dressing in blackface has become one of the most unforgivable sins in our politically correctness society. Political careers are hanging by a thread because of blackface costumes that were worn decades ago. 

I understand the sensitivity. The United States has deep, unresolved wounds from a history of racially-based suppression, a history that continues in the present day. There is still discrimination against people of color in the United States. It’s not always legal, but it happens. Police brutality, voter suppression, and legal jeopardy disproportionately impact communities of color. Despite increased awareness, there’s no relief in sight for these intractable problems.

On the other hand, while dressing up in an insensitive costume shows poor taste and a lack of judgment, it’s far from the worst behavior that a human being can demonstrate. It’s not a physical assault. It’s not sexual harassment. It’s not false accusation. It doesn’t put others in danger or take away anyone’s rights. The only person who is likely to be harmed by an offensive costume is the individual who decided to wear it; their reputation is likely to sustain serious damage.

Dressing in blackface in this day and age, and even in the past, shows insensitivity and poor judgment, but I don’t believe that it should end someone’s career. 

And if dressing up like Michael Jackson is deemed offensive, then wouldn’t Elvis impersonations also be offensive? I see at least one person in a Michael Jackson costume every Halloween; I never cared about the race of the person wearing the costume. People dress as MJ as an expression of admiration, not racial intolerance.

I think that we as a society need to worry less about a costume that someone wore to a party decades ago and start focusing our energies on resolving the serious issues that we face as a nation and a planet.