Racial Boundaries and American Cinema

When was the first time you saw or recognized race in a film? What if every film was about race?  How would that impact your movie experience and the way you see yourself and the world?  From its earliest beginnings, the history of American cinema has been inextricably---and controversially—tied to the racial politics and culture of the U.S.  The first blockbuster feature film in the U.S, Birth of a Nation (1915), presents a dramatization of the Civil War and celebrates the rise of the Klu Klux Klan. This film and others continue to influence racial and gendered representations of Americans in historical and social dramas over a hundred years later including images of African Americans, Asians and Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Latina/os, and Native Americans.  In addition to American history, films present visual images of racial interactions and boundaries of human relations that tackle taboo topics such as miscegenation, immigration, inter-racial relationships, blackface, and racial passing. We'll be watching a number of films which will include The Birth of a Nation, The Jazz Singer, Do the Right Thing, The Wedding Banquet, Imitation of Life, Mississippi Masala, My Family/Mi Familia, Crash, and the Fast and Furious films.