5/5/11

Surprise! Old Hollywood had morals and stuff.


I've been consistently amazed at how progressive some of these old films have been. By today's standards, of course, they still have a long way to go. But Cimarron, released in 1931, promotes Native American rights and interracial marriage. I did not see that coming.

When it comes to sexism, on the other hand, we haven't exactly come a long way just yet. Every female character in the movie is either judgmental and bigoted or, in the case of Dixie Lee, a hooker with a heart of gold. (I'm calling "Dixie Lee" as the name of my next pet, by the way.) Yancy Cravat, played by Richard Dix in some truly distracting eyeliner, is the moral compass for the whole town, including his wife Sabra, whose wishes he ignores in order to do the important work of settling the West. (At one point, Yancy argues that white men stole Native Americans' land, which complicates that "noble" goal.) In another unexpected turn, however, Sabra uses her time alone to turn Yancy's newspaper into a thriving business and even wins a seat in the state senate. Still irksome, but a nice change from, say, Clara Bow's She's All That-style transformation and subsequent catfight over her man in Wings.

Perfect, it is not. But it's nice to discover that I'd underestimated us, as a country. And I hope it'll be even more gratifying to keep watching our views evolve.

In the meantime, here's backstage footage of the cast. Richard Dix is the one who can't stop wiping the eyeliner off his face, naturally.

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