ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a history of the representation of interracial romance, and explores several films released in 2017 to see whether the representations are indeed new and what ideas they convey about mixed romances in Western culture. It provides a historic overview of mixed romance films, and explores how mixed romance representations in The Mountain Between Us, The Big Sick, and Get Out. A classical tragedy provided the audience with a familiar frame that facilitated the depiction of the sensitive subject mixed love represented. Get Out was a brave challenge of dominant film representations of Black and White people. An improved awareness about stereotypes in images, plots, and meanings among filmmakers and audiences is key to attain a respectful representation. Some movies explicitly challenged mixed romance stereotypes: a choice sometimes closely connected to the filmmaker’s personal view on gender and ethnic identity.
