Biracial" People in Film 1903-2015 Charles Lawrence Gray Marquette University
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Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects In Plain Sight: Changing Representations of "Biracial" People in Film 1903-2015 Charles Lawrence Gray Marquette University Recommended Citation Gray, Charles Lawrence, "In Plain Sight: Changing Representations of "Biracial" People in Film 1903-2015" (2016). Dissertations (2009 -). 682. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/682 IN PLAIN SIGHT: CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF “BIRACIAL” PEOPLE IN FILM 1903-2015 by Charles L. Gray, B.F.A., M.A. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Educational Policy and Leadership) Milwaukee, Wisconsin December 2016 ABSTRACT IN PLAIN SIGHT: CHANGING REPRESENTATIONS OF “BIRACIAL” PEOPLE IN FILM 1903-2015 Charles L. Gray, B.F.A., M.A. Marquette University, 2016 Rooted in slavery, the United States in both law and custom has a long history of adhering to the one drop rule–the stipulation that any amount of African ancestry constitutes an individual as black. Given this history, decidedly mixed race people have been subjected to a number of degrading stereotypes. In examining the three broad themes of the tragic mulatto, racial passing, and racelessness in cinema, this dissertation asks to what extent film representations of mixed race characters have had the capacity to educate audiences beyond stereotypes. Although a number of film scholars and critics have analyzed mixed race characters in American cinema, there is no treatment spanning the last century that comprehensively analyzes each film’s capacity to diminish racism. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Charles L. Gray, B.F.A., M.A. I could not have completed this dissertation without the indispensable guidance and support from my advisor and committee chair Dr. Robert Lowe. His patience, direction, and belief in me during this long process were extremely helpful. I also want to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Heidi Schweizer and Dr. Francesca Lopez, who likewise assisted and encouraged me throughout this project. I am also grateful to Dr. Heather Hathaway at Marquette University who provided writing and editing advice as well as insight on how to bridge the gap between mixed race literature and cinema. In addition, I want to thank Dr. Daryl Scott of Howard University, Dr. Greg Carter at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Patrick McGilligan at Marquette University, Dr. Jane Gaines at Columbia University, Dr. J. E. Smyth at the University of Warwick, Dr. Margaret Rose Vendryes at Wellesley College, Professor Robert Hill at UCLA, and Dr. Charles Musser at Yale University. Each of whom were kind enough to entertain my questions regarding Oscar Micheaux, Paul Robeson, and Gertrude Sanborn. In addition, I want to thank filmmakers Dawn Wilkinson and Julie Dash for responding to questions regarding their work. I want to thank Scott Feldstein, Cindy Dries, Amy Schlicht, and Mary Bruckbauer who as my direct supervisors allowed me the flexibility to continue my studies while working full time. To my many friends, and colleagues who have listened, endured my complaints, difficult questions and conversations over the years, a very heartfelt thank you. I am eternally grateful and indebted to my mother Mary Gray who always inspired me to work hard and believe in myself. She is the sole reason I am who I am today. Finally, I want to thank my wife Jenna and my two daughters Lucille and Olive for their endless support, inspiration, and many sacrifices as I struggled with the journey through my program. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………….. i CHAPTER I. BEGINNINGS AND BRIDGES…………………………………………………. 1 a. Literature Review………………………………………………………… 8 b. Methodology…………………………………………………………….... 24 II. EARLY FILMS REPRESENTING MIXED RACE CHARACTERS………….... 33 a. Uncle Tom’s Cabin……………………………………………………….. 45 b. The Birth of a Nation……………………………………………………... 58 c. Within Our Gates…………………………………………………………. 73 III. IN PLAIN SIGHT: RACIAL PASSING IN CINEMA 1920-1959………………. 80 a. The Symbol of the Unconquered…………………………………………. 86 b. Veiled Aristocrats………………………………………………………… 92 c. Imitation of Life (1934)…………………………………………………... 100 d. Lost Boundaries…………………………………………………………... 120 e. Pinky……………………………………………………………………… 126 f. Imitation of Life (1959)…………………………………………………... 134 g. Night of the Quarter Moon……………………………………………….. 143 IV. “ORDINARY PEOPLE:” RACELESSNESS IN CINEMA……………………… 152 a. Wishful Thinking…………………………………………………………. 160 b. Away We Go……………………………………………………………... 162 c. Celeste & Jesse Forever…………………………………………………... 171 V. PRESENT, PAST, AND FUTURE……………………………………………….. 181 VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………. 196 VII. FILM AND TELEVISION INDICES…………………………………………….. 