Week 7: Controversial Art and Censorship Patrick Multidor HUMN303N-61612 Chamberlain College of Nursing Professor John Isenhour Date: 04/21/2024. P. S. Good afternoon, Professor. Goodbye, Professor. Consider this message as a reminder to remove the penalty for late submission. Thank you for the opportunity! Although the 13th Amendment to the American Constitution abolished slavery and proclaimed freedom for African Americans, they continued to endure discrimination and social injustice. Against this backdrop, Stanley Kramer directed, and William Rose wrote the film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," which premiered on December 11, 1967. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" highlighted society's duplicity concerning racism, pinpointing this social …show more content…
The Oxford dictionary defines racism as "the unfair treatment of people who belong to a different race; violent behavior towards them." The concept of one race being genetically, morphologically, or physiologically superior to another is baseless; blood types are not categorized by race. As an African American, it is deeply troubling to witness, even in the knowledge-rich year of 2024, that some still hold onto the idea of racial superiority. On a daily basis, I encounter racism from some patients directed at my ethnicity and race. Fortunately, the film faced no restrictions from state or federal authorities. However, it encountered severe criticism from racists while receiving enthusiastic praise from audiences and film critics. It's important to note that the film debuted in 1967, just six months before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Up until July 1967, seventeen out of fifty-two states still prohibited interracial marriage, especially between black and white individuals (Harris, 2007). Additionally, the film's release coincided with the enforcement of the Hays Code. The Hays Code, or the Motion Picture Production Code, was a set of guidelines that dictated the content of American films from 1930 to 1968 (Kirshner, 2012). The impact of this film …show more content…
However, as a guarantor of society's morals and vices, the government is responsible for protecting society from hate speech, incitement to violence, and so on. The film captured precisely what was on everyone's mind. It is considered a trailblazer in Hollywood's interracial movement. The movie was a tremendous success, even in southern states where discrimination was more pronounced. Even the message was conveyed, acknowledging that Sidney Poitier's portrayal did not reflect the majority of African Americans who faced educational struggles. The producer presents us with a black man who is, foremost, a doctor—an esteemed, well-educated, and impeccably dressed doctor—not the stereotypical black man from the ghetto selling drugs on the corner and speaking in slang. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner created an ideal environment for us to discuss art. One of the requirements for it to be art is originality, followed by decor, makeup, dialog, and, lastly, outstanding performance by the actors. The viewer must feel empathy and be imprinted in the film.
Racial relations vary across culture and time, even after the decision that deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, it took more time for everyone to come to the same agreement. Not to mention, the conditions that black people lived under due to the negative connotations that the term “black” held – evil, dirty, and impure. Towards the end of the 1960’s, the American industry utilized many different tactics to portray the lack of hope, income inequality, segregation, and change that was an attempt to make a difference during this time. The film, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) was a direct effort to view the polarity of race in the 1960’s through the lens of
I have watched this film before, but I was even more excited to get to watch it again knowing there was an older film that was similar. In Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner? many of the roles are reversed from Guess Who? Even with the age difference between the two films the subject that is presented is still relatable today. The film Guess Who?, however does show more stereotypes. It shows metrosexual, which is often stereotyped for being homosexual throughout the film by the Percy. We also see racial stereotype views coming from both the girl’s family and Simon.
Before we get into the movie specifically, we should first talk about representation and how race is represented in the media in general. Representation is defined as the assigning of meaning through language and in culture. (CITE) Representation isn't reality, but rather a mere construction of reality and the meaning behind it. (CITE) Through representation we are able to shape how people are seen by others. Race is an aspect of people which is often represented in the media in different ways. Race itself is not a category of nature, but rather...
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...
James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” focuses on the topics of racism and sexism in the black community that parallel social issues faced in the real world brought on by societal ignorance, stereotypes, and gender roles.
Blum, L. (2011). A "Crash" Course on Personal Racism. Ethics at the Cinema (pp. 192-212).
In the blockbuster movie The Blind Side, director John Lee Hancock brings to light an emotionally charged and compelling story that describes how a young African American teenager perseveres through the trials, tribulations and hardships that surround his childhood. The themes of class, poverty, and also the love and nurturing of family encapsulate the film mainly through the relationship that Mrs. Tuohy and Michael Oher build during the entirety of the movie. This analysis will bring together these themes with sociological ideas seen throughout the course.
