Popular Culture’s impact on interracial Romance

1. Popular Culture’s impact on interracial Romance By: Jordan Lafferty and Mike Dudzinski BWS 370I

2. Project Goals • Analyze popular culture’s portrayal of interracial relationships throughout the past 50 years • Does television and movies dictate our position on interracial relationships, or does our position dictate what is shown on television and in movies? • What stereotypes do we associate with interracial couples?

3. Project Details • Website: http://bws370project.wordpress.com/ • Decade approach since the “end” of racial segregation • Segregation timeline • May 17, 1954: Supreme Court unanimously outlaws segregation in public schools in Brown v. Board of Education. • Aug. 29, 1957: Civil Rights Act of 1957 aims to increase black turnout at the polls by making it a crime to obstruct voter registration. • July 2, 1964: Civil Rights Bill of 1964 bans segregation in the workplace and public accommodations. • April 10, 1968: Civil Rights Bill bans discrimination in housing. • Narrowed scope of interracial relationships • Black and White

4. Popular Culture • Not easy to define • Wikipedia states:Popular culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are preferred by an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society.

5. 1960s • 1960: 51,000 black-white married couples • By then end of the decade that number increased to 65,000 • Black-white relationships were discussed in newspapers and magazine articles, but mostly non-existent on television or in movies • Popular culture advanced black-white couples acceptance in some ways • One of the main fears of integration was racial mixing • Passively accepted; still disapproved of • Civil Rights Movement and militant actions drew more attention toward black-white couples • 1967: Supreme Court ruled that laws against miscegenation were unconstitutional in the Loving v. Virginia court case • In 1967-1968 Hollywood introduced the film, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. The film was centered around the controversial question, “Would you want your daughter to marry a Negro?” • Trailer • The first interracial kiss on television occurred on Star Trek in 1968 between Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner

6. Media covered black-white couples of the 1960s May Britt and Sammy Davis Jr. Charlayne Hunter and Walter Stovall

7. 1970s • April 20, 1971: The Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation • Movie roles for blacks actors significantly increased in the 1970s on both the big screen and television • more than 200 "blaxploitation" films • depicting violence, gore, and sex • Laws against interracial marriage still exist in select towns • 1970: 310,000 interracial marriages took place; .7% of all marriages for that year • Honky, 1971: a rich black girl falls in love with a poor white guy • Mandingo, 1975: a slave is trained to fight other slaves • Hammond, a plantation owner, rapes his slave (Ellen) • Blanche, the wife of Hammond, rapes Mede

8. 1970s On Screen Couples The Jeffersons Tom and Helen Willis Mandingo 1975

9. The Great White Hope 1970 A black champion boxer and his white female companion struggle to survive in the white boxing establishment, which is looking for ways to knock him down

10. 1980s • 651,000 interracial married couples in 1980 • Endogamy (marriage within the race) was more prevalent in uneducated African Americans • 74% of black people agreed with dating other races • Under the Cherry Moon, 1986: starring Price • scams rich women • ends up falling in love with a girl he tries to scam • Do the Right Thing 1989 • Public Enemy • Fight the Power for the movies anthem

11. Whoopi Goldberg • Fatal Beauty, 1987: Whoopi Goldberg falls in love with a bodyguard of a drug kingpin she is chasing • She comments about her own screen relationship • "Hollywood is still queasy about dealing with interracial couples" • First African American women nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress

12. 1990s • Dramatic increase in the number of movies and TV shows containing interracial couples • Black-white relationships become increasingly accepted and popular culture reflects this change in ideology • Jungle Fever, 1991: A successful and married black architect (Wesley Snipes) has a love affair with his secretary (Annabella Sciorra) • "The interracial storyline gets overshadowed by the drug storyline by the end of the movie" • "I can understand why a lot of black women are fed up.....black men are with white women for new status, a trophy, and signal they have arrived" -Spike Lee

13. 1990s • The Color of Love, 1991: Interracial love story told from the viewpoint of a white female • The Bodyguard, 1992 • Zebra Head, 1992: A Romeo and Juliet type tale; a white teen, Zack, is accused of "acting black" and a black teen Nikki defy racial lines • Zack is accused of being with her because of black sexual stereotypes about women • Black Rose of Harlem, 1996 • Othello, 1995 • Made in America, 1993 • TV shows: Boy Meets World, Moesha, Friends, etc. http://www.iloveblackmovies.com/Interracial.html

14. The Bodyguard Zebra Head

15. 2000s • Black-white relationships are becoming more and more accepted and are still growing • A USA TODAY poll released in 2011 found that 86% of Americans approve of black-white marriages, compared with 48% in 1991. Among ages 18-37, 97% approved. • 422,000 black-white marriages • Online black-white dating sites • Less movies with black-white couples than the 1990s • More movies showcase a white male and a black female. • White male feels good • black male, white female stereotype

16. Clutch Magazine "Don’t get me wrong; I have no problem with IR relationships on TV. But when you consider that all of the ‘attractive’ Black women on network TV are dating White men, then you have to consider that something is going on. Kerry’s character is dating a White guy, Vanessa Williams’ character is (666 Park Ave), Joy Bryant is (Parenthood), Anika Noni Rose’s is (The Good Wife) and there are more. TV is fantasy for White people. And that’s why the White guys get all of the ‘attractive’ women. We have to be aware of what messages are being sent when we watch TV. "

17. WWI 1933 2008 The sex driven, violent, black male is always after the white woman... still a prevalent stereotype today

18. Overview • An increase in black-white relationships began before Hollywood casted a movie • More black-white romances were cast in the 1970s • The 1980s sees the emergence of Hip Hop • reaffirms stereotypes • There is an increase in black-white relationships in media in the 1990s • Today, there is a higher acceptance and continued growth in black-white relationships • Still progress to be made • White male, black female is most popular in movies

19. Answer • Do television and movies dictate our position on interracial relationships, or does our position dictate what is shown on television and in movies? • It seems that popular culture originally influenced what Hollywood shows. However, Hollywood reciprocates the influencing by showcasing to its vast audiences. In other words, they both work off of one another. Although originally influenced by popular culture, Hollywood helps or hinders (depending on your view) the acceptance of Interracial Relationships, particularly black-white romance by publicizing, exhibiting, and discussing. Questions?