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May 1995, Week 5

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Subject:
From:
Jeremy Butler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 28 May 1995 08:21:49 CDT
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Also significant to the representation of miscegenation is
*1955's* LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING--featuring a
romance between Eurasian Jennifer Jones and Caucasian
William Holden.  It's interesting for several reasons--
including the casting of Jones instead of an Asian actor--
but what most interests me is that when a television
soap opera based on the film was launched in 1967 the network
felt that interracial romance was too controversial for
daytime television and forced producer Irna Phillips to
convert it into young, *white* love.  Phillips quit in response.
 
Miscegenation in soap opera has remained a sensitive issue--
with whites and minorities exisiting, for the most part, in
parallel social universes (interacting in the work place, but
remaining separate romantically).  There have been notable
exceptions (e.g., Jessica and Duncan on AS THE WORLD TURNS),
but for the most part soap opera has remained wary of
interracial romance.
 
Jeremy Butler
 
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
As far as I know, actual interracial romance was not depicted
with any sincerity until the independent film _One Potato Two
Potato_ in 1964.  The major studios allowed Sidney Poitier to get
close to Elizabeth Hartman in _A Patch of Blue_ in 1965, but a
full-blown romance doesn't happen until _Guess Who's Coming to
Dinner_ in 1967.  Are there relevant films here that I have
overlooked?
 
Krin Gabbard
SUNY Stony Brook

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