The film presents the paradigm shift regarding the relationship between the whites and the blacks as simply a reassessment of personal opinion in response to the changing times, in contrast to the drama and violence that this issue was associated with in reality (such as assassinations and black uprisings against police brutality). It puts the issue of white supremacy up for negotiation through presenting the premise of its own plot as a balancing act – putting both the white and the black family on even terms, neither being the clear ‘villain’. Dr. Prentice is lauded with accomplishments and displays of morality/fidelity so as to ‘make the conditions as ideal as they could be’ in Stanley Kubrick’s words. Mr. and Mrs. Drayton are similarly portrayed as both well-to-do in status and liberal in mindset, instilling the perspective of racial equality in their daughter. In so doing the audience is cordoned off any possible moralistic, subjective explanations and is forced to confront, in distilled clarity, the ‘question of different pigmentation’.
The answer to this question manifests as the audience realises that what exists in the way of a loving couple’s marriage is not either family or race, but rather the dated, yet normative, belief of white class superiority. The film reinforces this idea of ‘datedness’, implying that as this opinion gets reassessed, it would naturally dissolve and make way for the perspectives of the new generation. This is shown when comparing how Joey adamantly declares to her parents her unwavering expectation of their blessing with how her parents themselves are wrapped in indecision throughout the movie, debating the social and personal consequences of the marriage.
American Cinema 