Before this assignment, I had never actually listened to a recording of an Amos ‘n Andy radio show. The stereotypical portrayal of Black Americans in the overwhelmingly racist media of the time became immediately apparent. It is fairly obvious that Amos and Andy are White Americans pretending to be Black Americans as the characters reflect the stereotype of a Black American during the time and not who an actual Black American is.
The characters of Amos and Andy reflect the stereotype of Black Americans being less intelligent than White Americans. In the show I listened to, the characters introduce each other as being “incompetent.” They are able to fool each other very easily over insignificant matters. When they are discussing splitting money with each other, they have no idea how to perform any simple math operations and come up with random numbers. During one part of the show, they are reading a map and trying to figure out how to get to Alaska, but they continuously confuse roads with rivers and vice versa. The stereotypical “Black American vernacular” is a main focus in the show, attempting to reinforce the unintelligent Black American stereotype.
The White American actors in the show attempt to capture the Black American vernacular heard in the stereotypical media of the time. They attempt to do this by purposely using bad grammar and by mispronouncing and chopping words. There is never a “g” at the end of verbs ending in “ing.” For example, loafing becomes loafin’. Other words and phrases such as “nuttin’ here,” “lumosine,” and “overwhel-med” are consistently used to enhance the comical aspect of the stereotype for the audience. Aside from the stereotypical language, the show also makes fun of the physical attributes of Black Americans.
The show I listened to was about the possibility of one of the main characters going to live in Alaska. The reason they are unsure of going, however, is the fact that their “skin is allergic to cold weather.” It clearly points out the different skin color of Black Americans and how it is supposedly a negative characteristic. During one scene of the show, a character is introduced as the “big head and big nose of business.” Once again, the show makes notice of a stereotype, that all Blacks have big heads and/or big noses. After making fun of Black Americans’ physical attributes, the show goes on to reflect the “typical” life of a Black American.
Throughout the show, there are constant remarks about Black Americans being “lazy” and “no good.” At one point in the show, a character is asked how he managed to live in a certain situation. He responds that he lived off of his “unemployment insurance.” Again, the show plays off of a stereotype of Black Americans.
The last stereotype of Black Americans I noticed while listening to the show was the first stereotype that wasn’t completely negative. It was the stereotype that Black Americans are talented entertainers and singers, as the characters randomly break into song during the show. Despite this somewhat positive stereotype, the negative stereotypes of Black Americans are overwhelming in the Amos ‘n Andy radio show.
Although I find the use of stereotypes in the Amos ‘n Andy show to be racist, I do not think that I can say I am the least bit surprised. The show I listened to was originally played on the radio in 1947, long before the Civil Rights Movement. At that time in American History, racism towards Black Americans was a mainstay in popular culture and popular media. The racism signified by the stereotypical portrayals of the Black American characters is clearly used throughout the show as the main comical theme. A joke about a stereotypical attribute of a Black American will be made, and then the characters will pause for audience laughter before continuing on with the scene. The producers of the show do not appear to be hiding the racism at all, but rather they are basing the show completely on racist stereotypes. If the Black American characters in the show were actually played by Black American actors, then I think that the racism would not be as strong.
If this show was being ran in today’s media, then I think there would be much more criticism of the racist aspects of the show. While there are shows in today’s culture that use racial stereotypes as comedy, these shows are typically Black Americans making fun of Black Americans, people poking fun at their own race. At any point in the history of America, I think that the idea of people poking fun at their own race would be more easily accepted than the idea of people making fun of a different race.
