The black body has a relatively long history and there have always been certain approaches and meanings assigned to this particular body in dramatic writings as in the cases of The Tropical Breeze Hotel, That Old Black Magia and Pantomime, which are all postcolonial plays written in different times and places around the world, reaching beyond national borders. It's a significant issue because the black body is where race and gender meet; that is why, in these plays, we can see how the black female and male body are addressed in terms of racial and gender identity. Therefore, we can question the existence of racialization and sexualization of Black female and male bodies in the postcolonial period with the help of these dramatic writings. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The Tropical Breeze Hotel, written in 1988 in the Caribbean by Maryse Condé, tells the story of a failed romance between an elderly former naked dancer from Guadeloupe called Emma and a Haitian revolutionary Ishmael to whom Emma opens her home in Paris in 1986. In their claustrophobic environment, these two people from different places and with different mentalities about the world meet. As Emily Sahakian states in her article, Condé rejects "essentialist notions of black femininity" and "dramatizes the shared experiences of Caribbean women in the wake of slavery, with its sexualized system of subjugation" in her play (386). Therefore, we see that Emma is oppressed by the roles of Caribbean women defined under slavery even as she is “distanced from social expectations for women in Guadeloupe” (Sahakian 397). To show this rejection and this distance from expectations, Condé highlights what is rejected: the established racial and sexual stereotypes of the black female body. As an example of these expectations, her father's disapproval of her career as a nude dancer is in order. The reason for this objection is due to the ingrained understanding of black women in the black mentality: being a black dancer means entertaining white people using one's body and when a black woman dances for white people as entertainment, "kicking white people's ass", as Emma's people would call her, they enter into a close relationship with them (Condé 123). This situation can result in collaboration with whites, which is feared by blacks because it is possible that they will betray blacks. According to Sahakian, this accusation “– that enslaved women chose white men and cheated on black men – is commonplace, if often unspoken, in the French Caribbean” (385). Therefore, we see that Emma is still influenced by these certain stereotypes that emerged during slavery such as the betrayal of black women through their gaining power by using their bodies over white men. Furthermore, he is also under the influence of ideas projected by society onto blacks. female sexuality on her body (Sahakian 398). She acknowledges that “her brain is not the best thing about her” and that she only had a body that she made “work for her” (Condé 127). We see that it repeats the stereotypes used by white people about black women: black women have nothing but their body which is something highly sexualized. Therefore, Emma uses her body to gain a place in society with the help of this stereotype. As Tyler Stovall says in his article “The New Woman and the New Empire,” Emma is not ashamed of her blackness but uses the language of primitivism to earn money and trade in it. However, as a result, it is highly racialized and sexualized. While earning her bread, Emma is racialized andsexualized, presented as a hypersexual woman in a rather primitivist way due to her previous work. The reason lies in the stereotype of the “naked black dancer” who exposes her body to entertain others. During the 19th century, scientist thought that they pathologically demonstrated the sexuality of black females since their sexual organs are much more primitive and developed than those of white females (Gilman 213). As a result, “the uniqueness of black female genitals and buttocks…is considered to be a sign of anomalous female sexuality” which racializes and sexualizes the profession of nude dancing which is reserved primarily for black women (Gilman 218). This explains whites' primitivistic and sexual expectations of black dancers' performance because European audiences wanted to see black women's primitivism as an obstacle to their so-called unique, civilized, and adequate bodies and values, resulting in the creation of an "other" by black females (Gilman 216). For example, they must wear “the banana belt,” which alludes to their so-called simian sexual appetite and sexual primitivism (Condé 119). Even if Emma does not agree to wear this particular belt, to make money she uses the language of primitivism and the advantageous position of whites over blacks. Therefore, in the eyes of blacks and whites, he is reduced