美国国家公共电台 NPR 50 Years After 'Loving,' Hollywood Still Struggles With Interracial Romance

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Fifty years ago today, the Supreme¹ Court's Loving decision legalized interracial marriage. Right about that time, shooting wrapped up on a movie dealing² with that very topic. "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" would become a huge hit. But NPR critic Bob Mondello says Hollywood's prejudices were long standing³ and did not disappear overnight.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE⁴: There had been interracial romances onscreen even in the silent era, but they were almost always pictured as either comically foolish or flat out doomed⁵. D.W. Griffith ended his silent tragedy "Broken Blossoms Or The Yellow Man And The Girl" with the deaths of both his title characters, a Chinese immigrant and a London prizefighter's daughter. The silent drama "The Bronze Bride" about a white fur trapper who marries a Native American woman also ended with tears. And in "Show Boat" in 1936, things end happily for nearly everyone but Julie, the wife of the show boat's white leading man. She is of mixed race but has been passing as white.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SHOW BOAT")

HELEN MORGAN: (As Julie, singing) Can't help loving that man of mine.

HATTIE MCDANIEL: (As Queenie) How come y'all know that song?

IRENE DUNNE: (As Magnolia) Why? Do you know it, Queenie?

MCDANIEL: (As Queenie) For sure I does, but I didn't ever hear anybody but colored folks sing that song - sounds funny for Ms. Julie to know it.

DUNNE: (As Magnolia) Julie sings it all the time.

MCDANIEL: (As Queenie) Can you sing the whole thing?

MORGAN: (As Julie) Course I can. What's so funny about that? (Singing) Oh, listen, sister. I love my Mr. Man.

MONDELLO: For loving her Mr. Man, Julie will end up drunk and alone. And in that, she had lots of company on screen. Hollywood had adopted a motion picture production code in 1930 which explicitly⁶ prohibited the depiction⁷ of, quote, "sex relationships between the white and black races," end quote. The code was meant to curb⁸ what bluenoses of that era considered immorality⁹. And with interracial marriage then illegal in 30 states, depicting¹⁰ it would arguably have been condoning¹¹ an illegal act.

Though "Show Boat" had been a hit on Broadway, movie theaters might well have refused to play it even with the production code seal of approval. But the filmmakers had a trick to get around objections. Audiences, they noted¹², were not actually seeing a black-white couple on screen. The biracial character was played by Helen Morgan, a white actress. And the same thing happened when "Show Boat" was remade in the 1950s.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SHOW BOAT")

ANNETTE WARREN: (Singing) That man of mine.

MONDELLO: This time Ava Gardner not only wasn't black. She's not even singing. Though she could have. She recorded this track they didn't use.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SHOW BOAT")

AVA GARDNER: (As Julie, singing) Tell me he's lazy. Tell me he's...

MONDELLO: Colorblind and in several senses tone-deaf, this qualified¹³ as Hollywood artificiality at its peak. The same casting trick was used in the drama "Pinky" about another character who was passing as white.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PINKY")

ETHEL WATERS: (As Dicey Johnson) You know I never told you pretend you is what you ain't.

JEANNE CRAIN: (As Pinky Johnson) I didn't mean to, Granny. It just happened.

MONDELLO: Passing was relatively¹⁴ easy for actress Jeanne Crain. She was white and got an Oscar nomination¹⁵ as best actress for pretending not to be.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PINKY")

CRAIN: (As Pinky Johnson) Don't try to tell me it doesn't matter. I couldn't stand that.

WILLIAM LUNDIGAN: (As Dr. Thomas Adams) Of course it matters. It makes problems, important problems. But let's try and face them like rational people.

CRAIN: (As Pinky Johnson) Rational - what's rational about prejudice?

