Watching American movies made in the 50s is wild because many of them are incredible works of art but also every time there’s a shot of a city bus all I can think is “that’s a segregated bus.”
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Movies in the 1950s US is like America without minorities. Their stories don't matter, and that's what a large percentage of Americans wish for America to return to.
In fairness, the ‘50s were a real turning point for Black actors- Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge & others broke through during that period. The days of playing servile characters were pretty much gone after that.
Not really. All of those were still basically "race movies" intended for black audiences, except those starring Poitier, who was the first true crossover black Hollywood actor. Things didn't really start to change for black film until the late '60s, after the Civil Rights & black power movements.
Movies from the 50s, 60s and 70s are great time capsules for Amateur Historians like me. Look how alcoholism and drug abuse in general was treated or how women were treated as second rate citizens or sex playthings or as breeding vessels or servants. No women professionals except nurses and teachers
So I was by myself on New Year’s Eve and put on Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire (love his dancing). I’d never seen it and thought it might be a nice nostalgic throwback. Yikes! A blackface minstrel show? I couldn’t even finish watching.
and yet, we must never forget them. they are snapshots of culture back then: a way to measure progress, to asses the present, to orient the path still ahead.
My wife reminds me that "Call Northside 777" starring Jimmy Stewart was set in Chicago. I believe it was based on a real Chicago case. But I can't think of others
Don't forget Warner Brothers cartoons. I love them, most of them are brilliant, hilarious & hold up after 70-90 years, but the racist ones are terrible. They hit everyone: blacks, Asians, Latinos, the indigenous...
[hangs head in shame] And most of the producers, directors and creators were Jewish.
You can also look at all the women in the 1950s films and think: “Wow, her right to birth control and an abortion wasn’t protected…and guess what, it’s the same in today’s America.”
I like seeing movies with street scenes from past years. It gives you a flavour of how people lived in the past. A bit morbidly. With some of the very old scenes you can be pretty sure that all the people appearing there are dead.
My teenaged daughter & I like watching TCM & I don’t know how many times we spotted Hattie McDaniel or Louise Beavers uncredited in movies from the ‘30s-‘40s.
Could be worse, Holiday Inn has a whole ass segment of Crosby & Reynolds doing black face for Lincoln's Birthday that gets edited out of TV versions, but is on every streaming version (attached and marked as graphic to avoid forcing it on others)
I reacted that way to Back to the Future, the one black character I saw was the restaurant worker who became a mayor, and it was a joke due to how unplausible it was.
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What I think of when I see movies from the 40s and 50s is all those people are dead.
that's what history is FOR
[hangs head in shame] And most of the producers, directors and creators were Jewish.
Now view films from 1974 - 2016 and think of it as the heyday of feminism in America.
She couldn't concieve of foreigners in roles other than servants or villains.