Multiculturalism Must Come to a Truce: Hollywood and the Perpetual Browning of the Nation Belle Harrell
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2006 Multiculturalism Must Come to a Truce: Hollywood and the Perpetual Browning of the Nation Belle Harrell Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES MULTICULTURALISM MUST COME TO A TRUCE: HOLLYWOOD AND THE PERPETUAL BROWNING OF THE NATION By BELLE HARRELL A Dissertation submitted to the Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2006 The members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of Belle Harrell defended on April 5, 2006. Maxine D. Jones Professor Directing Dissertation R. B. Bickley Outside Committee Member Neil Jumonville Committee Member Maricarmen Martínez Committee Member Approved: David F. Johnson, Director, Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities Joseph Travis, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii This dissertation is dedicated to my sister and my best friend – Heidi Harrell. Janie is fortunate to have her as a mother. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge those professors whose influence is reflected in this work: Dr. Bruce Bickley, Dr. V.J. Conner, Dr. Eugene Crook, Dr. Maxine D. Jones, Dr. Neil Jumonville, and Dr. Maricarmen Martínez. Not only have you made me a better student and a better teacher, but a better person. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... vi MULITICULTURALISM IN REVIEW ............................................................ 1 THE HUMAN STAIN IS MOST CERTAINLY HATRED: AN ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION……. .............................................................................................. 18 LOVE, SEX, AND DR. KINSEY........................................................................ 42 SPANGLISH: A FILM THAT FAILS TO LIVE UP TO ITS NAME................ 63 COMING TOGETHER: NO NEED FOR CRASHES........................................ 83 REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 106 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .............................................................................. 118 v ABSTRACT In 1991 Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. wrote The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society. In his work, Schlesinger attacks multiculturalism, asserting, “the cult of ethnicity has had bad consequences,” and that “its underlying philosophy is that America is not a nation of individuals at all but a nation of groups, that ethnicity is the defining experience for Americans, that ethnic ties are permanent and indelible, and that division into ethnic communities establishes the basic structure of American society and the basic meaning of American history” (20). Schlesinger believes that the nation has indeed become too tribal. American history has always been characterized by two enduring forces: the community versus individualism. Schlesinger, however, alleges that multiculturalism puts too much emphasis on the idea of community and forsakes American individualism; specifically, he feels that multiculturalism supports ethnic communities rather than a national community. A national community, according to Schlesinger, is one comprised of individuals devoted to the ideals of democracy. He argues, “For in the end, the cult of ethnicity defines the republic not as a polity of individuals but as a congeries of distinct and inviolable cultures” (122). “If the republic now turns away from Washington’s old goal of ‘one people,’ what is its future? – disintegration of the national community, apartheid, Balkanization, tribalization?” (Schlesinger 124) A year after Schlesinger’s book was published, on April 29, 1992, rioting erupted in Los Angeles when the police officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted. The L.A riots seemed to indicate that Schlesinger was right: Americans had become too tribal, always pitting one group against another. In this case, Hispanics, African Americans, and Korean Americans were fighting each other. Consequently, after the L.A riots, many historians and public intellectuals began exploring the concept of multiculturalism in the post-Rodney King era. The question needed to be asked, just as Schlesinger had done only a year before, was multiculturalism working? Rodney King demanded, “Please, can we get along here,” and many took his request seriously (Takaki 4). What had gone wrong? The 1960s counterculture is responsible for our modern day concept of multiculturalism, but had their efforts gone astray? The counterculture of vi the early 1960s, as opposed to the more radical and separatist counterculture of the later 1960s, emphasized peace, love, and sharing; they valued communal living, but they envisioned a community where everyone, despite their cultural differences, interacted together. Are Americans really celebrating diversity now and respecting one another on equal terms as the counterculture had originally hoped? Or has the United States become a nation characterized by exclusion and separatism? Historian Ronald Takaki wrote A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America after and in response to the L.A riots. Takaki addresses the anti-multiculturalism fever sweeping the nation at the time, popularized by Schlesinger, Allan Bloom, Pat Buchanan, E.D. Hirsch, and others. Takaki notes: “Such a backlash is defining our diversity as a ‘cultural war,’ a conflict between ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Reflecting a traditional Eurocentrism that remains culturally hegemonic, this resistance is what is really driving the ‘disuniting of America’ ” (427). Takaki then suggests: “Today, what we need to do is to stop denying our wholeness as members of humanity as well as one nation” (428). This dissertation, then, will examine the role of multiculturalism in the United States, while at the same time, re-examining the notion of an American melting pot. This work will not attack multiculturalism, but rather explore its state and nature in the nation today. Neoconservatives like Michael Novak, who has even composed a list entitled “Nine Perversions of Multiculturalism,” are simply wrong when they unfairly attack the doctrine (xvi). No doubt the country needed a healthy dose of multiculturalism in order to move its citizens beyond feelings of prejudice, racism, xenophobia, and homophobia. Thus, multiculturalism is a valuable concept that has indeed improved how Americans view and treat one another; it has taught the nation to celebrate diversity, not shy away from it. But many who have written on the subject in the last few years argue that Americans need to re-evaluate the topic, and this dissertation will address their concerns. Moreover, it will do so through the medium of film. Maricarmen Martínez notes, “There is a way for each individual American to interrogate the nation’s practices of inclusion and exclusion: Question representations” (vii). She adds, “Human identities are fixed by the way the vii nation tells its story – represents itself – in news media, textbooks, novels, music, art, and of course, in the movies” (vii). Recently, many films have been produced which can be labeled multicultural. They have been made in an attempt to help Americans deal with and digest diversity. But are they really celebrating diversity? And if they do celebrate diversity, what is their approach? Film indeed not only shapes but represents American culture, and the following work will explore representations of race, class, gender, and sexuality within Hollywood cinema. Is Hollywood continuing to divide Americans when it comes to race, class, gender, and sexuality, or are they finally attempting to unite the nation? It is especially important to study representations of minorities on the big screen at this juncture because as a New York Times article recently revealed, the number of ethnic and racial minorities in the United States is dramatically increasing. Robert Pear writes, “The nation as a whole is moving in the direction of its two most populous states, California and Texas, where members of racial and ethnic minorities account for more than half the population” (16). Pear adds, “Minorities accounted for about 40 percent of the population in each of five other states: Maryland, Mississippi, Georgia, New York and Arizona,” (16). Moreover, Cecilia Muñoz, vice- president of the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil rights group, points out, “This great diversity and constant demographic change make us a dynamic country. They do not [should not] cause unrest or commotion. They are part of a process that’s intrinsically American” (16). The following chapters will define and review multiculturalism and then examine whether Hollywood cinema has embraced this “intrinsically American” process of growth and change. viii MULTICULTURALISM IN REVIEW Arthur Schlesinger and Ronald Takaki, among many others who have written on the subject of multiculturalism, point to Herman Melville as one of the first Americans to pursue the topic. All one has to do is look at the multicultural crew depicted onboard the Pequod in Moby Dick to see that this is indeed the case. Melville’s work celebrates diversity, and this is especially illustrated through Ishmael’s relationship with