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Many believe that television and film only began to embrace tolerance and inclusivity in the latter half of the 20th century. Prior to that, prejudice and suppression were dominant. However, the reality is more nuanced, with artistic exceptions and surprising content approvals emerging much earlier than one might expect.
10. Pioneering Films Catering to Black Audiences
While many associate the first films targeting black audiences with the 1970s blaxploitation era, the African-American film industry actually began in the early 1900s. From 1910 to 1950, over 500 films were produced with predominantly black casts. These “race movies,” often directed by African-Americans, showcased black protagonists in genres ranging from love stories to cowboy adventures.
Several of these films tackled bold themes that clashed with censorship norms. For instance, Oscar Micheaux’s 1920 masterpiece Within Our Gates follows a Southern woman’s journey to the North to fund a school. Along the way, she faces numerous challenges, including a near-miss with a reckless white driver. The driver attempts to compensate with a donation but faces backlash for supporting black education.
Within Our Gates sparked significant controversy by deliberately countering the racist themes of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 hit Birth Of A Nation. For instance, while Griffith’s film depicted “good blacks” as naive and submissive to whites, Within Our Gates introduced a similar character who breaks the fourth wall to express his frustration with systemic oppression. It also flipped a pivotal scene, showing a white man attempting to assault a black woman, and portrayed lynching as an unequivocal evil, starkly contrasting Griffith’s glorification of the KKK. The film faced widespread bans, unsurprising given censors like Lloyd T. Binford of Tennessee, who opposed films promoting racial equality well into the 1950s.
Christian-themed films also found a robust audience among African-Americans, with Spencer Williams’ works standing out as the most notable. Among these is the 1941 classic The Blood Of Jesus, which follows a woman accidentally shot by her atheist husband. She then experiences a vivid dream about resisting temptation as a nightclub performer. This film was later added to the National Film Registry for its cultural importance.
9. A Pro-Labor Film Released During the Height of Political Tension
By 1953, the Red Scare had reached its peak, leading to the blacklisting of numerous left-leaning Hollywood figures. Just a year earlier, a three-year strike by Mexican-American miners in Grant County, New Mexico, concluded amid threats of violence and accusations of communist ties. The strike gained substantial support from the community’s women, who took over picketing duties after a court order barred men from participating.
During this turbulent period, director Herbert J. Bieberman, fresh from a six-month prison stint for refusing to disclose his political affiliations, joined forces with producer Paul Jarrico and screenwriter Michael Wilson to create a film about the strike. This project was a bold move, as it involved a blacklisted writer, director, and producer, and centered on a union accused of communist leanings. To add to the challenges, some cast members were also blacklisted. The production faced numerous obstacles, including the deportation of the lead actress and widespread refusal by film companies to handle the movie.
The film that emerged, Salt Of The Earth, isn’t widely recognized but holds significant respect. With a cast of non-professional actors who deliver authenticity, it lacks star power but boasts a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It remains one of the boldest and most courageous dramas ever produced.
8. The Groundbreaking Nudist Film
Naturism, often referred to as nudism, became associated with the growing acceptance of alternative lifestyles and their depiction in media. This connection was unintentionally highlighted in the 1954 film Garden Of Eden, produced by Walter Bibo.
The story follows a woman escaping her controlling father and discovering a naturist community. Serving as a subtle promotion for such lifestyles, the film included extensive nudity (exclusively female) during an era of intense sexual repression. This repression was so extreme that a 20-year-old woman, accompanied by her husband and featured in the movie, was barred from watching it in theaters.
Garden Of Eden wasn’t the pioneer in naturist cinema, but it sparked a landmark legal case. Judge Sam Driver ruled that nudity itself isn’t obscene and emphasized that the film aimed to depict a wholesome, alternative lifestyle rather than provoke titillation. This decision, however, opened the floodgates for exploitative imitations that thinly veiled their intentions under the guise of promoting naturism.
7. The Groundbreaking Feature Film (Including Nudity)
While Garden Of Eden wasn’t the first film to include nudity for legal public viewing, the distinction of featuring full frontal male nudity goes back to a 1911 release. This film also holds the title of being arguably the first continuous, feature-length movie ever screened.
This film was an Italian interpretation of Dante’s Inferno. Far from a low-budget exploitation flick, it was a lavish production for its time, requiring three directors to manage its complexity. The special effects remain impressive even by today’s standards. The movie primarily depicts the torments of damned souls, including scenes of naked individuals being whipped by demons.
Not only was this the first Italian feature-length film, but it was also the first movie over an hour long to be screened in a single sitting in the US. Initially, there were doubts about audiences enduring an hour-long film, but the mix of violence and nudity proved irresistible, making the movie a commercial success.
6. A Film on Integration Released During the Integration Era
While Roger Corman is often associated with campy B-movies like Sharktopus and Death Race 2000, his 1962 production The Intruder remains one of his most daring and critically acclaimed works. Featuring William Shatner as Adam Cramer, the film follows a troublemaker who infiltrates a Southern town called Caxton. Exploiting local anger over federally enforced school integration, Cramer incites rallies and protests, escalating tensions to the brink of violence against black students.
