Interracial Movies: The New Frontier?

Something New is a romantic comedy that exemplifies how a person can step out of their comfort zone and gain a new perspective or experience that changes their life.  This movie has left such a strong imprint on viewers that although it was released back in 2006, blogs and chat rooms today continue to buzz about the what ifs of Interracial dating as discussed in the film:

• What if I date someone  of a different race than me?
• What if I abandon my list of requirements and opened up myself to dating someone I would normally bypass?
• What would my friends & family think?

The movie has lived up to its title and has delivered a new, fresh way of thinking.

In the film, Kenya (played by the African American actress, Sanaa Lathan), creates a lengthy list of qualities that she wants in the perfect man, including the fact that this man must be black.  Subsequently, a blind date connects Kenya with Brian (played by the star of the TV drama, The Mentalist, Simon Baker), a white, free-spirited landscaper who is the polar opposite of what Kenya is looking for in every way.  Other than race, Brian does not work in the corporate world like Kenya, nor does he seem to be as ambitious.  Also, his carefree demeanor and lack of style is not something that the impeccably dressed and coiffed, Kenya, finds attractive in a mate.

So in short, besides being male, Brian does not check any boxes on Kenya’s list, a list by the way that no one has so far measured up to.

Black Women & White Men: On-Screen Romance is Not So New

Something New (2006)  showed an onscreen romance between a black woman and a white man which is still very uncommon for American audiences but it is certainly not new.

In 1957, the movie  Island in the Sun caused a huge stir as the movie tackled the theme of  race relations and interracial romance head on.  The film, which was based on a bestselling novel, featured not one, but two interracial relationships with an all star cast that included Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte and a rising star at the time named Joan Collins.

Dandridge played the part of Margot, a black store clerk who was in a relationship with Denis, a white governor’s aide (played by John Justin.)   It is reported that several passionate love scenes that were a part of the script were changed to simple embraces to downplay the scenes that were felt to be offensive to theater goers, not because of the passion, but because of the interracial display of affection.   

A year later, Dandridge was cast in the film Tamango (1958) which featured her as a slave and mistress of a slave ship’s captain.  This role ignited a fresh firestorm of controversy as Dandridge and the captain share the cinema’s first interracial kiss.  As a direct result the film was banned in the United States and some other countries.  It was finally released in the US about four years later.

The interracial community can give a lot of credit to Dorothy for paving the road to society’s acceptance of interracial unions.   Unfortunately Ms Dandridge lived a very short tumultuous life filled with drug & alcohol abuse, raising a child with a brain defect, spousal abuse and the extortion of her fortunes by an ex-husband that led to her bankruptcy.   Dandridge died in 1965 at the young age of 42 from a drug overdose.  Many suspect that Dandridge had planned to take her own life.  Dorothy Dandridge was a remarkable actress with a huge talent that opened the doors for other female actresses to consider these roles without the fear of backlash.

Interracial Movies: Featuring Black Women & White Men

Since then there have been many films that feature Black Women and white men as romantic interests.  The most notable was the first interracial kiss on a scripted TV series by Kirk (William Shatner) and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) on Star Trek: the Original Series in 1968.

SWIRL Matchmaking, an online dating site that uses professional matchmakers to match black women and white men,  has compiled an extensive database of films that show this type of relationship. It includes titles such as Guess Who? (2005) that features a relationship between Zoe Zaldana and Ashton Kutcher, Monster’s Ball (2001) with Halle Berry & Billy Bob Thornton and Angel Heart (1987) with Lisa Bonet and Mickey Rourke.  The database is powered by Amazon so visitors can read detailed plot summaries and reader reviews and also purchase titles via Amazon.

SWIRL Matchmaking’s CEO, Cella Nelson says, “Our database contains over 100 titles that feature Black Women and White Men as romantic interests and the list is growing every day.  We look forward to adding the recent Box Office hit, Joyful Noise (2012),  starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton.  The movie features an interracial relationship between Olivia (played by Keke Palmer) and Randy (Jeremy Jordan.)”

Click here to visit the BW/WM Movie database: http://www.bwwmmovies.com

About SWIRL Matchmaking

SWIRL Matchmaking is an online introduction agency that utilizes matchmakers to assist Black Women and White Men singles with finding loving relationships.

Professional matchmakers carefully review member profiles taking into consideration their stats, requirements for a mate and relationship deal breakers and selects and forwards quality matches to them. Members can then accept or decline the introduction.

Our service gives members a unique dating edge so they can spend valuable time going on dates rather than browsing through pages and pages of online profiles. You can visit the site at: http://www.swirlmatchmaking.com.

Word Cloud

A word cloud is a graphical representation of word frequency.  Words are arrayed such that the most important (more frequently used) words are bigger than the others. Below  is a picture of all of the words in this article. 

Article photo credits: IMDB