Comparing 1967 Film Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

Words: 1943
Pages: 8

World War II’s influences on the film industry cannot be denied. After the war Europe was in shambles, soldiers were coming back home to a different way of life, the film studios were in trouble with the Supreme Court and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began to wreak havoc in Hollywood. From these difficult circumstances, new genres in film began to emerge. Inspired by Neorealism, an Italian film movement that stemmed from Italy’s defeat, these new films often depicted real-life situations as opposed to fantasy. From Neorealism came Film Noir, movies that depicted betrayals, violence, and lies, and The Social Problem Film, a genre which took a long hard look at societal ills like alcoholism, psychiatric issues and even …show more content…
was positively affected by World War II. The film’s cast includes the Drayton family and the Prentice family, two very different groups of people who come together because Joey Drayton, a white girl from a well-off family, fell in love with and plans to marry John Prentice, a prominent doctor who is African-American. The film has plenty of comedy, romance, and drama as the film tends to focus on the families’ reactions instead of the lovers and it was without question a relevant film in 1967 when it premiered. Reflecting the changing culture in America during the 1960’s, life in the United States was seemingly going well. The Drayton’s and the Prentice’s seem to be enjoying, at the very least, a middle class lifestyle with the biggest worry in their lives being the quick marriage between the Drayton’s white daughter and the Prentice’s African-American son. The film remains iconic today because it depicts interracial marriage in a positive way and is deemed extremely controversial as well as a historical piece on cinematic history because in 1967, interracial marriage was still illegal in 17 states and continued to be until June 12, 1967, six months before the film was released, when anti-miscegenation laws were outlawed by the Supreme Court in the Loving v. Virginia court