Belittling the status of a person based on his gender or race is impossible and terrible in modern society, but it is the tendency of the present time. For a long time, such a belief as racism existed and humiliated people. People belonging to racial minorities suffered because of prejudices or false foundations of society. Racism can be traced in the cinematic sphere. For many years, leaders, public figures, and conscientious and respectable people have struggled with this belief, trying to improve the world, and to give it a second chance. This work presents an analysis of films related to racism, which confirms the ideology of Thomas Cripps about their viability in the 1940s and after.
Thomas Cripps, a researcher and educator, was a scientific associate at the National Humanities Center and specialized in the topic “The social history of blacks in American cinema from 1942 to the present”. He has been researching the rise of discrimination against Afro-Americans, particularly in films. He showed how certain events and roles portrayed in movies of 1900-1940 were openly racist and tried to fight the manifestation of racism in the country. The work Slow Fade to Black is his social commentary on changing race relations. In this way, he started the trend of combating racism expressed in films, and many directors followed his example.
Aesthetic morality about the battle for the soul of a girl is the expression of the movie The Blood of Jesus. “Racial cinema” gave the world a whole galaxy of talented and unfairly forgotten film directors, but perhaps the most successful after Michaud was Spencer Williams, the star of the television Amos and Andy Show. In the 1940s, he released nine full-length films. His debut work, The Blood of Jesus, tells a mystical story about the struggle of an angel and a demon for the soul of a deceased woman, exploring the depths and subtexts of African-American religiosity. According to Ferdinand, “Spencer Williams holds a prominent place among the creators of the race films that brought stories by and about African Americans to segregated Black audiences from the 1920s through the 1940s” (Ferdinand, 2022, para. 1). A sincere and poignant picture with a gospel soundtrack, beginning with the baptism scene and ending with death at the cross and resurrection, became the first “racial” film immortalized in the National Register of the Library of Congress. Time magazine included it in the 25 most important films about race relations in history. Thus, Spencer contributed to the fight against racism.
The Girl from Chicago by Oscar Micheaux is one more important step in the fight against racism. The film was shot entirely by an African-American cast. A federal agent falls in love with a girl while on a mission in Mississippi. This movie demonstrates the excellent nature of people without racial ranking, which again proves that all people are equal to each other, regardless of origin.
To sum up, I do agree with Thomas Cripps. I believe that everyone has the right to a free, peaceful, and dignified life in the conditions of today’s society. Regardless of racial origin, people should be able to self-actualize themselves using any method of social promotion. The given examples of the authors’ works of art presented in films of the 20th century demonstrate an attempt to combat racial prejudice and restore social justice.
Reference
Ferdinand, M. (2022). The blood of Jesus (1941) – Retroview by Marilyn Ferdinand. Alliance of Women Film Journalists. Web.