Transgressive Black Masculinities in Contemporary African American Satire
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Laughing at My Manhood: Transgressive Black Masculinities in Contemporary African American Satire Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Brandon James Manning, M.A. Graduate Program in English The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Adélékè Adéẹ̀kọ́, Advisor Ryan Jay Friedman Valerie Lee LaMonda H. Stallings Copyright by Brandon James Manning 2014 Abstract Vulnerability, as a way to characterize the movement between passivity, shame, and optimism, rests at the center of the Post-Civil Rights Era debates around representations of blackness. My dissertation examines the implications of the more subtle emotions of passivity, shame, and optimism in contemporary satirical narratives in African American literature and visual culture and focuses on the use of these emotions to counter racial stereotypes and expand notions of black masculinity. In “Laughing at My Manhood: Transgressive Black Masculinities in African American Satire,” I chronicle satirists such as Paul Beatty, Percival Everett, Dave Chappelle, and Aaron McGruder and their use of racial caricatures like Uncle Tom, the Black Buck, and Sambo by interrogating how they pair these problematic figures with emotional responses that disregard issues of respectability in order to question the mythos of the “Strong Black Man.” I argue that African American satire, as a transgressive form, creates the possibilities for its practitioners to construct alternative configurations of black masculinities that contest dominant masculine ideals. In my first chapter, I read the trope of the Sambo, as the ideal representation in minstrelsy that demonstrates the facade of racial authenticity. In Dave Chappelle’s The Chappelle Show and Percival Everett’s Erasure the trope of the Sambo functions as a figure of what Lauren Berlant calls “cruel optimism.” In so far as texts like Everett’s and ii Chappelle’s pixie sketch demonstrate the problems with the anachronistic reproduction of this minstrel figure, they also make explicit the internalization of historical narratives of blackness and the anxiety that they produce for blacks, and specifically black men at the turn of the millennium. In the second chapter, I compare Eldridge Cleaver’s Black Power Manifesto Soul on Ice and Paul Beatty’s The White Boy Shuffle, arguing that Beatty is able to promote a more masochistic representation of black men’s sexuality opposed to the sadism and promotion of the stereotypical black buck figure in Cleaver’s earlier work. Conversely, Beatty’s protagonist in The White Boy Shuffle does not want to assume the position of race leader that he is being thrusted into by others. The protagonist’s ability to embrace masochism serves as a way to rethink the power dynamic in discourses of sexuality without fear of producing a castration narrative. In the third chapter, I examine the trope of the Uncle Tom in contemporary satire, situating him as an agent of resistance through his ability to embrace shame, as I rethink what resistance means in Derrick Bell’s short story “Space Traders” and Trey Ellis’s short film adaptation of Bell’s work. I argue that both Bell’s short story and Ellis’s adaptation create a sense of empathy with the character that relies on the trope of the Uncle Tom and allows the reader and audience to sympathize with his position. The shift from sympathy to shame demonstrates a shift in resistance and privileges silence and interiority over more oral exterior ways of resistance. My final chapter investigates how The Boondocks, a popular editorial comic strip turned animated television show, becomes regressive around conversations and representations of LBTQA communities. iii Dedication For Johnnjalyn, Isaiah, Jaden, and Zuri iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank Adélékè Adéẹ̀kọ́ whose mentorship has helped mold a constellation of ideas about black masculinity into a coherent body of research. You are indeed the thread to my needle. Your attention to detail and structure provided me clarity when I was lost in my own thoughts. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Ryan Friedman, Valerie Lee, and LaMonda H. Stallings. Your questions, feedback, and support have been invaluable in helping me cultivate the scope and stakes of this project, and without them this project would have been a lesser work. I would like to thank James A. Moore and the Bell Doctoral Fellowship program at Ohio State University for the financial and moral support that they gave me and other students over the years. I would also like to thank Lovalerie King at Pennsylvania State University and her tireless efforts to support African American literature through conferences and summer seminars. It was at the “Celebrating African American Literature” conference where I read my first conference paper on satire, and it was the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute that you crafted that introduced me to LaMonda Stallings and help provide me with an academic community that continues to be edifying. I would also like to thank Donald Pease and the faculty at The Futures of American Studies Institute, and especially Eric Lott, for providing me with an opportunity to hear current scholarship in the field and share my work with a helpful cohort of my peers. I v would also like to thank the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Ohio State University for providing me with much needed travel and research funding early on in this process. Andrea Williams, your support and service to my research and pedagogy has been life altering. Unknowingly, you have served as a model for the kind of scholar I hope to be in this profession. Your professionalism, pedagogy, rigor, and mentorship consistently amaze me and give me new heights to try and reach in my own career. I would also like to thank Theri A. Pickens for being a consistent lifeline in matters of research, pedagogy, and sanity. I would also like to thank Robert Patterson for his support and feedback on this project. In addition, I am forever indebted to Rhaisa Williams, Bradley Freeman, Leila Ben-Nasr, and J. Brendan Shaw all of whom have served as running mates during this process and have been integral in my ability to cultivate a critical perspective. In addition, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to: Tayo Clyburn, Tiffany Anderson, Candice Pipes, Christopher Lewis, Anne Langendorfer, Corinne Martin, Kate Horigan, Julia Istomina, Toni Calbert, James Harris, David B. Green Jr., Tiffany Salter, and Amber Camus who have served as the best academic community a person could ask for. You all have kept me grounded, focused, and happy throughout this process. Lastly, I would like to thank Johnnjalyn Manning whose patience, love, and optimism has served as the lifeblood for this project and all that I do. You have managed to calm the roughest patches and by my first sounding board for all ideas. Your love and support keep me centered, thank you. vi Vita 2007 ....................................... B.A., English and Modern Language, Jackson State University 2010 ....................................... M.A., English Literature, The Ohio State University 2008 to 2014 ......................... Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University 2010 ...................................... Graduate Research Assistant, Valerie Lee, The Ohio State University Publications “‘I Felt Like I Was Part of the Troop:’ Satire, Feminist Narratology, and Community” Post-Soul Satire: Black Identity after Civil Rights. eds. Derek Maus and Jim Donahue. Jackson, MS: UP of Mississippi, 2014.125-36. Print. Fields of Study Major Field: English vii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... v Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures .................................................................................................................... xi Introduction: Postmodern Satire ......................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Cruel Optimism of the Satirical Sambo ................................................... 22 Chapter 2: “Menage a Trois Noir”: Satirizing Black Men’s Sexuality in Paul Beatty’s The White Boy Shuffle .............................................................................................................. 42 Chapter 3: Making Toms of Us All: The Politics of Shamelessness in Post-Civil Rights Era Satire ........................................................................................................................... 73 Chapter 4: Aaron McGruder’s Disgust in Queering the Badman ................................... 106 Conclusion……………………………………….……………………………………..137 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 139 viii List of Figures Figure 1. The Chappelle Show “Stereotype Pixie”. ......................................................... 31 Figure 2. Cosmic Slop: George