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Since the early days of Hollywood film, individuals of mixed racial and cultural heritage have served as powerful totems within filmic storyworlds, often epitomizing schisms within U.S. racial histories and race relations. Scholars of early and classical Hollywood have begun the work of documenting how such characters and mixed-race romantic
relationships were portrayed before and during the studio system era, often to tragic conclusions. Less well documented, however, is how mixed-race and bicultural characters, romances, and families have been portrayed since the breakdown of the studio system. In this time period, notably, miscegenation laws have been overturned in the United States and the numbers of mixed-race families and individuals has grown
exponentially. Mixed-race film characters similarly have often taken a more positive valence in the last few decades. Mixed-race and bicultural actors also are increasingly likely to include their mixed ethnic background as an element in their publicity today.
This anthology aims to compile scholarship that explores the place of mixed race in Hollywood film, both historically and in the contemporary era. What roles have mixed-race and bicultural characters played in Hollywood narratives? How have racially and culturally mixed couples and families been portrayed, and how have these portrayals evolved over the decades? And what are the implications of the casting of mixed-race actors, in both monocultural and bicultural roles, in recent films?
Please send abstracts by Sept. 30th.
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