217 iii For my brother Michael 1 CHAPTER ONE BEGINNINGS AND BRIDGES "Going to the show" for thousands of young people in every industrial city is the only possible road to the realms of mystery and romance; the theater is the only place where they can satisfy that craving for a conception of life higher than that which the actual world offers them. In a very real sense the drama and the drama alone performs for them the office of art as is clearly revealed in their blundering demand stated in many forms for "a play unlike life." The theater becomes to them a "veritable house of dreams" infinitely more real than the noisy streets and the crowded factories. Jane Addams, The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets, 1909 When I was two or three years old, my Mom, Dad, and I went to see A Man Called Horse (1970) and Little Big Man (1970) at the Starlite Outdoor Theater, a two-screen drive-in venue once located on the northwestern outskirts of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although this particular double feature might not have been the best choice for such a young person, it was my first experience with the power of cinema. I don’t remember much about the films and wouldn’t be able to sort the memories of those images from the times I’ve seen those same films since that night so long ago. Yet, I do remember the sheer size of the screen, the warm summer night air, our old light blue station wagon, the intermission cartoons, the concessions, and the general sense of wonder about being there with lots of other people to watch movies. Over the next few years, I saw Sounder (1972), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), Herbie Rides Again (1974), Cornbread, Earl, and Me (1975), and Cooley High (1975). But, one of the films that left the most lasting impression was Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope (1977). As an eight year old, Star Wars completely changed the way I thought about movies. An amazing spectacle of good versus evil playing out across a galaxy, it introduced an entire world of characters and faraway places that fed my burgeoning appetite for science fiction and fantasy. While any direct reading of the film’s racial allegory was lost on me at the time, I understood the 2 symbolic associations of white and black with good and evil subconsciously.1 On some level, I could relate to the main character and his desire to find himself, the need to know his father, and his longing to explore. Due in part to its groundbreaking special effects, Star Wars was especially impressive on the big screen. However, there were also equally impressive shows on television. Alex Haley’s Roots first aired in early 1977. Like Star Wars, this story also introduced me to a world of characters and faraway places. The difference being that these characters and places had actually existed at one point in time. Roots exposed me to a history that I had no knowledge of before then. Granted, it was a small segment of a much broader story; nevertheless, I learned new things about the world through this television miniseries. Perhaps I even learned things about myself. Like many families in America, mine is multiracial. My white mother and black father met in the late 1960s just after the landmark Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision made interracial marriage legal in the United States. Many of the films produced during the 1960s and 1970s were shaped by the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement and featured black subjects. By contrast, mixed race themes and stories were less prominent. As a child, I was aware of racial topics in film, but I never saw any that explored mixed race issues. However, that changed after seeing Imitation of Life (1934) during my first semester as an undergraduate in the early 1990s. Though I had questions regarding racial identity for nearly my entire life, it wasn’t until I saw this classic film that I began to grasp the historical significance of these questions. As it turns out, I wasn’t alone in this lifelong enterprise. I was just one of thousands of mixed race kids born in the post-Civil Rights era that grew up with questions regarding their place in society. Going to the show, perhaps, was one way to find answers. 1 Especially haunting is the climactic lightsaber battle in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Darth Vader, an imposing figure completely dressed in black, has just cut off the hand of white Luke Skywalker. He then tells Luke, “I am your father.” Luke chooses to fall to his death instead of facing a life knowing he is Vader’s son. The scene is eerily reminiscent of the mixed race film trope in which a “white” character discovers they have black blood. For more analysis of racial allegory in Star Wars see Guerrero (1993), Nama (2008), Heise (2011), and King (2013). 3 Children have been enthralled by movies for over a century. The Jane Addams epigraph that opens this chapter describes the prominence and influence of film in the lives of children in her time despite the fact that the medium was still in its infancy (Black, 1994; Jowett, 1996; Romanowski, 2012). Addams was one of the first to raise concerns regarding the effects of movies on kids and believing in the educational power of films, she set up an “uplift theater” within Hull House for the children and immigrants who lived there (Grieveson, 2004; Ashby, 2012).