Corman chose to film in Southeastern Missouri, a region still resistant to integration, which led to the cast and crew facing harassment and death threats. After shooting a KKK rally scene, they avoided returning to their hotels due to rumors of planned attacks. Despite these challenges, the film was groundbreaking, predating similar works like Mississippi Burning by decades. Critics, including Bosley Crowther of the New York Times, praised the film for its courage. Had it achieved greater success, Corman might have produced even more progressive films.
5. The Pioneering Anti-War Film
Films were quickly adopted by governments as propaganda tools to rally citizens for war. For instance, a propaganda film from the Spanish-American War in 1898 showed Americans removing a Spanish flag in Cuba. However, the idea of the military collaborating on an anti-war film seems unlikely, especially in the early 20th century during one of history’s deadliest conflicts. Yet, French director Abel Gance achieved this with his 1918 war epic, J’Accuse.
The film centers on a love triangle involving two soldiers and the woman they both adore. One soldier, a poet, experiences visions of French war casualties rising from their graves to question whether their sacrifices were in vain. This theme resonated deeply with World War I anxieties, though Gance intended it as a broader critique of war. To add authenticity, Gance filmed actual soldiers on leave for the scenes of the dead marching. The French military even assisted in capturing real war footage. Tragically, many of the soldiers who portrayed the dead later died in combat.
4. The First Film to Depict a Positive Interracial Relationship
During the late 1910s and 1920s, the U.S. experienced intense xenophobia, exemplified by laws like the 1924 Immigration Act, which restricted Asian immigration. Surprisingly, 1919 saw the release of Broken Blossoms, the first film to portray a positive interracial relationship between a white woman and an Asian man. Directed by D.W. Griffith, known for the racist Birth Of A Nation, the film appears to be part of his effort to atone for his earlier work by creating anti-racist films like Broken Blossoms and Intolerance, despite the financial success of catering to prejudice.
By modern standards, Broken Blossoms falls short of political correctness. The Asian protagonist, Cheng Huan, is portrayed by a white actor and referred to as “the yellow man.” However, Huan is a compassionate character who travels to America to spread Buddhist teachings of peace and strives to rescue Lucy, his love interest, from an abusive household. This portrayal was far more progressive than the prevailing stereotypes of Asian-Americans at the time. Despite its controversial context, Broken Blossoms achieved significant success, though it did little to transform broader racial attitudes.
3. The Earliest Surviving Film Featuring a Black Cast
The oldest surviving film featuring a nearly all-black cast (with a few white extras) is an incomplete 1913 comedy titled Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (likely a working title). Starring Bert Williams, a highly popular African-American comedian of the era, the movie depicts his efforts to outshine romantic competitors during a day out with his love interest. Predictably, the story concludes with Williams winning the girl and marrying her.
While the film’s casting was progressive for its time, modern viewers may find it peculiar, especially since Williams wears blackface throughout. This was a practice he had long embraced as part of his successful duo, “Two Real Coons,” which claimed to offer a more authentic blackface performance since the actors were black. George Walker, his partner, summed it up: “We believed that since blackface acts were in demand, we should claim our rightful place by nature’s law.” Despite containing some racially insensitive humor, curator Ron Magliozzi of the Museum of Modern Art, who rediscovered the film in 2014, suggested it was likely shelved because it “wasn’t racist enough” for the period.
2. The Pioneering Pro-LGBTQ Film
If the first gay kiss on TV didn’t occur until the 1990s, one might assume pro-LGBTQ films are a recent phenomenon. However, the first movie advocating for homosexual rights dates back to 1919. Different From The Others tells the story of a violin teacher blackmailed over his sexuality, marking the first time a film condemned homophobia rather than homosexuality. The German film even features a sexologist explaining that homosexuality is neither harmful nor a disease.
1919 was an unusually progressive year for cinema, with both Different From The Others and Broken Blossoms breaking barriers. However, Different From The Others was banned by 1920, and the Nazis later attempted to destroy it. Sadly, only 50 minutes of the film survive today. In 2013, a Kickstarter campaign funded its restoration, using scripts, notes, and photos to recreate the film as closely as possible to the original.
1. The Simpsons Pioneered the First Gay Kiss on Network TV
While the first gay kiss on Network TV is often credited to a 1991 episode of L.A. Law, The Simpsons arguably beat them to it. In the 1990 episode “Simpsons And Delilah” from season two, Homer Simpson grows a full head of hair and quickly rises to an executive position. He is mentored by Karl, voiced by Harvey Fierstein, a prominent gay icon. When Homer loses his hair again, Karl tries to motivate him with a kiss on the lips and a pat on the back, though his efforts fall flat.
The reaction to this groundbreaking moment? Surprisingly, it went largely unnoticed, much to Matt Groening’s frustration. The scene was played for laughs, and Homer’s lack of reciprocation likely contributed to the lack of uproar. At the time, The Simpsons faced controversy, but it was mostly over trivial matters like Bart Simpson being a troublemaker or merchandise with slogans like “Underachiever and proud of it!” It wasn’t until the 1994 Roseanne episode, where Roseanne kissed a lesbian, that such a moment sparked significant backlash, prompting ABC to issue a parental warning. It’s fascinating what stirs public outrage.
