What do you think of Stepin Fetchit in this film?
Do you think his character is an offensive racial caricature or a comic creation not meant to be representative of black people?
... Justin
Well for one thing Jonah/George Lincoln Washington/David begat Solomon(Stepin Fetchit) is not the only black character in the film. He's the one with most of the speaking lines but in the film the other black characters are shown as much different than him. Like one of them is a solid and tough sailor. I suppose you can say that he is not asked to speak and all but film narrative is not like literary narrative.
The other thing is that Stepin Fetchit's comic performance is quite different from other roles at that time done by black performers in American films. Some of them did play stereotypes as they were asked to do by the producers. But what Fetchit did, especially in the films he made with John Ford(who was a highly complex individual, of singular intelligence) was that he basically made it over-the-top, into a personality as tangible as Chaplin's Tramp. In essence, what he did was that he made white characters take notice of him and the character he played. And this was precisely why people protested and criticized him for sending a negative image and the like. Fetchit essentially emphasized and made audiences aware of how over-the-top that kind of character is.
In that time in American history, racism was institutionalized and yes Hollywood films tended to ignore the issue, disallow black performers from having serious roles in American cinema. This was even moreso after the erection of the Production Code in the early 30's. However even in this circumstances, directors and artists had a choice. They could either not show African Americans in their films(as many did do) or they could show it regardless of how small the role was and how limited it was. With black actors, the choice was either do the job and play the role as the bosses wanted it to be played or with Fetchit, play it with such force and talent and originality that you make it your own. Fetchit was a great comic talent and he often made the absurdity in the film's world apparent.
Old Hollywood was not a perfect world but it was never without it's choices. John Ford is often called a racist because he cast Fetchit in these films(and later when Fetchit was having financial difficulties, he cast him in The Sun Shines Bright at personal insistence) and also with the treatment of minorities in his other films. Practically no other director dealt with it as consistently as Ford did over a stretch of nearly forty years and because of that Ford was seen as a racist.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
I just watched Willy Best in Bob Hope's horror-comedy, The Ghost Breakers, where he is given an unusually large and juicy role. By unusually large, I mean for him and for black actors in general. He does much of what you say of Stepin Fetchit. He takes the stereotype and makes it his own; he doesn't wallow in it.
Performances from black actors in the classic Hollywood age should be enjoyed and appreciated for what they managed to accomplish under unhappy circumstances. The U.S. is just about to have a black President. Are we still expected to cringe and recoil in horror at these old caricatures? Do we still have to wag our fingers at the past? Or can we finally enjoy the performances of enormously talented actors that are, however limited, brilliantly funny or moving or both?
...Justin