ABSTRACT
Few mainstream Hollywood films have set out so self-consciously and explicitly to offer a solution for racial exclusions of the American political economy as the 1983 Dan Aykroyd/Eddie Murphy comedy hit Trading Places. Certainly none have done so as entertainingly. Directed by John Landis, the movie was a huge success, the fourth best earner of the year (Box Office Mojo 2011), and, following on the heels of 1982's 48 Hours, was a key film in making Murphy the star who would for a decade be one of the top studio moneymakers in the country. Some critics see it as his best film, a far cry from such recent embarrassments as Imagine That, Meet Dave, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash. But Trading Places, hilarious as it is, is not innocent. Sam Goldwyn's famous recommendation that if you want to send a message you should call Western Union is here ignored, as of course is routinely the case in right-wing popular entertainment. Trading Places is a great example of conservative ideology in film, all the more effective in putting its message across precisely because of its enjoyability and superficially progressive antiracism.
