1960s Controversial FilmGuess Who’s Coming to Dinner [Now]? Introduction to 1960s Film - "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Stanley Kramer and William Rose directed and produced what is likely one of the most famous films regarding various issues of racial tensions throughout the twentieth century. First hitting the theaters in 1967, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? is a thoughtful film centered around a young caucasian girl, Joanna, and a brilliantly respectful African American man, John, who fall in love and make plans to be married. All of these decisions, though, are made over a span of ten days, and Joanna and John immediately inquire of their parents to consider blessing their marriage. The film has received a rather wide variety of criticisms over the years, some negative and some positive, but it is inarguably an incredibly important piece of media from its day. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was likely one of the first films to address the severely sensitive societal topic of interracial marriage in 1960s America. Though the perspective that this movie took towards racial issues was thoroughly criticized by many, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? ultimately succeeded in bringing to light, and gently, yet deliberately, introducing the topic of interracial marriage to the American people as an acceptable decision worthy of consideration and conversation in this time period just preceding racial segregation. Controversial Topics Addressed in the Film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? directly addressed the sensitive racial topic of interracial marriage, but did so in a manner that lacked offense to either race involved while broaching the issue head on. Being set in the late 1960s, the repercussions from the decades of slavery and segregation were likely still heavily felt. Kramer and Rose were up against the question of whether or not it was too soon to bring an issue like this to Hollywood. Glen Harris brings a rather critical view towards this point in saying that the film did not “honestly and truthfully [deal] with the power of social resistance to mixed-color marriages in 1960s America” (Harris and Toplin, 705). While the movie does have a rather light hearted strain of innocence woven all throughout the plot line, and lacks any element of aggressive action that likely was realistic to the feelings and emotions towards race during that time, this seems to be mildly too strict a critique. The fact that Kramer and Rose could craft such a film as to address such a topic only years after slavery and segregation were apart of U.S. law is rather incredible. Harris is correct in mentioning that the film is filled with particular aspects that make the movie more of a possibility in the realm of Hollywood, yet cause it to be further from reality. He notes that it is not typical of the 1960s for African Americans to be able to afford a college degree, much less have their ph.D as John does, or the fact that the couple meets in Hawaii- a more diverse and accepting state in regards to race and the issues therein. Then for them to also proceed to travel back to San Fransisco - probably the most liberal city in the nation at the time, for the purpose of asking their parents to sanction the marriage (703-4). Harris does bring to light how unrealistic these possibilities are to happen legitimately, and how detached the plot line of the film is from reality. What cannot be disregarded, though, is that Kramer and Rose created a one hour and forty-eight minute film pointedly tackling the issue of interracial marriage, only decades after a century of slavery, and released it in the same year that the Supreme Court ruled the outlawing of interracial marriage to be an opposition to the fourteenth amendment, therefore making mixed-race marriage legal. Therefore, the question of when the time period of being too soon ended, was likely haunting. To be able to produce a movie that so thoroughly addresses such a sensitive topic quite near to the realities of the real issue in American life itself is quite significant, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? was very intentional about making interracial marriage an acceptable topic of conversation among the American people by presenting it with slightly less realistic characteristics woven here and there. Given the time period of the 1960s and the decades preceding it, race had been quite a hot topic for a rather significant amount of time, and only recently had changes been occurring in relation to that issue in America. In June of 1967, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Loving v. Virginia, that the outlawing of interracial marriage violated the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution, and therefore was changed to become an acceptable and legal action (U.S. Supreme Court). Though this marked the changing of the law in America regarding interracial marriage, that certainly does not mean that the emotions and beliefs of society in general had changed at all. Much like the issue of segregation, and the later change to integration, many people did not live or act in a manner that supported the ruling of the law, and this was very likely also true with the 1967 Supreme Court ruling towards legalizing interracial marriage. This significantly highlights the importance and impact of a film like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? for that time period. In response to George Harris’ critique of the film not dealing “honestly and truthfully” with the challenges of mixed-color marriages in that day, there seems to be significant evidence and reason that the film did not have to. Rather than making a movie that was built upon the endless difficulties, ferocious convictions, and deep emotions