MONDELLO: Foreign films weren't as timid. In the 1930s, Josephine Baker¹⁶ starred in the French-made "Princesse Tam-Tam" playing a Tunisian woman who's the muse¹⁷ of a white novelist. In the U.S., though, that sort of film only played in theaters catering¹⁸ strictly¹⁹ to black patrons until about 1956 when Hollywood dropped the code stipulation²⁰ about race. That allowed a blonde Inger Stevens to have this incendiary conversation with "Harry²¹ Belafonte" in "The World, The Flesh And The Devil," a science fiction film in which a nuclear war had left the two of them virtually alone in the world.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WORLD, THE FLESH AND THE DEVIL")

INGER STEVENS: (As Sarah Crandall) You know me well enough to be honest with me.

HARRY BELAFONTE: (As Ralph Burton) Don't push me. I'll be so honest it'll burn you.

STEVENS: (As Sarah Crandall) I know what you are, if that's what you're trying to remind me.

BELAFONTE: (As Ralph Burton) That's it all right. If you're squeamish about words, I'm colored. And if you face facts, I'm a Negro. If you're a polite Southerner, I'm a Negra. And I'm a nigger if you're not.

STEVENS: (As Sarah Crandall) I'm none of those things, Ralph.

BELAFONTE: (As Ralph Burton) A little while ago, you said you were free, white and 21. That didn't mean anything to you, just an expression you've heard for a thousand times. Well, to me, it was an arrow in my guts²².

STEVENS: (As Sarah Crandall) Ralph, what do I say? Help me. I know you. You're a fine, decent man. What else is there to know?

BELAFONTE: (As Ralph Burton) That world that we came from, you wouldn't know that. You wouldn't even know me. Why should the world fall down to prove I'm what I am and that there's nothing wrong with what I am?

MONDELLO: Good question, and others were asking it, too, in the British film "A Taste Of Honey," in the drama with Hollywood's first interracial kiss, "Island In The Sun," and in the era-defining "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner," which arrived six months to the day after interracial marriage was legalized by the Loving decision. Lawyers had only had to make their closing argument to nine justices. Spencer Tracy's summation²³ went out to more than 40 million moviegoers when he said this to Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER")

SPENCER TRACY: (As Matt Drayton) Anybody could make a case and a hell of a good case against your getting married. The arguments are so obvious that nobody has to make them. But you're two wonderful people who happen to fall in love and happen to have a pigmentation problem. But I think that now, no matter what kind of a case some bastard²⁴ could make against your getting married, there would be only one thing worse, and that would be if, knowing what you two are, knowing what you two have and knowing what you two feel, you didn't get married.

MONDELLO: And that broke the logjam, right - not really. Hollywood spent the rest of the 20th century debating how to follow "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" and mostly deciding not to. Bromances with black-white pairings were fine - say, the "Lethal²⁵ Weapon" franchise²⁶. Attract stars of sufficient wattage, and you could dare the audience to resist Kevin Costner at the height of his fame and Whitney Houston at the height of hers in "The Bodyguard²⁷." And there were occasional problem dramas that tackled the issue head-on as an issue - Spike²⁸ Lee's "Jungle Fever," for instance.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JUNGLE FEVER")

WESLEY SNIPES: (As Flipper²⁹ Purify) She's white.

SPIKE LEE: (As Cyrus) White. Man, you...

ANNABELLA SCIORRA: (As Angie Tucci) Yeah, well, he's black.

DEBI MAZAR: (As Denise) If your father ever found out, I don't know. Hey, look; this is the '90s. There's nothing wrong with it, you know?

MONDELLO: But for many in Hollywood, the risk of alienating³⁰ some part of the audience has not seemed a risk worth taking on a multimillion-dollar budget. So Will Smith and Denzel Washington have spent most of their careers appearing opposite African-American love interests, and Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise have not. Never mind that multiracial casting has been a boon³¹ of the box office for, say, "The Fast And The Furious" films. There are of course outliers. Jordan Peele's satirical horror flick³² "Get Out" is a witty³³ look at social stereotyping³⁴.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GET OUT")

DANIEL KALUUYA: (As Chris Washington) Do they know I'm black?

ALLISON WILLIAMS: (As Rose Armitage) Should they?

KALUUYA: (As Chris Washington) You might want to, you know...

WILLIAMS: (As Rose Armitage) Mom and Dad, my black boyfriend will be coming up with weekend. I just don't want you to be shocked that he's a black man.

