User:Maskedjae/Racism in early American film

Edits to Lead

Racism in early American film is the depiction of negative imagery of racial groups, racial stereotypes, and racist ideals in classical Hollywood cinema from the 1910's to the 1960's.

From its inception, Hollywood has largely been dominated by white male filmmakers and producers, catering to a predominately white audience. Various techniques have been used to depict non-white characters including whitewashing and ethnic stereotyping. Themes of white supremacy and xenophobia are commonly found within these films, reflecting contemporary attitudes towards non-white groups, taking on different imagery as race relations shift.

Edits to Article

African American
In February 1915, the film The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith was released. The film depicted Ku Klux Klansmen as the saviors to the nation that bring back a stable government and uphold American values. The movie used actors in blackface to depict African Americans as savages, using threatening imagery to justify violence against African Americans. After the movie's debut, racial violence against African Americans increased, including the revival of the Ku Klux Klan in November of the same year.

In 1927, the film The Jazz Singer by Alan Crosland was released, regarded as being the first sound film. One of the central themes was the use of blackface by Jewish character Jack Robins. The use of blackface in the film has led to controversy, particularly in regards to its role in the plot and its Jewish character.

Scholar Corin Willis said about the use of blackface in The Jazz Singer:"In contrast to the racial jokes and innuendo brought out in its subsequent persistence in early sound film, blackface imagery in The Jazz Singer is at the core of the film's central theme, an expressive and artistic exploration of the notion of duplicity and ethnic hybridity within American identity. Of the more than seventy examples of blackface in early sound film 1927–53 that I have viewed (including the nine blackface appearances Jolson subsequently made), The Jazz Singer is unique in that it is the only film where blackface is central to the narrative development and thematic expression."

Middle Eastern
--

East Asian
Many racist tropes of East Asian peoples were codified in early Hollywood films.

Charlie Chan (based on the real Chang Apana), was depicted as a "good Asian", used as an antithesis to Fu Manchu, the "bad Asian" villain. In 1929, the American film The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, starring Warner Oland as the villain Fu-Manchu, was released. The villain Fu-Manchu incorporated contemporary Yellow Peril motifs, an antagonist to white characters and demonstrating otherworldly powers to control the white female lead.

The Show of Shows was released the same year and featured a stereotypical setting with Nick Lucas and Myrna Loy.

Anna May Wong was the first Chinese American movie star, commonly featured in Hollywood films as supporting characters or "Dragon Lady" villainesses during the early 1920's. Anti-miscegenation laws prevented onscreen interracial relationships, forcing Wong to remain in stereotypical "vamp" roles until Daughter of the Dragon in 1931.

South Asian
--

1940's - 1960's
--