Minstrelsy in Sports

I'm rather ashamed that I hadn't noticed the references to minstrelsy in relation to Basketball in White Boy Shuffle. They're really quite obvious, particularly the costume Gunnar wears to his last game. That one I caught, but the extent of my thoughts on the passage were something like "Hm. White on his mouth. Black-face, maybe?" I'll try to be more thoughtful when I read from now on, because the book is surprisingly deep. On the surface it seems comedic and plot based, but it's often really thoughtful. I guess good comedy often is.
I think there are several components to Beatty's commentary on the world of sports, not all of which are related to race. An important part of the troublesome dynamic takes place even in Hillside, in the absence of white culture. Mostly what the book's getting at, I think, is the dehumanizing aspect of fame in general, but there seems to be something particularly bad about gaining fame for something like athletics (which Gunnar hasn't even put a lot of effort into).
This is hinted at even before basketball becomes Gunnar's claim to fame. he makes an interesting comment in response to Coach Shimimoto's complaints about being called "Coach". "Coach, if you want to be an authority figure, you've got to live with the dehumanizing consequences," Gunnar tells him. In a sense, Shimimoto's position is very different from Gunnar's, but in that it is a position that people look up to, and therefore defines you and overshadows your humanity, they're somewhat analogous. Taking a job in the limelight thrusts an image onto you, whether you like it or not, to the extent that even your wife will be addressing you by your occupational title.
At this point in the story, Gunnar doesn't really seem to sympathize with Shimimoto, but perhaps if he were to look back on his coach's complaints after his experience at high school, he would understand. While at first his status as a basketball god seems to be his way into the culture he's been trying to assimilate with, it quickly develops into an issue for Gunnar. He doesn't actually seem to make any friends through basketball, because he's not really one of their peers anymore, he's something more: a prize to the girls, a legend to the guys.
Another issue with the sports system is made particularly obvious at basketball camp. Here, the dynamic between the coaches/officials and the players is criticized. The players are seen as game-winning machines, their health and skills studiously measured. Race comes into play more here, as we witness mostly black teens being thoroughly controlled by white men. This certainly calls to mind images of slavery, but here I'm trying to talk about minstrelsy, so how does that come into play? Well, it's more obvious in later sections of the book, because at camp they lack an audience, but the concept of young black men performing for the sake of at least partly white groups, playing into stereotypes built around their skills (singing and dancing/basketball), and being defined solely by these stereotypes is familiar.
Of course, the dynamic is most obvious when Gunnar becomes a young black guy who is the star player for an all white audience. So obvious, in fact, that he points it out himself in his minstrel costume (the big painted on lips and gloves, undignified posture, etc.) at his last game. Nobody seems to understand. They all obliviously cheer his goofiness on. It's a little painful to read, but it makes Gunnar's point beautifully.
Basketball gives him an interesting power over his audience's emotions, as he notices while making a free throw for Hillside, which I imagine goes along (to some extent) with any sort of performance. So, maybe even minstrelsy. But this comes at a price: dehumanization and stereotyping. The kids at the rich school are excited to play with him because he's a back basketball player, a manifestation of a vague stereotype, not because they're legitimately interested in Gunnar as a person.
Sports in general are kind of a weird thing. The players may enjoy the game, but there's so much stress and pressure associated with athletics, it's hard to imagine they really enjoy playing competitively all that much. Really, the sports are for the spectators. So, the life of a star athlete may seem glamorous, but they become very much defined by their entertainment value.

White Boy Shuffle has been interesting for me to read because, despite the occasional (and I'm sure intentional) departures from realism for the sake of advancing a point, it's a pretty realistic book about growing up in modern America. It's about something I've experienced, so can relate to in a way I couldn't with the other books we've read. The issue for me is, while often I can relate to Gunnar's awkwardness and the stresses of moving and what not, objectively, the characters that are most similar to me are the obnoxious, privileged white kids. I too had a second grade class with like one black kid, but I wasn't that kid. I was the white girl who ate up, without question, the teacher's doctrine about colorblindness, and scorned those who answered questions wrong (there really wasn't much sarcasm or snark in second grade, but I probably wouldn't have appreciated that either).

The scene that got to me the most was the Shakespeare competition. The students from Gunnar's school are very familiar with the material and end up failing because of the pressure put on them by the perfect, advantaged white performances, with full costumes and everything. I have been those advantaged white kids. It made me feel somewhat icky then, but even ickier now, after reading that passage. On top of that, Gunnar portrayed the liberal white encouragement and pity as extremely patronizing so I feel icky for having felt icky. 