to a mere sexual object, exposing his body. However, she does not see herself as a simple body but as a limitless artisan. He worries about his job and his sexuality. Emma says to Ishmael, “Think, here is a woman who was a naked dancer; so she's a whore. She made love to me because she's a whore. But it is not that at all” (Condé 134). It can be inferred that she is tired of this stereotype about the hypersexuality of black women and tries to show Ishmael that being a naked dancer or a black woman who can freely express her sexuality is not related to being a whore. His goal is to master these stereotypes. trying to be “the New Woman” that Stovall talks about in his article: free, courageous, masculine and modern (2-5). In short, Emma is exposed to both white and black prejudices, such as the objectification of black female bodies as mere sexual objects and their possibility of betrayal that developed during slavery. The show suggests that no matter how hard a black nude dancer tries to separate sexuality from femininity and black dance, she is destined to be seen as a mere primitive sexual object due to her repetition of these stereotypes by society and as a woman who can betray her own “people” due to her hypersexuality by the black community even in the post-colonial era. That Old Black Magic, written in 1993 in Ivory Coast by Koffi Kwahulé, imagines the black experience beyond its national borders through American boxing. In the play, filled with male characters, Angie emerges as an ambitious jazz singer who "had a nightclub in Spanish Harlem" (Kwahulé 178). She chooses her art and work by choice like Emma; however, this time Angie is respected on a superficial level by these males. For example, Chuck compliments her “divine voice”: “Angie, honey, you have the most divine voice. You send me to heaven, your voice is magical; it is the secret of life" (200-201). She is treated as if she were a precious gem and an angel-like creature, which is very unlikely in Emma's case as she only receives money from the men she interacts with, without respect. Angie, for example, is also helped with her coat, which is a way for the men in the play to show her proper courtesy (215). Additionally, he officiates at the singing of the national anthem at the start of games, which is especially important becausethe national anthem is “national”. Historically, blacks are not accepted as Americans as they are seen as inferior to white Americans due to their stereotype of blacks being inherently primitive, ape-like, and barbaric as in the case of Emma (Gilman 212). However, we see that at first Angie is not bothered by these stereotypes. She is accepted as "American" and is allowed to sing the national anthem. However, this is just an illusion because in the end, society shows its true face and ideas about darkness. Everything changes in Angie's life when rumors spread about her incestuous relationship with her brother. It is difficult to defeat Shorty because “he is the perfect American hero,” who is “a modest, rather mysterious, very civilized guy” (Kwahulé 236). To overthrow Shorty, McKenzie and Ketchell agree that it is necessary to “sink into the depths of the American psyche, where lie the most morbid impulses, the hidden original sins that have shaped this country” (236). In doing so, they “prick the great American people, open their eyes so that they can see that behind the healthy and shining hero, lies a Negro who mocks us all” (236). Therefore, their motive is to activate the stereotype that blacks are naturally barbaric, sexually primitive and abnormal. As Gilman states in his article titled “Black Bodies, White Bodies,” “in the eighteenth century, black sexuality, both female and male, becomes an icon of deviant sexuality in general” (209). With this iconography, McKenzie and Ketchell present Shorty and Angie as brutal and sexually abnormal figures that dehumanize them. In conclusion, this incest relationship will put an end to Shorty's title as an American hero and Angie as an American jazz singer because according to society's mentality, this barbaric practice has nothing to do with being American as they see themselves as superior and more civilized compared to blacks. After word spreads, “the boxing commission decides that Angie cannot sing the national anthem before the fight” because she is immediately seen as primitive, barbaric, and un-American (Kwahulé 244). We see that these stereotypes are ready to activate in society at the first act of action that respects the stereotype, no matter how extinct they seem. It's quite interesting how society is ready to accept the accuracy of these rumors. They love Angie one second and hate her the next. They accuse him of "defiling the Star Spangled Banner" because of his so-called primitive sexual appetite that they deem inappropriate for American identity (244). At the end of the