Have you ever wondered why Mickey Mouse and cartoon characters wear white gloves?
Part of the reason has always been that hand garments are easier and quicker for animators to draw, especially in the early days before computers were involved in the process.
However Vox’s new video reveals a more disturbing reason, one that takes into account Mickey Mouse’s whole look being based on blackface minstrels.
In the 1929 cartoon, The Opry House, Mickey put on a big Vaudeville show, a form of theatrical variety entertainment which was popular from the 1880s to the 1930s.
The narrator says: “That film and many of the animations that predated it, were inextricably linked to Vaudeville performance and the blackface ministry shows of the time.
“In fact early animators often performed on Vaudeville stages.”
The video continued: “Both the cartoons and the stage characters were portrayed as mischievous and rebellious, yet good-natured.
“They wore lose clothes, had painted faces and they wore white gloves.”
Daily Express :: Entertainment Feed