towards race in the twentieth century, Kramer and Rose worked together to make a piece of media that would cause its viewers to, at the very least, begin to wonder towards the possibility of a happy and genuine mixed-race marriage in the very turbulent midst of the after effects of severe racism in the U.S. Given the changing of the law and the Supreme Court ruling, it was rather evident that the country was making decisions and acting on them in a way that sought to uphold the declaration that all men are created equal. Because this movie was released the very year that interracial marriage was legalized in America, there seems to be ample room for it not to possess all of the literal hardships that the issue of race stirred in the 1960s, and furthermore, a storyline that aired towards hope should rather be greatly praised for its positive influence and fresh perspective for the American people. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? - despite lacking a few atmospheric aspects that contribute to the literal realistic possibility of the story - successfully addresses the issue of interracial marriage in a positive light. This allowed for the American people to begin discussing this topic in a time when it was quite unnatural to do so. From the opening scene to the very closing shot of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, it is evident that mixed-color relationships are the central focus of the film, but Kramer writes this movie in a particular way that speaks about the time period and the people’s view on the topic. The movie begins with Joanna and John’s relationship already being rather fully developed, and the entire film is about one day’s events. There is no fast forwarding of time, or rewinding, and this seems to be significant. Kramer does not start this movie in the midst of Joanna and John meeting one another, nor does he feel the need to set up the film with a quick introductory clip of their original encounter. He rather begins with Joanna and John traveling to tell their parents about their plans to be married, and then uses the rest of the entire film developing this theme and writing how it plays out. Kramer seems to be revealing an attitude of the culture during that time. The possibility of falling in love seems a less important aspect to fully develop in this film - as though the American people would be able to comprehend or understand that topic more - but instead it is the aspect of marriage that Kramer devotes the time of this film to. The entire movie is about the possibility of interracial marriage -- how a young white woman can fall in love with a young black man, but much more than that, marry him, and what it would look like for American society to respond rightly. This aspect so reflects the need of the 1960s audience to be softened to this topic of interracial marriage. Kramer and Rose set the film, scripted it in a specific manner, chose to cover events of a short time span, and casted particular actors and actresses all to clearly communicate the point that this is what future of America could look like; this is the direction in which the nation is heading, particularly in regards to the issues related to the topic of race, and the manner in which society as a whole responds to these changes will determine what the country will look like and be known for in the future. Even though the setting and minor details of the film may not have precisely resembled the harsh reality of the social resistance towards interracial marriage at the time, Kramer successfully etched a reflection of American societal attitudes towards this topic of mixed-color marriages during the 1960s in his light hearted, hopeful film, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?. He proposed the topic of interracial marriage to be worthy of consideration among the American people. Final Conclusion Sources of media, such as film, are often great at shaping culture or reflecting it. The collaboration of Stanley Kramer and William Rose to create Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? did much more than produce another piece of entertainment; it produced a reflection of the attitudes of the American people in the latter half of the twentieth century. With the emotions towards mixed-color marriages still severely tense in 1967, especially after the recent Supreme Court ruling legalizing interracial marriage, Kramer and Rose successfully created a light hearted story of hope, while still directly addressing this sensitive cultural issue during that time. The setting of the film, where the story begins and ends, the events of which it is made up of, and the actors and actresses all contribute to revealing a part of societal issues in the 1960s, and how the response of those people will impact the future of the nation. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? successfully introduced the issue of interracial marriage to the American people as a topic worthy of consideration, conversation, and necessary of acceptance for the sake of their future. Things seemed to be becoming much less black and white. Works Cited Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?. Directed by Stanley Cramer, performances by Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Roy Glen, and Beah Richards, Columbia Pictures Corporation, 1967. Harris, Glen Anthony, and Robert Brent Toplin. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?: A Clash of Interpretations Regarding Stanley Kramer's Film on the Subject of Interracial Marriage." The Journal of Popular Culture 40.4 (2007): 700-713. Loving v. Virginia. No. 395 United States Supreme Court. (12 June 1967). In Justia. U.S. Supreme Court, 2014. Pp. 388 U.S. 4-12. Retrieved from http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/388/1/case.html. Additional Reference Sites |