Editing Blackface (section)

=== Russia ===
Soviet Russian writers and illustrators sometimes inadvertently perpetuated stereotypes about other nations that are now viewed as harmful. For example, a Soviet children's book or cartoon might innocently contain a representation of black people that would be perceived as unquestionably offensive by the modern-day western standards, such as bright red lips and other exaggerated features, similar to the portrayal of blacks in American minstrel shows. Soviet artists "did not quite understand the harm of representing black people in this way, and continued to employ this method, even in creative productions aimed specifically at critiquing American race relations".<ref name="redrussia">{{cite news|first=Jennifer|last=Wilson|date=August 31, 2017|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-08-31/how-red-russia-broke-new-ground-portrayal-black-americans|title=How red Russia broke new ground in the portrayal of black Americans|newspaper=The World from PRX |publisher=PRI}}</ref>

In 1910, the ballet ''[[Scheherazade (Rimsky-Korsakov)|Sheherazade]]'', choreographed by [[Michel Fokine|Michael Fokine]], premiered in Russia. The story behind the ballet was inspired by a tone poem written by [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov|Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov]]. In the ballet the leading female character, Zobeide, is seduced by a Golden Slave. The dancer who portrayed the Golden Slave, the first being [[Vaslav Nijinsky]], would have his face and body painted brown for the performance. This was done to show the audience the slave was of a darker complexion. Later in 1912, Fokine choreographed the ballet ''[[Petrushka (ballet)|Petrushka]]'', which centers around three puppets that come to life, Petrushka, the Ballerina, and the Moor. When the ballet premiered, the part of the Moor, first danced by Alexander Orlov, was performed in full blackface. The Moor puppet is first seen onstage playing with a [[coconut]], which he attempts to open with his [[scimitar]]. His movements are apelike. The Moor seduces the Ballerina and later savagely cuts off the head of the puppet Petrushka. When ''Petrushka'' is performed today, the part of the Moor is still done in full blackface, or occasionally blueface. The blackface has not been publicly criticized in the ballet community. Black and brownface appear in other ballets today, such as ''[[La Bayadère]]'' and ''[[Othello]]'', in the United States and Europe.<ref>Au, Susan. ''Ballet and Modern Dance'', 2nd edn. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print.{{page needed|date=October 2023}}</ref>

The early Soviet political cartoon ''[[Black and White (1932 film)|Black and White]]'', created in 1932, managed to avoid the blackface style, confronting "precisely that paternalistic model of the ever-passive black subject awaiting enlightenment from the Comintern".<ref name="blackandwhite">{{cite web|first=Christina|last=Kiaer|date=October 31, 2017|url=https://www.aaihs.org/anti-racism-in-early-soviet-visual-culture/|title=Anti-racism in Early Soviet Visual Culture|publisher=Black Perspectives}}</ref> The cartoon integrated "an avant-garde-influenced visual aesthetic with images derived from the many newspaper illustrations, cartoons, and posters of American racism that appeared in Soviet Russia at this time".<ref name="blackandwhite" />

Soviet theater and movie directors rarely had access to black actors, and so resorted to using black makeup when dictated by the character's descent. Soviet actors portrayed black people mostly by darkening the skin and occasionally adjusting the hair style, without accentuating or exaggerating their facial features. In particular, [[Vladimir Vysotsky]] performed the role of [[Abram Petrovich Gannibal]], an 18th-century Russian general of African origin, in the 1976 Soviet film ''[[How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor]]'', while [[Larisa Dolina]] performed the role of Cuban singer Clementine Fernandez in the 1983 film ''[[We Are from Jazz]]''. The [[Othello (1956 film)|1956 Soviet film adaptation]] of [[Othello]] received the Best Director Award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.

On November 30, 2020, in a segment of the Russian TV show "International Sawmill", Russian television presenter [[Tigran Keosayan]] interviewed an actress in blackface posing as former United States President [[Barack Obama]]. In the segment, Keosayan, referring to Obama's book ''[[A Promised Land]]'', asks the actress: "Do you consider this book your achievement?", to which the actress in blackface replies: "Of course." Keosayan then asks: "Because none of your relatives have written books?", after which the actress answers: "Because none of my relatives that came before me could write." Keosayan then states "you should have become a rap musician, not the president". The segment was widely deemed racist.<ref>{{cite web|date=November 30, 2020|title=Obama Blackface Skit on Kremlin-Funded TV Sparks Outrage|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/30/obama-blackface-skit-on-kremlin-funded-tv-sparks-outrage-a72176|website=The Moscow Times|access-date=August 6, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Haroun|first1=Azmi|date=December 1, 2020|title=Russian state TV broadcaster features racist segment of an actress in blackface doing a portrayal of Obama|newspaper=[[Business Insider]]|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-tv-station-broadcasts-actress-in-blackface-impersonating-obama-2020-11?international=true&r=US&IR=T|url-access=|access-date=August 6, 2022}}</ref>