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interracial relationships in the media
Aug. 12th, 2007 08:38 amToday is the last day of IBARW. I've really enjoyed this experience, and I am amazed by the many wonderful things my Friends have written in their journals. It's really been eye-opening. I'm glad to be trying to be part of the solution.
In honor of the last day, here is some info on interracial kisses in the media.
"Plato's Stepchildren" on Star Trek is commonly thought to be the first interracial kiss portrayed on television. If you do a google image search on interracial kiss, you'll mostly get images of Kirk and Uhura looking horrified. However, Wikipedia has a different story as regards what happened on the set of Star Trek and what it means.
"The episode is often cited as the "first interracial kiss" depicted on television, between James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), but the reality is not so straightforward. William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols recall in Star Trek Memories that NBC insisted their lips never touch (the technique of turning their heads away from the camera was used to conceal this); moreover, the episode portrays the kiss as involuntary, being forced by telekinesis.
Note also that "interracial" is used in this context to mean between black and white actors. There had been a number of truly interracial kisses on American TV before this, most notably the two leads of the long-running American sitcom I Love Lucy (white and Hispanic). Star Trek itself had also previously featured such "interracial" kisses between white and non-white actors (specifically Madlyn Rhue with Ricardo Montalban in "Space Seed", and William Shatner with France Nuyen in "Elaan of Troyius") but had drawn no comment. Furthermore, the 'taboo' of white and black actors kissing had already been broken by Buckwheat from the The Little Rascals (though that first aired as films) and NBC itself: Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. kissed in the 1967 TV special Movin' with Nancy (though on British television the event had happened even earlier, in the 1964 hospital drama Emergency Ward 10). And Finally, the statement applies to actors, not characters: stage productions and television presentations of Othello featured white actors in blackface kissing white actresses.
Despite this, when NBC executives learned of the kiss they became concerned it would anger TV stations in the conservative Deep South. At one point during negotiations, the idea was brought up of having Spock kiss Uhura instead, but William Shatner insisted that they stick with the original script.[citation needed] NBC finally ordered that two versions of the scene be shot -- one where Kirk and Uhura kiss and one where they do not. Having successfully recorded the former version of the scene, Shatner and Nichelle Nicols deliberately fluffed every take of the latter version, thus forcing the episode to go out with the kiss intact. There are, however, no contemporary records of any complaints or press stories commenting on the scene."
Here's a link to the picture of the kiss on Emergency Ward 10. I can't tell if the movie One Potato, Two Potato, which apparently was also released in 1964 and portrays an interracial marriage breaking up, had any kissing in it, but here's a link to the movie card which shows the actors in character.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. :)
In honor of the last day, here is some info on interracial kisses in the media.
"Plato's Stepchildren" on Star Trek is commonly thought to be the first interracial kiss portrayed on television. If you do a google image search on interracial kiss, you'll mostly get images of Kirk and Uhura looking horrified. However, Wikipedia has a different story as regards what happened on the set of Star Trek and what it means.
"The episode is often cited as the "first interracial kiss" depicted on television, between James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), but the reality is not so straightforward. William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols recall in Star Trek Memories that NBC insisted their lips never touch (the technique of turning their heads away from the camera was used to conceal this); moreover, the episode portrays the kiss as involuntary, being forced by telekinesis.
Note also that "interracial" is used in this context to mean between black and white actors. There had been a number of truly interracial kisses on American TV before this, most notably the two leads of the long-running American sitcom I Love Lucy (white and Hispanic). Star Trek itself had also previously featured such "interracial" kisses between white and non-white actors (specifically Madlyn Rhue with Ricardo Montalban in "Space Seed", and William Shatner with France Nuyen in "Elaan of Troyius") but had drawn no comment. Furthermore, the 'taboo' of white and black actors kissing had already been broken by Buckwheat from the The Little Rascals (though that first aired as films) and NBC itself: Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. kissed in the 1967 TV special Movin' with Nancy (though on British television the event had happened even earlier, in the 1964 hospital drama Emergency Ward 10). And Finally, the statement applies to actors, not characters: stage productions and television presentations of Othello featured white actors in blackface kissing white actresses.
Despite this, when NBC executives learned of the kiss they became concerned it would anger TV stations in the conservative Deep South. At one point during negotiations, the idea was brought up of having Spock kiss Uhura instead, but William Shatner insisted that they stick with the original script.[citation needed] NBC finally ordered that two versions of the scene be shot -- one where Kirk and Uhura kiss and one where they do not. Having successfully recorded the former version of the scene, Shatner and Nichelle Nicols deliberately fluffed every take of the latter version, thus forcing the episode to go out with the kiss intact. There are, however, no contemporary records of any complaints or press stories commenting on the scene."
Here's a link to the picture of the kiss on Emergency Ward 10. I can't tell if the movie One Potato, Two Potato, which apparently was also released in 1964 and portrays an interracial marriage breaking up, had any kissing in it, but here's a link to the movie card which shows the actors in character.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. :)