Exploring the “Tragic Mulatto” Stereotype Through Film History

Robert W. Pineda-Volk
Shippensburg University

     Considerable attention has been given to the prevalence and persistence of black stereotypes in U. S. culture. Yet one of these identified stereotypes, the “tragic mulatto,” has received relatively cursory attention from scholars and social critics of film and popular culture. In a society historically bent in maintaining rigid social boundaries, this omission is highly problematic. This paper begins to address this shortcoming by examining the construction of this image in popular film and analyzing its political functions and sociological impact in terms of race, gender, and class.
The Birth of a Nation and the Rise of the Cinematic Society
     Norman Denzin defines the “cinematic society” as “that twentieth century social formation that knows itself through the cinematic apparatus” (1995:1), pointing to the central place that movies hold in defining who we are, at both the individual and societal levels, in terms of norms, values, and perception of reality. Though later challenged by television, its striking visual component and widespread accessibility fostered the rapid incorporation as a dominant purveyor of cultural information. As in any formation, the formative stages - in this case the early decades of the last century - play a crucial role in determining its historical trajectory.
     Within this context, D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation emerged not only as the most important movie of the era in terms of the craft of filmmaking, but also it is unsurpassed in its sociological impact on race relations. Through the struggles and suffering of the Cameron family in the plantation South, and misguided complicity of the Stoneman family from Pennsylvania, it presents an historical account of the Civil War and Reconstruction periods largely based on white southern mythology. As such, this film, based on Thomas Dixon’s novel, The Clansman, propagated several themes including:

• The antebellum plantation was a glorious place where masters were kind and slaves were happy and content.
• The Civil War was a misguided attempt by the North to impose its will on the South, in violation of states’ rights.
• The defeat of the Confederacy led to a state of anarchy under black control.
• The Ku Klux Klan was a heroic organization that restored peace, tranquility, civilization and white control to the South
• Racial purity, embodied in white womanhood, should be protected at all cost.

