ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the methodological and textual implications of ethnic/racial relationality, both 'within' and 'between' cultures, for mainstream narrative cinema. A multifocal analysis discerns submerged ethnic voices even in the absence of delegate characters. Ethnic image studies have often pitted isolated minorities against a fixed and hegemonic Euro-American power structure, usually within the framework of a single national formation. The blended images and sounds metaphorize the 'melting pot', vocalizing Euro-American history while silencing the African dimension even where it is most obvious. Films clearly reproduces the colonialist discourse by which Europe serves as global impresario or stage manager, while non-European cultures remain the raw material for the entertainment industry. The film can thus be seen as illustrating, in this reading, the process by which diverse ethnicities meet, clash, and interact in the streets of a city like New York. It is the musical's evocation of social harmony that makes the genre appropriate for discussing ethnicities-in-relation.
