{"id":173,"date":"2020-02-21T15:40:45","date_gmt":"2020-02-21T19:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/?p=173"},"modified":"2020-02-24T19:23:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T23:23:17","slug":"a-smart-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/2020\/02\/21\/a-smart-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"A Smart Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

After reading Daphne Brooks\u2019 Bodies in Dissent, I initially couldn\u2019t make the connection between the Irish and the introduction of blackface. However, after our discussion, I not only have a better understanding of that, but a better understanding of Boucicault\u2019s <\/span>The Octoroon<\/span><\/i>. I knew the Irish were integrating into American culture, thus taking advantage of any opportunity that would ease their transition into \u201cwhiteness\u201d, but I didn\u2019t know the full extent of their involvement. Not only was blackface a major success in the U.S, but it transformed the art of theater. And of course this comes shortly after the civil war. After learning about the vast number of Irish participating in the art, I began to question the legitimacy of the hate that was thrown towards them. It was as if the world was too broken up about the fallout of the civil war that they ceased to care about the silly notion of Irish not being \u201cwhite\u201d. Not to say that the success of blackface allowed the Irish to fully immerse themselves within American society without any hostility.\u00a0 But White Americans could definitely appreciate a friend to help them mock the blacks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you ask me, I would say that the Irish chose the perfect time to capitalize on the vulnerability of the country. Whether it was because they genuinely adored the art form, or because they knew they could benefit from it, the Irish managed to ally themselves with the majority of the US. What better time to integrate yourself within American culture when tensions are high and the focus is on this idea of \u201cBlack vs. White\u201d. The timing was almost perfect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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With that being said, now we can begin to question the intent behind Boucicault\u2019s <\/span>The Octoroon. <\/span><\/i>Even with the many controversial aspects of the play, I was impressed with Boucicault\u2019s ability to produce a play that was both entertaining and accurate at the same time. In my opinion, even when certain scenes seemed to be absurd, they only highlighted the contradicting logic behind the concept of slavery etc. However, the big question is, did he write this play for a love of the art or for profit? I think that regardless of his intent, the bulk of the play would have represented the society during that time. But, as we alluded to in class, motive would seem to affect the way we read the play. I think it would affect his choice in language, character synopsis, etc. This idea can be supported in his altering of the play for different countries\/cultures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After reading Daphne Brooks\u2019 Bodies in Dissent, I initially couldn\u2019t make the connection between the Irish and the introduction of blackface. However, after our discussion, I not only have a better understanding of that, but a better understanding of Boucicault\u2019s The Octoroon. I knew the Irish were integrating into American culture, thus taking advantage of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Smart Transition”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blackandgreenatlantic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}