Читать книгу America on Film - Sean Griffin - Страница 41

Whiteness is still the unspoken ideal in American movies. Yet, as our society continues to become more diverse, so too do our movie screens. During the 1990s, multiculturalism was increasingly endorsed and/or celebrated in America, culminating in the Federal Census Bureau allowing people to check off more than one racial category for the first time in 2000. Possibly in response, many people who regarded themselves as white in the 1990s began reconnecting to their ethnic heritages, taking pride in their Irish, Italian, or other roots. The rise of racially and ethnically diverse sitcoms in recent years – including Everybody Loves Raymond (1996–2005), Everybody Hates Chris (2005–09), The Goldbergs (2013–), Black‐ish (2014–), Fresh off the Boat (2015–), The Real O’Neals (2016–17), and Mixed‐ish (2019–) – seem to acknowledge this trend. That said, the last ten years has also seen the return of white nationalist discourses to mainstream American politics, suggesting that many white Americans feel threatened or frightened by these developments. As the nation continues to diversify in terms of race and ethnicity – a situation that most demographers acknowledge is happening – hopefully such overt displays of violent white supremacy will be pushed back into the margins of American society where they belong.

Nonetheless, actors, like all Americans, are coming from increasingly diverse backgrounds, including mixed‐race and mixed‐nation families. F. Murray Abraham, mentioned above, was born in Pennsylvania to parents of Italian and Syrian descent. Salma Hayek’s heritage is Lebanese and Mexican. Jessica Alba’s father is from Mexico, while her mother is of French and Danish descent. Rashida Jones, who played memorable roles in the hit TV comedies The Office (2005–13) and Parks and Recreation (2009–15), is the daughter of African American musician Quincy Jones and white actress Peggy Lipton. Other contemporary actors with mixed‐ethnic/racial backgrounds include Jennifer Beals, Halle Berry, Wentworth Miller, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Max Minghella, Keanu Reeves, Mariah Carey, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Vin Diesel. Like The Rock, Vin Diesel has become a major Hollywood action star, appearing in various films and franchises such as The Fast and the Furious (2001–), xXx (2002–), and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014–). Before his Hollywood successes, however, Diesel wrote and directed a short film about media stereotypes. Multi‐Facial (1999) follows Diesel’s character as he auditions for roles as an Italian American, a Latino, and a black rapper. His shifting personas in front of the casting directors (as well as his fellow actors) suggest that race and/or ethnicity is merely a matter of performance, a certain attention to and replication of behavioral traits and speech patterns. As a calling card, the film propelled Diesel into his Hollywood career, but it also chides the film industry (and especially casting directors) for perpetuating racial and ethnic stereotypes.

The growth in the number of performers who seem to transcend racial or ethnic categories may seem like a positive development in American film and television. Yet it should be recognized that industry interest in such individuals is often more due to economic interests than social or political ones. If some people regard, for example, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as white, and others as a person of color, then he potentially draws in multiple audiences. Furthermore, the public perception of such stars taps into the historically complex issues and opinions over passing and assimilation within white communities and communities of color. Still, the growing awareness and acceptance of multi‐ethnic identities further complicates what many usually assume as the unproblematic nature of whiteness.