Social Equality and Race Discrimination
Of all the themes suggested I chose the one concerning race discrimination. In my opinion, the reasons for this choice are quite fair. The problem has existed since the slavery times, and even today in 2016 it still remains a topic of interest. Although, the authorities diligently try to overcome the problem of racism, in many countries, including the United States, the race inequality still remains an unsolved problem. There might be new laws and rules introduced to protect the minorities. Still the considerable percent of the society stays on reluctant to accept the equality of the races. The fact that strongly afflicted me and urged me to choose this particular theme was the recent FBI hate crime statistics. According to it, 47% of all hate crimes occur due to the racial intolerance.
I will not meticulously reckon on why this problem appeared, developed and the results it has caused. In this paper I will present the three expressions of racism in different forms of art. As you may know, the race discrimination has been considered in many different disciplines from various angles and points of view. The disciplines I have chosen to discuss are music, cinematograph and literature. I assume these ones are the most popular in the modern world. Everyone listens to music, adding new favorite songs to his playlist, each individual has definitely seen a movie, and I bet there is not even one person who has never read a book in his life. Therefore, these forms of art are the most common in modern culture.
I selected “Guess Who's Coming to Dinner” as the example of the films centered around race discrimination. It is an American drama-comedy directed by Stanley Kramer, released in 1967. At that time the measures taken to eradicate the racism were only at their initial stage. Thus, the movie became a box-office success and a must-see for everyone who wanted to comprehend the problem and the attitude to black people. The film recounts a story of a white girl Joanna Drayton that comes from the upper-class family. She returns to her parents’ house with her new fiancé: a widowed black physician John Prentice and announces their engagement. Her parents, that taught her to be tolerant and racism-free since childhood become deeply upset, which absolutely bewilders Joanna. Even their black housemaid is aghast by the news, suspecting that John wants to marry a white woman to get above himself.
Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”
To make a long story short, the movie depicts how the actual attitude to black people was. Joanna’s parents taught her to be kind and generous and treat all people equally, regardless of their race or ethnicity. However, when the matter touched upon their family, they became reluctant to accept their daughter’s decision due to the stereotypes imposed by society.
Stanley Kramer reflects on interracial marriages as the key …