MONDELLO: With a first-time director and no-name stars, "Get Out" has taken in almost a quarter of a billion dollars at the box office. Also this year in "Everything, Everything," an African-American girl in a bubble and a white neighbor fall in love. The supporting cast of "Beauty And The Beast" turned out to have two interracial couples once the magic spell was broken. And in the upcoming comedy The Big Sick, Kumail Nanjiani will tell the true story of how he met his wife.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BIG SICK")

KUMAIL NANJIANI: (As Kumail) I've been dating this girl. She's white.

ADEEL AKHTAR: (As Naveed) A white girl?

NANJIANI: (As Kumail) OK, you can't look like you and yell white girl. It's OK. We hate terrorists.

MONDELLO: These films make sense. The Pew Research Center recently reported that in 2015, the most recent year for which figures are available, 17 percent of all U.S. newlyweds had a spouse³⁵ of a different race or ethnicity. That compares with 3 percent in 1967, the year of the Loving decision and of "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner." The nation has changed, and Hollywood will, too. At the moment, though, it's still playing catch up. I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF JACKIE WILSON SONG, "YOUR LOVE KEEPS LIFTING ME HIGHER AND HIGHER")

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

6 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

7 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

8 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

9 immorality   

n. 不道德, 无道义

参考例句：

• All the churchmen have preached against immorality. 所有牧师都讲道反对不道德的行为。
• Where the European sees immorality and lawlessness, strict law rules in reality. 在欧洲人视为不道德和无规则的地方，事实上都盛行着一种严格的规则。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源

10 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

11 condoning   

v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I'm not condoning what he did, all right? 我并不是宽恕他的所作所为，好吗？ 来自电影对白
• Communist Party conservatives abhor the idea of condoning explicIt'sex. 党内的保守势力痛恨对赤裸性爱内容的宽容。 来自互联网

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

13 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

14 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

15 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

16 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

17 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

18 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

19 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

20 stipulation   

n.契约，规定，条文；条款说明

参考例句：

• There's no stipulation as to the amount you can invest. 没有关于投资额的规定。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The only stipulation the building society makes is that house must be insured. 建屋互助会作出的唯一规定是房屋必须保险。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

22 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 summation   

n.总和；最后辩论

参考例句：

• The exhibition was a summation of his life's work.这次展览汇集了他一生中典型的作品。
• The defense attorney phrased his summation at last.最后，辩护律师作了辩论总结。

24 bastard   

n.坏蛋，混蛋；私生子

参考例句：

• He was never concerned about being born a bastard.他从不介意自己是私生子。
• There was supposed to be no way to get at the bastard.据说没有办法买通那个混蛋。

25 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

26 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

27 bodyguard   

n.护卫，保镖

参考例句：

• She has to have an armed bodyguard wherever she goes.她不管到哪儿都得有带武器的保镖跟从。
• The big guy standing at his side may be his bodyguard.站在他身旁的那个大个子可能是他的保镖。

28 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

29 flipper   

n. 鳍状肢，潜水用橡皮制鳍状肢

参考例句：

• The seal's flipper is homologous with the human arm. 海豹的鳍肢与人类的手臂同源。
• It's almost like a flipper action as she kicks down. 她向下踢腿时有鱼鳍的效果。

30 alienating   

v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• The phenomena of alienation are widespread. Sports are also alienating. 异化现象普遍存在，体育运动也不例外。 来自互联网
• How can you appeal to them without alienating the mainstream crowd? 你是怎么在不疏忽主流玩家的情况下吸引住他们呢？ 来自互联网

31 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

32 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

33 witty   

adj.机智的，风趣的

参考例句：

• Her witty remarks added a little salt to the conversation.她的妙语使谈话增添了一些风趣。
• He scored a bull's-eye in their argument with that witty retort.在他们的辩论中他那一句机智的反驳击中了要害。

34 stereotyping   

v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I realize that I'm stereotyping. 我认识到我搞的是老一套。 来自辞典例句
• There is none of the gender stereotyping usually evident in school uniforms. 有没有人的性别刻板印象通常是显而易见的。 来自互联网

35 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？