That Old-Time Racial Insensitivity…

*Disclaimer: I get that my opinion on the level of racism in Buster Keaton’s films isn’t really helpful or welcome. While I do still think that the racism in Buster’s movies, for the most part, isn’t as egregious as some of the material I’ve seen in other films from that era, that doesn’t particularly matter. “Not as racist as it could have been,” as a designation, serves no point beyond me wanting to feel better about liking Buster’s work in spite of its occasional racist content. This was an unnecessary post, and it’s clear I went easy on Buster because I’m such a fan of his work.*

Today’s Buster Monday post isn’t a subject I’m crazy about, but I’d like to address it.  The golden age of Buster Keaton was the 1920s; admittedly not the worst era of American race relations, but not a good one, either.  A number of Buster’s independent films, both shorts and features, include people of color.  And just how does race figure into his movies?

As with most media of the past, the films are products of their time.  Looking at them from a modern perspective, the most uncomfortable parts are definitely those involving blackface.  At the worst, there’s the servant in Seven Chances, who adds to the film’s central misunderstanding by repeatedly failing to deliver an important message.  I wouldn’t quite call it minstrelsy, but it’s a poor characterization that plays on “lazy Black servant” stereotypes.  There’s also a lot of redface in The Paleface, since many (all?) of its Native American characters are played by white people.  This scenario isn’t as egregious to me; the short’s portrayal of Native Americans is certainly ignorant, and it hinges on a White Savior trope, but the clear antagonists are the unscrupulous white folks trying to steal Native land.  Here, my biggest gripe is the mere fact that white people were cast in the Native American parts, much as I resent whitewashing, colorism, and racial corner-cutting in Hollywood today.

Unfortunately, Buster himself wears blackface a few times.  I think it’s interesting that it’s never actually Buster doing it but his characters.  By that, I mean he doesn’t play characters who aren’t white.  Instead, his white characters, on rare occasions, adopt blackface.  There’s the dream sequence in The Playhouse, in which some of Buster’s many characters are minstrel performers (the most unsavory bit here is the poster advertising the minstrels with a drawing of a monkey playing a banjo – it might have been typical for the time, but it’s gross.)  In College, Ronald poses as a Black man to get a job as a waiter.  Though it’s obviously very sketchy, I’m grateful that Buster’s performance here isn’t mocking.  Including Neighbors is a bit of toss-up, since Buster’s character isn’t technically in blackface.  Instead, he just gets so grimy that the policeman he angers thinks he’s Black, meaning Buster can escape simply by scrubbing his face.  Much like the chief villains in The Paleface are the white businessmen, the chief fool in this bit is the policeman who can’t tell the difference between a Black man and a muddy white man.

As far as actors of color go, there’s not much to impress.  The tired “Black folk are scared of ghosts!” cliché is trotted out a few times.  Also, Black extras are sometimes used as a visual punchline, where they’re first seen from behind and only later found to be Black:  one of the women Jimmie tries to propose to in Seven Chances, or one of the men Bill thinks might be his son in Steamboat Bill, Jr.  In contrast, the best example of Black people in one of Buster’s movies comes in The Navigator, when Rollo sees a pair of newlyweds and decides he’d like to get married, too.  From what I can tell, there’s no added comedy to making the newlyweds Black – they simply are, and it’s a nice moment (too bad Rollo and Betsy are attacked by “cannibal” islanders later in the film.)  Overall, when I look at race in Buster’s films, the impression I get is that his portrayals are uninformed and overly simplistic but not malicious.  The jokes feel more lightly-intentioned than a lot of contemporary entertainment might have and don’t seem to come from a place of perceived superiority or spite.  Though they’re obviously still insensitive and I completely understand that others may very rightly take offense, this lighter tone makes it easier for me to take them as what I think they are – unpleasant products of their time.