Thank you, Sergio Angelini for the wonderful link and Martha P. Nochimson
for the reference to Mandingo -- I'll have to look that up as it sounds like
a gas. One of my students suggested Jungle Fever, which is an excellent
example but one with a black male and white female. I am thinking of
Monster's Ball and seem to remember reading that this was the first instance
of a white male and black female having explicit sex, although the scene is
loaded with racist implications. Was this a first?
I was trying to point out the taboo against interracial sex in Hollywood
films, and much to my dismay, my students found this notion hard to grasp.
Thanks, too, to Susan Chandler for all her insightful comments and the
numerous examples.
Incidentally, in relation to the tread on horror films, I heard an excellent
paper last year on the racism underpinning the Alien trilogy, suggesting
that the struggle with the alien creature could be read was a manifestation
of collective fear: a white woman fighting a black rapist. For those of you
who have seen it, all you need to is consider what the alien monster looks
like. Stunning, no?
Elaine Pigeon
> Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 18:44:46 EDT
> From: Richard Armstrong <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Interracial Romance
>
> Has anybody mentioned Jungle Fever and One Night Stand to Elaine yet?
Forgive
> me if this is now beside the point. I'm thinking about these films at
> present, and it struck me they may be relevant to her project.
> Richard
>
>
> Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 18:47:42 -0400
> From: Susanna Chandler <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Interracial sex scenes in Hollywood films
>
> Elaine,
>
> Thank you for an excellent query.
>
> You are perhaps being more subtle than racism deserves when you describe
the taboo
> against portraying interracial love and sex on screen as a form of
stereotyping.
> The unwritten embargo against interracial sex on screen persists today far
beyond realities on the ground, though we have a few good exceptions. There
is one area where the blockades went down long
> ago: white men and their desire of highly subordinant asiatic women,
particularly in colonial settings.
> The active taboo has always rested more directly with white and black
women. I'm
> sure there are scholars on this list who could tell us a great deal about
western
> orientalism, sexual racisms, and white men making movies. Sergio
Angelini's reply, and wonderful link, shows the thoughtful work that some
are involved with.
>
> My viewing experience is unfortunately circumscribed by living in the US,
which
> is particularly backward in this area. I should add, that in terms of this
subject my encounters are probably shaped by commercial film than otherwise.
The first interracial sex scene [not just love scene] I ever saw was Jungle
Fever.
>
> Then there was Frears's two wonderful flicks, My Beautiful Launderette and
Sammy
> and Rosie Get Laid. These films came out while I was married to a man from
India.
> The racism which went on, even that recently, now seems like an absurd
thing. Yet
> any South Asian man or woman who lived in the West at the time can attest
to the
> reality.
>
> Recently I suffered through Guess Who's Coming To Dinner. The prohibition
of showing
> sexuality is in full force between the couple in the movie. We are not
privy to a single passionate moment. It is all ideology. And everyone
revolves around what is acceptable to the white father--who then
pontificates to the captive
> audience and cast at the film's conclusion.
>
> Love Field, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Denis Haysbert, actually succeeded
in bringing
> some chemistry to the screen in their sex scenes. Though these occured
within the
> larger environment of taboo.
>
> Then there's Costner and Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard. Made the same
year as
> Love Field, 1992. It is hard to say where bad acting left off and cultural
prohibitions
> kicked in, but there was no magic [or sex beyond a few kisses as I
recall]. They
> supposedly fall in love, but have to put this aside while protecting
themselves
> from the . . . crazy killer white man. Hmmm.
>
> I didn't see Monster's Ball. But wasn't one of the lovers in jail? That
puts up
> a few, uhm, barriers to a satisfying sex scene.
>
> One wonderful example, which plays with all the proscriptions, is of
course The
> Crying Game.
>
> My all time favorite "interracial" sex scene is in Mira Nair's
Mississsippi
> Masala, between Sarita Choudhury and Denzel Washington. This movie strikes
me as
> excellent for bringing out this issue with students, as it is part of the
movie's
> core conflict, yet in classic story form, overcomes the central challenge
and the
> film's characters are transformed. This was made in 1991.
>
> As we all know, religious differences can amount to ethnic/racial divides,
particularly
> during The Partition in India. Deepa Mehta's film Earth, 1998, is a
wonderful story
> about divisions and love. There is fabulously sexy scene between the
Parsee Ayah,
> and the young Muslim man she has fallen in love with.
>
> Thanks for the question, it really got me thinking. I hope others will
come up with
> more examples of where films have succeeded and failed.
>
> A final mention, Richard Rodriquez's Brown: The Erotic Discovery of
America. His explorations of the lust and loves which, literally, compose us
are powerful and fresh.
>
> Best,
> Susanna Chandler
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