African American People in the American Society - Essay Example

19th century’s entertainment has been a source of various controversies and debates concerning values and morals in the society. During this period, artists have realized the power of motion pictures to sway opinions and communicate a message to people. During leisure time, many people would attend minstrel shows, travelling circuses, and dime museums for entertainment. Although these entertainments and others such as movies were successful in generating public demand, problems of immorality were observed in them. Various social models such as Christian one advocated for cautionary approach to judging these entertainments as regards the extent of their morally offensive contents (Mowatt 48). Travelling circus focused much on people with higher status in the American society. It involved selling and buying of wild animals, which only the rich could afford. It gave room for the bourgeoisie who oppressed and mistreated the poor in the society. Differences in social class in the society led to conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. In addition, circus has also raised moral controversies based on animal right perspectives. This is because it is not ethical to get animals from their natural environments and change their behaviors to entertain the audience (Mowatt 67). On the other hand, minstrel shows despised African American people in the American society. Actors in minstrel shows disguised themselves by wearing black masks to show how black people were mistreated by their white masters. This depicted the social status differences between blacks and the whites. This has raised controversies concerning moral lessons that were given to the audience on racial differences. This is because, according to moral issues activists, minstrel shows contributed to the existence of slavery in United States. In addition, during the shows, women were considered as a part of the nature and thus their bodies were put on display for the audience. This behavior has raised moral controversies, because it was more of a pornographic show (Lewis 65). Question 7 In the 19th century, Americans were attracted to travelling circuses, because they entailed zoos with collection of various wild animals. During this period, circuses achieved high popularity in America, because they encouraged oversea wild animals trading. In addition, circuses attracted considerable interest in the country as they allowed a lot of people to access and see wild animals. Circuses allowed travelling menageries to travel and tour various fair grounds in the country. A lot of people also attended the travelling circuses to see the tricks performed by the animals and their tamers. Everybody was impressed by their performances on the wagon parking. One of the famous American performers who had amazing tricks with the lion was the Isaac Van Amburgh. He was the first actor to insert his head in a lion’s mouth, and this greatly impressed his audience (Lewis 125). Question 8 Barnum’s American Museum gained international success, because it maintained the goodwill of the customers. The museum was under the management of P.T. Barnum who was a key entrepreneur in the United States. He had a great passion for his customers and treated them diligently. He also had a great influence over the people attending the show. This was by assuring everybody that his shows were suitable for everyone in the society. In addition, he also believed in skyrocketing to capture the attention of the audience. He, therefore, used an elephant which went around the museum, capturing the attention of the people. It was also located beside a railway line, attracting everyone travelling by train (Lewis 243). The museum also gained popularity, because P.T. Barnum gave people the entertainment worth their money. He worked hard by travelling around the world in search of performers and products that would be appealing to everyone. Due to this, many people in America were curious and gave attention to what Barnum would bring to the show. The great satisfaction people received allowed them to attend the shows in Barnum’s American Museum frequently (Lewis 285). Question 9 Audiences in the 19th century were entertained by people who seemed to be different from the majority. This is why people were much impressed by minstrel shows, travelling circuses, and dime museums. Many people liked minstrelsy as the first type of American music. They were impressed by the comic presentation of dances and singing from lame, black men. 19th century audiences are, therefore, different from the present-day audiences, because they liked ethnic and racial stereotypes and even laughed at people with physical disabilities. This is contrary to today’s audiences that are less likely to despise physically disabled people and create racial ethnic diversity. In addition, the 19th century audience took cultural and social problems less seriously as compared to today’s audience (Mowatt 97). Majority of people were also impressed and excited by travelling circus entertainment. This is because they were able to see acrobatic feats, wonderful exotic animals, and hilarious clowns. Watching wild animals performing with their tamers on the stage, they were impressed. This was entertaining to them despite many accidents that occurred to the audience. Though many of them were killed by those animals, people still went on attending the shows. According to 19th century audience, circuses would not be fun and entertaining without wild animals. This is in contrary to the current audience that has more understanding that wild animals are not necessary needed to attract the crowd. Today, people are more cautious of the dangers associated with wild animals, so they choose other forms of entertainment such as flying circuses (Lewis 341). The audience was also entertained by the dime museums where it could see the display of human bodies and other historic paintings. In addition, the audience was impressed by monster creatures that were found in the dime museums. This shows that the 19th century audience was curious to see extraordinary creatures such as a pig with three heads. This is different from today’s audience that is not so willing to see non-existing creatures (Lewis 365). Works Cited Lewis, Robert M. From Traveling Show to Vaudeville: Theatrical Spectacle in America, 1830-1910. New York: JHU Press, 2007. Print. Mowatt, Anna Cora. Fashion. London: Dodo Press, 2008. Print. Read More