The analogies to the Shakespeare competition ring unfortunately true with my experience at Science Olympiad last year. We didn't have a coach or any funding or even enough people on our team so we kinda fancied ourselves the underdogs. We didn't even try very hard. One of the machines was made with a paperclip and some string literally 5 minutes before it was due. Iulianna and I were assigned to an event two days before the competition so we said our non-existent machine "had some complications" so that we could take the written test we hadn't studied for and get a couple points (don't tell the Science Olympiad people). And (though we didn't win those two events) our team still won overall by a healthy margin. And I thought, "Wow. That seems unfair. Those other teams tried harder." The idea that maybe the pressure put on other schools by our nerdiness could have played a part in our victory makes it even worse.
Although, it was kind of turned around on us at state, seeing all those other teams from out of town, trailing posies of supporters and wearing particularly expensive looking t-shirts. At least we were able to use their superior means as an excuse for not winning, which I suppose Gunnar sort of did too. It's a shame that the expectations of the other teams and the judges become self fulfilling prophesies, but that doesn't exactly mean they're at fault. Though they ideally shouldn't have to, Gunnar's team could have fought through the anxiety. And, actually I don't think that Beatty is exactly blaming anyone in this passage (well, maybe the judges). I mean, what could they have done? Inequality like this is bad, and as individuals who are part of the system we are somewhat at fault, but it's not clear what we (as privileged competitors) can actually do to fix the problem.

Mintsrel stuff

First, I would just like to mention that we learned the other day in History that Sambo was a derogatory term used for slaves that accepted their position and respected the plantation owners and what not, and immediately I though of Invisible Man. The name really enforces the submissive aspect of the caricature that the dolls embody (this caricature being the whole minstrel thing that we've been talking about). It removes every shred of a doubt that the doll could be dancing because its happy (for its own sake) and not for the sake of amused white onlookers. By the doll I mean the characters, of course: the characters that follow the minstrel tradition. My thoughts in this post are very disorganized, I apologize.
So, speaking of minstrels, let's get into that a bit. This was something I was not aware of till this class, but has come up in the discussion of three out of four books so far, so I take it it's a pretty big deal. Invisible Man touches on it relatively briefly because it goes over so much. The Sambo/coin bank bits are pretty much the extent of it I think, but it's obviously that minstrelsy is an important grievance that helps the narrator realize his anger toward racial injustices.
In their Eyes Were Watching God it's not explicitly mentioned, but one of the most substantive criticisms (in my opinion) of the book was that it promotes minstrelsy. I think that Hurston can't really be blamed for including some comedy in her book and the one dimensional characters are justified by the extent to which she explores Janie's character, but I would understand if someone were a bit offended by some of the characters given this country's history with minstrelsy.
Lets see, uh, White Boy Shuffle. Right. All of Gunnar's ancestors seem to be minstrels in a way. They all humiliate themselves to fit into white society. The one guy who ran away to slavery is a perfect example of a Sambo. Even Gunnar himself seems to fall into it a bit at the beginning, accepting his position as cool funny black guy. I suspect he will grow out of this, though. Also, his humor is less at his own expense and more at others', so it's not quite the same.
^^ This was written before I saw the movie. Now I have a little more to say. First of all, "Sambo" is not just a term used to describe subservient slaves. Later, it became the name of a prominent character and stereotype that evolved from Jim Crow: a goofy, raggedy, dancing slave man. Irresponsibility, child-like simplicity of emotion, and a happiness to serve all make this character very unsettling to modern audiences. However, the character spread through American culture quickly in the 18 and 19 hundreds, just the way that the laughing white crowds eat it up on the streets of New York in Invisible Man, giving no thought to the absurdity of the character.
On the topic of defense of Hurston, the movie wrapped up with a man explaining that the stereotype characters were not inherently bad, and that it was the lack of serious and complex African American characters that was really troubling. I think this fits in very nicely with my opinion of minstrelsy in Their Eyes Were Watching God: not all the characters are like that so it's alright. One could say, "but they're still two dimensional characters" but no one could ever be expected to flesh out every single character in a novel completely. Some characters exist to make a point or move the plot along or for comic relief and that's okay. In fact, it's more than okay, it's necessary.
I have decided that Gunnar isn't a minstrel at all. He really doesn't conform to any of the stereotypes that go along with Sambo or the Pickenineys (however you spell that). He's not violent or impulsive, his humor isn't self-deprecating (Though he says it is, all the examples he gives us have a sort of satirical sarcasm that almost attacks whoever he's speaking with. Rather than making him look simple and happy, it makes him look thoughtful and dark behind a fun exterior. Whether people see this or not is another question.)
More than anything though, the movie confused me about what think about racism. Through this whole class I've had to rethink it a lot (which is great), and after that whirl wind of ambiguity and complexity, I really just need time to gather my thoughts.