Classic Hollywood, Classic Whiteness

by Daniel Bernardi

Leading scholars address the myriad ways in which America’s attitudes about race informed the production of Hollywood films from the 1920s through the 1960s. From the predominantly white star system to segregated mise-en-scènes, Hollywood films reinforced institutionalized racism. The contributors to this volume examine how assumptions about white superiority and colored inferiority and the politics of segregation and assimilation affected Hollywood’s classic period. Eric Avila, UCLA; Aaron Baker, Arizona State U; Karla Rae Fuller, Columbia College; Andrew Gordon, U of Florida; Allison Graham, U of Memphis; Joanne Hershfield, U of North Carolina; Cindy Hing-Yuk Wond, College of Staten Island, CUNY; Arthur Knight, William and Mary; Sarah Madsen Hardy, Bryn Mawr; Gina Marchetti, U of Maryland; Gary W. McDonogh; Chandra Mukerji, UC, San Diego; Martin F. Norden, U of Massachusetts; Brian O'Neil, U of Southern Mississippi; Roberta E. Pearson, Cardiff U; Marguerite H. Rippy, Marymount U; Nicholas Sammond; Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, U of Arizona; Peter Stanfield, Southampton Institute; Kelly Thomas; Hernan Vera, U of Florida; Karen Wallace, U of Wisconsin, Oshkosh; Thomas E. Wartenberg, Mount Holyoke; Geoffrey M. White, U of Hawai’i; and Jane Yi.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

544 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely interesting book. It's also a very hard read. The various chapters and topics are I believe academic papers. Some of them use academic jargon and are really not for the non-academic reader. HOWEVER, the topic is so extremely interesting that I read the whole thing. For example, the visual physical "misfit" that has always puzzled me in A Night at the Opera (between Groucho and the fat white lady) is looked at closely in the first chapter and discussed as actually the central point of that movie. What the author thinks the movie is at its core about, underneath the slapstick, is the way Eastern European immigrant Jews did not fit into white American society on arrival at the turn of the 20th century and that is the source of the Marx Brothers' humor. This is to me a very fascinating train of thought. It also looks at horror movies of the fifties as being depictions of white subconscious racist fear that was behind white flight. Think of the scenes of white people fleeing in horror from monsters coming from the deep. It's stupefying to think of. Now since I was a child at this time I can't say that these ideas are true. But boy it's a thought provoking book about our culture from the middle of the 20th century through World War II--dealing with Hollywood's depictions of Jewish Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latin Americans as well as "bad female" Americans. Because these films are looked at as expressions of our cultural subconscious, the book says some very profound things indeed. Also what it is discussing is trends that were big enough and important enough and part of U.S. culture enough that you don't need to be familiar with the individual movies discussed in order to know exactly what the writers are talking about. This is a profoundly fascinating book. I give it four stars simply because it is a slog.

[Nell Scannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sure there's a great deal of good information here. But the writing is so dry, so scholarly, and takes far too many words to describe simple concepts. Very disappointing. As a screenwriter, I was keen on learning about this topic. Didn't finish.