Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

Introduction and analysis of the movie

The story begins from the when Joana named as Joey arrives towards her family' living in place San
Francisco, from holiday in the Hawaii, with her boyfriend, extremely competent Doctor John, to see her
family. Christina joey’s mother runs exhibition space, or her dad, Matt Drayton, was publishing
company of an associated press. Joey is bachelor's degree graduate who plans to get married Dr. John,
Dark widowed who needs to travel towards Geneva, for job at WHO. Joanna asks to her boyfriend to
dinner at home, and connect boards plane from Angeles to Francisco unaware understanding Joanna is
white. Joey’s mom also welcomes their family friend Monsignor Ryan. The families talk about their son
and daughter's troubles all day and night.

"Cultures are equal," they say, and when the loving couple comes from two distinct racial origins,
conflict ensues. In 1967, systemic racism was major issue, but filmmaker intended to confront it head
on. The concerns of racism, discrimination, and interracial marriage are depicted in a serious, political
manner in his film.

Racism

Racial discrimination has long been big social issue, especially during the 1960s, when there was
institutionalized racism and violence, along with Martin Luther King Jr.'s human rights movement. John
and Joanna have been in taxi and drive to Joanna's family' house there at start of "Guess Who's Coming
to Dinner."

Because it was an unusual sight, the cab driver, who is white, gave them strange stares. Once they get at
their location, cab driver is practically insulted when John offers to pay him; it's as if receiving donations
from a "Black" guy is beneath him. Due to the obvious couple's skin color, the father instinctively
assumes the cab driver is the lover when they reach at the residence.

Relationship between races

This is a unique movie. The film's plot revolves around an interracial marriage in the same situation. In
the original, a daughter introduces her black boyfriend to her working class white parents. The influence
of civil marriage on the girl and groom's families' beliefs and views, as well as many of community, is
explored in this movie. Despite the fact that "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" was on the rampage in
year 1967, this film's themes are ethnic prejudice remain pertinent today, make it a great multi-cultural
lesson even for young sensibilities.

Differences in Culture

The main protagonists in this film depict the cultural divide and race conflict among Whites and African
Americans by having a relationship with one another (John Prentice and Joanna Drayton). All through
the film, the subject of racial and socioeconomic standing, as well as cultural identity, is explored. At the
time, the connection between the two adolescent individuals from distinct skin colors was considered
"unacceptable" and "taboo" by American culture. As Doctor, John faced discrimination from his peers,
particularly the Whites.
Despite the fact that Joey always presents him as Doctor Prentice, it appears that society does not
accept him simply and he is "black."

Marriage between people of different races

A cosmopolitan cast featured in the movie, which told the story of multicultural wedding, which was
quiet unlawful in certain parts of this Country at the time, discrimination, and ultimately, conditional
acceptance. The premise of the film revolved around the upheaval caused by the definitive response to
the mystery of who was coming to dinner is a beautiful American female or her loving Black fiancé. The
meal had been held at the house of the White woman's befuddled blood relation, despite become
sound progressives, and aiming to address logic of the not just the announcement on an apparently rash
intercultural love and approaching marriage, but also of their personal racial group prejudices.

Throughout the novel, the younger female's parents eventually soften their prejudices, accept their own
prejudices, and renounce their fierce opposition to the teenage person's interracial marriage.

The phrase in-group, used throughout behavioral economics to identify the group to which a company
thinks to be a part, is meaningful of this word cultural difference, albeit at here are big variation.

Ego-culture is a type of analytical framework that can be used to examine distinctions between socio-
cultural groups through evaluating literature, films, and other media. The phrases elite and out of class
exist in social psychology towards demonstrate perceptive principles that underpin human behavior.
The word around now has parallels with the concept of non-culture in cultural symbolism.

Conclusion

In end, they behaved inside racially accepting manner; yet, the backdrop of ethnic and political prejudice
had been allegedly approved, ignoring their seeming sudden awareness in the midst of the forced
multicultural conditions. If we understand that some weddings are far more accepted over others, and if
we believe that defying conventions is still tough, the film's issue is still important. When we read the
newspapers, we notice this virtually every day. Marriages are hampered by religion, sexuality, and
possibly still "a complexion issue," as Matt puts it in Guess who's coming to dinner. Bias or
discrimination thrive in the presence of strong and definitive sociocultural standards, which are difficult
to overcome. These are the social political factor and some thematic analysis on the movie by the
different research papers on this movie. The racism and class difference and complexion difference were
introduced in it as negative perspective because every human beings are equal whether they are black
or white or brown.

References:
Moore, A.L., 2007. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner: The Importance of Multiculturalism in the Aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. Multicultural Education, 15(2), pp.24-30.

Rianita, D. and Martin, L., 2020. Identity and Social Status in Language Used: An Explorative Study on
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner Tonight. Andalas International Journal of Socio-Humanities, 2(1), pp.15-
21.

Rédei, A.C., 2013. Cognition and stereotypes in Guess Who is Coming to Dinner: A semiotic and social
psychological perspective. In A Semiotic Reader: Papers from the Southern Semiotic Review Issues One
and Two (pp. 251-270).
Anderson, K.E., 2010. Film as a reflection of society: interracial marriage and Stanley Kramer’s Guess
Who’s Coming to Dinner in late 1960s America. SURG Journal, 4(1), pp.23-29.