Back in 2000, filmmaker Spike Lee wrote and directed a satirical film, called Bamboozled, about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the fall-out from the show’s surprising success. I thought it was one of his best films for it tackled serious subject matter using wit, humor and expertly utilized this tragic and painful episode of race relations in American history as its backdrop.
I’d like to think the members of Rats & Star (and Momoiro Clover Z), a Japan-based minstrel act, who believe they are paying homage to American black folks by performing in this way, have not seen this film or done any research on the history of the way they’ve chosen to entertain exclusively Japanese audiences for decades.
The irony being this is Black History Month in the US. I don’t know if it’s right to mandate the entire country learn about it, but I think it’s safe to say these guys could have at least made use of the cliff notes. (Assuming they haven’t and this isn’t just a blatant eff you and your history. We just like the music and the money we make mocking your past…smh)
Here’s an excerpt from my latest column for The Japan Times on this issue and the group’s upcoming nationally televised minstrel show:
If you find yourself, as some of my fellow expats have, being stopped by cops an inordinate amount of times on your bike, or just walking down the street? Before you sprint to the default reason of supposed oversensitive Americans, take a deep breath, man up and tell yourself, sell to yourself, that it’s just as likely — hell, more likely — that the cops are being extra-vigilant because there have been a string of bike robberies by illegal aliens, and, like it or not, you kinda sorta fit that description. (Of course, you fit the description of a legal alien too, but that’s beside the point. Sell it. Buy it.)
And when a former adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe goes on record extolling the system of apartheid, whereby blacks, whites and Asians are forced to live separately, instead of calling her a racist, you can appreciate her words for their honesty and forthrightness. You can even admire her a bit for having the audacity to say what you’re pretty sure many of the people you encounter here would endorse if they had half her courage.
And when you turn on the television one night soon and see a J-pop group called Rats & Star — who’ve clearly raided Little Richard’s (or maybe Flavor Flav’s) wardrobe — singing doo-wop songs in shoddy English with their faces painted black as tar, just do yourself a favor and stop! Don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t drop any R-bombs!
Just consider the possibilities first…
For the rest of this Japan Times article, CLICK HERE
Long time readers of LIY might recall I blogged about minstrel acts several years back
Here’s a link to that post, if you’re interested:
Ignorance is Indeed Bliss, and Sometimes Profitable
Best,
Loco