show, Angie completely breaks down due to the workplace stereotype of black women, as well as the black community. Shadow implies that she is pregnant with Shorty: “Thy soul was already caught through her sex and sat tight in her womb,” which is probably the thing that causes her to lose herself in the process (262). She hits Shadow with her “blood-stained pants,” showing concrete proof that she is not pregnant at all (262). However, it is useless because once the stereotype is activated, it can hardly be reversed. In short, we see that early on Angie was able to create limited freedom and authority over her body. As Harvey Young defends in his article, “Embodying Black Experience,” the physical experience of the black body becomes a vehicle for achieving a kind of freedom which is something Angie achieves with her voice. However, this freedom is immediately canceled by the will of society; because the white American's point of view towards the black female body, which is mostly formed under the influence of slavery, actually never changes during the postcolonial era and Angie suddenly becomes "Emma"; a black woman defeated by hers“unbridled and primitive sexuality” (Gilman 229). As for Pantomime, it was written in 1980 by Derek Walcott, a mulatto from Saint Lucia. The show takes place in the West Indies in a gazebo on the edge of a cliff. There is a claustrophobic partnership between Englishman Harry Trewe, the owner of the guest house, and Trinidadian Jackson Philip, a retired calypsonian, which is similar to the relationship between Emma and Ishmael (Walcott 132). Harry symbolizes "the master" and Jackson represents "the servant" in their partnership. However, with the play within the play, they reverse this relationship in their enactment between Robinson Crusoe and Friday. Harry then takes the place of Friday, the colonized, and Jackson plays the master, the colonizer. This is particularly interesting because when there is a role reversal, certain types of racial and gender stereotypes are revealed. For example, when Jackson begins to imitate the goat and Crusoe makes "a goatskin hat and an umbrella" out of it, Harry sarcastically praises him for his ability to imitate with a stereotypical innuendo. He tells Jackson, “You're the damn monkey, man. You just came down from the trees” (Walcott 146). This stereotype of blacks as barbaric and primitive creatures dates back to the pre-slavery era, when “whites described people of African descent as primitive and animalistic as part of the process of demonizing and otherizing black men,” which in turn creates another prejudice. tied to black males over their hypersexuality (Richeson 103). Harry is able to bring this whole history of oppression and domination over blacks to one word, “monkey.” We can infer that even in the postcolonial era this image of animal exposed on the black body still exists in society, as in the case of Angie. In another conversation, when Jackson does this exaggerated British accent, Harry retorts again with the same stereotype: “Monkey! Imitate!" (Walcott 147). Here there is another allusion to this particular animal, to its ability to imitate because it is known that monkeys repeat what they see children do. Once again, it can be deduced that through l Jackson's ability to imitate like a “monkey, Harry brings the stereotype to light, which depicts blacks as naturally childish, immature, and unintelligent (Eiselein 53). Therefore, according to Harry's mentality, blacks are incapable of creating anything of original because they “cannot think for themselves,” which leads them to constantly repeat what they see (Walcott 148 However, this is not the problem at all because these stereotypes are the result of colonialism and slavery. he is quite aware of these stereotypes and connects them to the history of colonization and slavery. In his "child/shadow" metaphor, he defends that whites dominated blacks and their minds so much that blacks' way of thinking became one. their shadow (Walcott 137). “Every move you made, your shadow copied,” Jackson explains to Harry. Therefore, the work actually questions the vicious circle. White people are essentially the ones who created those stereotypes about black people which are all related to each other such as their lack of intelligence and originality, their ability to repeat like a monkey, their primitiveness, childish animalization and so on. The vicious cycle begins when whites accuse blacks with the same stereotypes in the postcolonial era because, as Jackson also suggests, this is what really happens when you make blacks your servants for three hundred years (Walcott 137). They cannot form their own originality and way of thinking overnight. In Jackson's words, “things must not be rushed” because “people must slide towards independence” (Walcott 147). Therefore, the show questions the postcolonial attitude.