Book contents
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Whiteness and National Identity
- Chapter 1 The Imperial Sounds of Whiteness
- Chapter 2 Whiteness in Late Nineteenth-Century Literature and Law
- Chapter 3 Poor White People in the Eugenic Imagination
- Chapter 4 White Nationalism
- Chapter 5 Whiteness and the US–Mexico Border
- Chapter 6 How Hollywood Pictures Whiteness
- Chapter 7 Whiteface Minstrels, Stage Europeans, and Twenty-First-Century Television Dramas
- Part II Whiteness in the American Literary Imagination
- Part III Approaches to Whiteness
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 7 - Whiteface Minstrels, Stage Europeans, and Twenty-First-Century Television Dramas
from Part I - Whiteness and National Identity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 June 2025
Edited by
Book contents
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture
- Whiteness and American Literature
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Whiteness and National Identity
- Chapter 1 The Imperial Sounds of Whiteness
- Chapter 2 Whiteness in Late Nineteenth-Century Literature and Law
- Chapter 3 Poor White People in the Eugenic Imagination
- Chapter 4 White Nationalism
- Chapter 5 Whiteness and the US–Mexico Border
- Chapter 6 How Hollywood Pictures Whiteness
- Chapter 7 Whiteface Minstrels, Stage Europeans, and Twenty-First-Century Television Dramas
- Part II Whiteness in the American Literary Imagination
- Part III Approaches to Whiteness
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
This essay examines how television/streaming producer Misha Green and her white collaborators Joe Pokaski, H. P. Lovecraft, and Matt Ruff participate in a centuries-old tradition of “whiting up.” Over two short-lived but impactful scripted drama series, Underground (2016–2017) and Lovecraft Country (2020), Green and her partners crafted compelling twenty-first-century whiteface minstrels and stage Europeans. Their work represented all four modes or functions of “whiting up” – satire/parody, imitation/emulation, exposing white terror, and dissidentification/transference – while also exploring the themes of white privilege and Black agency. However, Green and company not only inhabit this African American performance tradition but push the boundaries of performed whiteness, ultimately questioning its efficacy. In the process, Green and her partners reimagine how Black televisual figures are represented in thriller, superhero, and sci-fi horror genres.
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- Whiteness and American Literature , pp. 103 - 118Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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