The Hollywood movie “Guess Who” (2005) is a remake of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967). Both film’s premises are about the same situation of an interracial marriage. The original revolved around a daughter bringing her black fiancée to meet her white middle class family. This was a touchy and even controversial subject in 1967 but the film became an award winner. The 2005 update switches the roles around and with a stroke of genius we now have a white fiancée meeting a black family.
As a fan of cinema, I was excited to do this project on what I had remembered as a touching portrait of racism in our modern society. Writer/Director Paul Haggis deliberately depicts his characters in Crash within the context of many typical ethnic stereotypes that exist in our world today -- a "gangbanger" Latino with a shaved head and tattoos, an upper-class white woman who is discomforted by the sight of two young Black kids, and so on -- and causes them to rethink their own prejudices during their "crash moment" when they realize the racism that exists within themselves. This movie does provoke a dialogue on race that, according to author and journalist Jeff Chang, "has been anathema to Hollywood after 9/11. " During the first viewing of this movie, the emotionally charged themes of prejudice and racism are easy to get caught up in. (125) Privilege is inclined to white males through every facet of our everyday lives that inconspicuously creates racism through classism.
If this movie were to be summarized in one sentence, one may say that no matter who you are, everybody holds preconceptions and stereotypes against other people. For example, in this movie, an upper-class white woman sees two black men so she clings to her husband, showing she is scared of them. Even though this woman had no idea who they were, she still jumped to a conclusion that they were going to harm her because of the color of their skin.
Often racial injustice goes unnoticed. Television tries to influence the mind of their viewers that blacks and whites get along by putting them on the screen to act as if interracial relationships has been accepted or existent. “At the movies these days, questions about racial injustice have been amicably resolved (Harper,1995). Demott stresses that the entertainment industry put forth much effort to persuade their audience that African Americans and Caucasians are interacting and forming friendships with one another that is ideal enough for them to die for one another. In the text, Demott states “A moment later he charges the black with being a racist--with not liking whites as much as the white man likes blacks--and the two talk frankly about their racial prejudices. Near the end of the film, the men have grown so close that each volunteer to die for the other” (Harper,1995). Film after film exposes a deeper connection amongst different races. In the text, Demott states “Day after day the nation 's corporate ministries of culture churn out images of racial harmony” (Harper, 1995). Time and time again movies and television shows bring forth characters to prove to the world that racial injustice has passed on and justice is now received. Though on-screen moments are noticed by many people in the world it does not mean that a writer/ director has done their
Many times in Hollywood, a movie that intends to portray a novel can leave out key scenes that alter the novel’s message. Leaving out scenes from the novel is mainly do to time limits, however doing so can distort the author’s true purpose of the story. In history, Movies were directed to intentionally leave out scenes that could alter the public’s opinion. This frequently let novel 's main points be swept under the rug. There were times of this at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, where white Americans were the only ones making movies. Not many African Americans had the opportunity to be involved in the process of major productions. Because racism in To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee, is underplayed in the film, it shows
Despite many progressive changes, racism is still a major issue. No one is born racist, racism is taught and it is taught in popular culture. Younger generations are exposed to racism through popular culture; one of the many mediums in which racial stereotypes are still supported. Matt Seitz, in his article, “The Offensive Movie Cliche That Won’t Die” claims that metaphorically, in popular culture cinema, African-Americans are mentors of a white hero, but beneath the surface, it is racially offensive towards these mentors because they are still considered servants of whites. Michael Omi, in “In Living Color: Race and American Culture” adds to the claim of Seitz that racial issues in our society brought on by the media and popular culture. He
Throughout the entire film race is one of the most prominent themes. The film shows that racism is not one sided as the characters themselves are Caucasian, black, Persian, Iranian, and Hispanic. The film shows that race assumptions not something that is just in existence, but rather society builds up these prejudices and ideas. This can be seen when the district attorney wanting to advance his political career think he can just honor a black man or woman. He suggests a firefighter who his secretary then informs him is actually Iraqi. He responds by saying, “Well he looks black.” Even before knowing someone’s true race and identity society can put up walls. The cops also pull over the couple because the one believes they are biracial and he believes that is wrong. In actuality both people are black one just happens to be of a lighter complexion. Race and racism the film shows limits one’s ability to experience new individuals and