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Onto the research I did for my Masters By Research! I looked at the representation of interracial relationships in some Black film and television shows from the 1990s! My thesis examined The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Jungle Fever.
What became apparent is that, despite some merit and improvements, the films and shows examined by my thesis still fell short; especially in their stereotypical portrayals of Black women. Iâll do my best to briefly show how I reached that conclusion.
What must be noted is that popular culture exploring the topic of interracial relationships had previously centered the opinion of the white patriarch - think of Guess Whoâs Coming to Dinner, where the white father gets to decide if his daughter should marry interracially.
Thankfully the popular culture I explored for my research somewhat broke this pattern. Apart from The Bodyguard the television shows and films I analysed see the plot determined by the actions of the Black characters instead.
Waiting to Exhale provides a great example of this. By showing the lives of four âordinaryâ Black women, Waiting to Exhale highlighted not only the racial tension of the 1990s, but how Black women flourished despite this hardship, and worked to overcome it.
The film saw Black women at the front and center expressing the full range of human emotion. It also highlighted some of the complexities surrounding interracial dating and interracial affairs. Also - this scene.
Jungle Fever by Spike Lee also provides some insight into the racial climate of the 90s. Lee explained how the film was political and that its purpose was to âinspect and thereby demolish the sexual stereotypes of black man as stud and white women as beauty incarnate.â
The film also explored the sexual fetishisation Black men were and are subjected to. âYou were curious about Blackâ explains Flipper as he ends his affair with Angie.
The film explores eurocentric beauty standards and other issues. Notably, the film also tackles Police Brutality as âFlipperâ is presumed to be harming Angie as they jokingly fight in public.
The 1990s and of course preceding decades saw countless examples of law enforcement inflicting violence and brutality on black men believed to be hurting, or sexually engaging with, white women. Jungle Fever brought this to the big screen.
By allowing the Black characters to be central to their own narratives, these portrayals allow for conversations and perspectives previously ignored. However, it must also be noted that they still used tropes that denigrate African American women.
For example, in Jungle Fever when Drew finds out about her husband's interracial affair, she throws Johnâs possessions from the window of their home whilst using slang the character has not previously used. This has since become a well-known trope.
So, whilst Jungle Fever explores historic white violent reactions to interracial relationships, police bias and sexual fetishisation with nuance, the Black female characters are not written with this level of care.
The best scene came when the actresses were allowed to improvise.
Simply put, writers seemingly do not put as much respect and care into writing Black women, especially dark skin Black women, as they do writing Black male characters or discussing issues that impact that Black community as a whole.
Moreover, an episode of The Fresh Prince entitled âGuess Whoâs Coming to Marryâ provides some nuance and insight into the complexities of interracial relationships. Despite these merits, the character of Vi (Will's mum) is written as simply another angry Black woman.
Vi objects to her sister marrying a white man but instead of delving into the reasons Vi is fearful of her sister's proximity to white America, her concerns are dismissed. The writing ignores her concerns as the other characters joke about her flying back to Philly on a broom.
This could have been an opportunity to examine why a Black woman may be fearful of a loved one marrying interracially and the hate this may open her sister up to. Instead, the writing only showed her anger and many Black female characters are treated in this way.
Erica Chito Childs states âoften, the opposition of Black women is characterized as personal, and there is little acknowledgement for the larger issues that may be the root of Black womenâs perceived anger and hostility.â
Melissa Harris-Perry agrees and describes how the anger of Black women is often seen as emasculating and irrational, rather than a logical response to unfair circumstances, and some popular culture certainly falls into this narrative.
So, whilst these portrayals of interracial love may begin to capture some of the complexities, the way they depict African American women often make them the casualty of these representations.
Ultimately, though they all have elements worthy of praise, the popular culture examined does fail to provide a nuanced look at the topic of interracial relationships due to the offensive portrayals of Black female characters.
This is a brief summary of my 40,000 word thesis and as such has neglected much of the contextual analysis so feel free to fire questions my way!
