{"id":4175,"date":"2019-10-03T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T14:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=4175"},"modified":"2020-11-01T15:02:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T21:02:50","slug":"key-peele-as-a-contemporary-minstrel-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2019\/10\/03\/key-peele-as-a-contemporary-minstrel-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Key &amp; Peele as a Contemporary Minstrel Show"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Minstrel shows are characterized by stereotypes of black people imparted by white people, often with over-the-top comedy depicting caricatures of black life in America during the plantation era. <strong>So what does it mean when contemporary black performers employ these same created identities in their own work?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Comedy Central pair, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele became household names in 2012, with \u201cEast\/West College Bowl\u201d and \u201cSubstitute Teacher,\u201d which now have a combined 228 million views on youtube.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gODZzSOelss?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cEast\/West College Bowl\u201d is a sketch which is comprised nearly entirely of black characters introducing themselves, stating their names and from which colleges they hail. The joke is simple: each of the athletes has an increasingly \u201cfunny\u201d and ridiculous name. This joke is not one that is original to this skit, however. The notion that black people have names that are difficult\/impossible to pronounce is one that has been perpetuated for years. The humor in this skit can also be traced back to minstrelsy. A distinguishing characteristic of minstrel characters was a lack of education: mispronouncing words, the perceived inability to form complete sentences, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Dd7FixvoKBw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cSubstitute Teacher\u201d challenges this idea of the uneducated black man trope found in minstrelsy, but not in the way one might assume. In this sketch, Key plays a teacher in a room full of white students. The bit here is similar to that of East\/West, but different in one very important way. Instead of having the \u201cdifficult to pronounce\u201d names being the black peoples\u2019 names, this time it is the black teacher mispronouncing the white students\u2019 names. In some ways, this is attempting to break the stereotype that it is black people who have difficult-to-pronounce names, but at the same time it plays into this stereotype of the uneducated black man &#8211; a common character in traditional minstrel shows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The idea that Key and Peele could be considered a contemporary minstrel show is particularly disturbing because they <em>are<\/em> two educated black men. According to this Smithsonian article by the National Museum of African American History and Culture,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cpoor and working-class whites who felt \u2018squeezed politically, economically, and socially\u2026 invented minstrelsy.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This continued codifying of blackness furthers some of these harmful stereotypes. At the same time, their commercial success as black comics breaks them down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I found similar contradiction in the articles I found on the African American Newspaper database. I focused on three reviews of local minstrel shows, from the late 1880s and early 1890s. The reviews are mixed, with the Weekly Pelican describing the performance as \u201ca complete success without,\u201d while the Cleveland Gazette calls a similar show a \u201ccomplete failure and a disgrace to themselves as well as others.\u201d In another review, this time of a show with actual black performers and not white people in blackface, the author says, \u201cit is a pity that the coloured people cannot find something better in which to employ their talents\u2026 it would go a long way toward ridding us of the nuisance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.40-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4177\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.40-AM-300x134.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.40-AM-300x134.png 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.40-AM-150x67.png 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.40-AM-768x343.png 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.40-AM-500x223.png 500w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.40-AM.png 904w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.58.08-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4178\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.58.08-AM-300x116.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"116\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.58.08-AM-300x116.png 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.58.08-AM-150x58.png 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.58.08-AM-768x296.png 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.58.08-AM-500x193.png 500w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.58.08-AM.png 898w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-4176\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM-300x206.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM-300x206.png 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM-150x103.png 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM-768x527.png 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM-1024x703.png 1024w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM-437x300.png 437w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2019\/10\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-03-at-8.57.24-AM.png 1226w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These quotes reflect some of the same sentiments of Key and Peele\u2019s viewers today. These concerns are a part of the reason that Key and Peele no longer have a Comedy Central show, but the permanent nature of digital content and the continued views speak for themselves; audiences still connect with these deep-rooted, harmful stereotypes &#8211; and they make money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minstrel shows are characterized by stereotypes of black people imparted by white people, often with over-the-top comedy depicting caricatures of black life in America during the plantation era. So what does it mean when contemporary black performers employ these same &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2019\/10\/03\/key-peele-as-a-contemporary-minstrel-show\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2631,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-15l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5043,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4175\/revisions\/5043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}