    But embedded in the film are the black stereotypes that are most commonly identified by scholars and social critics. Bogle (2001), for example, defines the loyal “tom,” foolish “coon,” big and bossy “mammy,” the savage “buck,” and, most importantly for this analysis, “tragic mulatto” as the main stereotypes. While most, if not all, of these images precedes The Birth of a Nation in film, stage, and other forms of popular culture, so powerful were the effects of this movie in shaping future black depictions, that they may be interpreted as archetypical in form.
     Focusing on the subject of this paper, then, The Birth of a Nation portrays two mulatto characters, Lydia and Silas Lynch, both from the North who are able to impose their evilness on the South through their relations with the powerful politician, Austin Stoneman. Lydia, Stoneman’s housekeeper and mistress, is the sinister and manipulative force behind Stoneman’s anti-slavery and integrationist policies. Indeed the titles state that she is the “weakness that is to blight a nation” (Leab 1973:27). Lynch is portrayed as Stoneman’s point man in Reconstruction South. Eventually elected Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina, he oversees the imposition of black political domination, in the South, with all of its disastrous consequences. In the end, he shows his true colors by kidnapping Stoneman’s daughter Elsie after she rejects his romantic advances, and plans a “forced marriage.” Confronted with this prospect, the elderly Stoneman abandons his integrationist views. In a climatic scene, the Stonemans are rescued by the Ku Klux Klan, led by Elsie’s true love, Ben Cameron, and the natural order of things is restored to the South.
The Social Construction of the Tragic Mulatto
     The Birth of a Nation set the stage and limitations for the depiction of black characters, as well as racial themes, in future commercial films. Sexualized and ambitious, these blackfaced mulatto caricatures served as a warning against any kind of integration or miscegenation. Yet film history is masked by complexity, and the development of these stereotypes is no exception, warranting a closer look at how meaning was constructed along with changing historical conditions.
Making the “Tragic Mulatto” Mulatto
     A key question when examining this stereotypical depiction involves the mechanisms utilized to define characters as being of mixed black/white heritage. This question is particularly interesting given the precariousness of definitions of race. The suggestion here is that there are generally three ways that mulattoes get defined, which may exist in combination.
     Plot – a film’s narrative may clarify characters’ mixed ancestry. In these cases “passing” is usually part of the storyline. Pinky (1949), Imitation of Life (1934 and 1959), and Lost Boundaries (1949) are some examples.
     Skin Complexion – usually light complexion is a clear indication of mixed ancestry of African Americans. Thus, a black actor with European features may signify mulatto status. Indeed, frequently white actors portray black characters as in the case of three of the films cited above, the second Imitation of life, Pinky, and Lost Boundaries.
     Actors – Specific actors are known as being of mixed ancestry and become associated with mulatto roles. Lena Horne, Nina Mae McKinney, and Fredi Washington stand out as examples. This definitional device is especially important in cases where passing is absent from the narrative.
Making the “Tragic Mulatto” Female
     The disappearance of the male mulatto after The Birth of a Nation appears to have missed scholars’ attention. (The sole exception to this trend occurs in Lost Boundaries where an entire family lives as white.) Bogle asserts that the political fallout to The Birth of a Nation, and the brutish “buck” thirsting after white women in particular, of whom he considers Silas Lynch to be, attributed to the absence of sensual black men in films until the 1970’s (2001:13-17). While lumping the male mulatto into this category is convenient, the persistence of the other stereotypes, including the female mulatto, underscores the limits of this explanation. Thus a deeper look at the female tragic mulatto image is in order.
     To more fully understand the impact of the tragic mulatto, the image must be contrasted with other female stereotypes; it is not constructed in isolation. Features of the “male gaze,” with the emphasis on the physical, and inclination toward spectacle vis-à-vis women, adds to the significance of this comparison. The “mammy” plays a pivotal role in this construction. Physically and temperamentally, the mammy represents the antithesis of the white mistress of the house (Riggs 1987). Large and dark, she is loyal, sometimes loud and boisterous in a well-intended way, but always obedient to the master’s family. She is happy and content doing domestic chores. At the same time, she plays the domineering role in her own family and keeps everyone in line. Her physical contrast is magnified through filming techniques as she is seen as ugly and asexual, never posing a threat to the very white and frail females of the household, who represent purity and virtue, the (white) virgin not the (dark) vamp.
Making the “Tragic Mulatto” Tragic
     Enter the tragic mulatto whose depiction turns both the mammy and white virgin stereotypes on their heads. In contrast to the mammy, she is portrayed as light-skinned, thin, physically attractive, desirable and sensual. Unlike the white virgin; she is ambitious and is morally suspect, willing to use her sexuality to manipulate men and gain power. She emerges as the “exotic other.” Thus, her presence threatens the extant race and gender hierarchies. Against this backdrop, the mammy – and those characteristics associated with her- comes to represent wholesome goodness, family and religion, peace and contentment – the hearth. The mulatto, on the other hand, represents discontent, temptation, vice, and ultimately, grief: the ingredients of tragedy.
     When addressing the subject of miscegenation directly, “passing” is the dominant theme. Unsatisfied with the opportunities and prospects placed on their lives as black persons, they live as whites. Inevitably, their deep dark secret is discovered with harsh consequences. Imitation of Life (1959) provides an excellent example as Sarah Jane (played by white actor Susan Kohner), cognizant of white privileges, responds by abandoning her mother to live as a white person. She is beaten by her white boyfriend, gets fired from her job as an “exotic” dancer, and causes her mother’s death. Typical of these films, redemption and self-fulfillment occur when these mulattoes return to their black roots and true selves. As critics have noted, these films send a clear warning about the danger of interracial relations.
     But passing and miscegenation need not be present as themes for these messages to be present. In the all-black musical Cabin in the Sky (1943), the forces of heaven and hell are embodied in the personas of Ethel Waters, as wife Petunia, and the temptress, Lena Horne’s Georgia Brown, as they tangle for the soul of the Little Joe Jackson. In The Emperor Jones (1933), Brutus Jones (Paul Robeson) leaves his country woman and steady job as a Pullman car porter in pursuit of the high life, and all of its vices, and love interest Ondine, played by Fredi Washington. In both Carmen Jones (1954) and Hallelujah! (1929), good men are also led astray in pursuit of seductive light–complected females, played by Dorothy Dandridge and Nina Mae McKinney, respectively. In the end both are killed by their lovers because of their promiscuous ways.
Discussion
     Thus far this paper has examined the various devices though which the “tragic mulatto” stereotype became defined as female, mulatto, and tragic. Her very presence challenges the racial and gender hierarchies of the times. A pressing question is what happens to this image with the collapse of interracial sexual prohibition in U.S. society, and cinema. The suggestion here is that much of this social construction remains, albeit in modified form.
The Gaze, the Look, and the Other
     Scholars investigating culture and identity have observed that othering, the process where members of the hegemonic culture see themselves as not being like others, involves dichotomizing, aggregating people into two groups while denying the possibility of blending (see Rosenblum and Travis 2000). The tragic mulatto’s presence challenges the “one-drop rule,” where any non-European ancestry makes one nonwhite. However, this dilemma is resolved through narrative as the only possibility of finding oneself and contentment entails returning to ones black roots, thus reinforcing the rule.
     At the same time, any analysis of this the tragic mulatto stereotype would be incomplete without addressing the subject of objectification. Since Laura Mulvey’s (1975) groundbreaking work, it has been widely recognized that mainstream films are shot through a male lens, and that produces the male gaze with women becoming the object of voyeuristic pleasure (see Kaplan 1983:11-19). But Guerrero (1993) has pointed out that there is also ethnic looking. In other words, the lens is not just male, but white, to which can be added “middle class.” The tragic mulatto lies at the intersection of this process. She is not only portrayed as an object of beauty and desire, she is tainted with the mystery of animalistic lure. Ambitious, she is willing use her sexuality to cross race and class boundaries.
Tragic Mulattoes and Contemporary Cinema
     The formal and informal bans against interracial sexual relationships collapsed with the political and social gains of the Civil Rights Movement, concomitant with greater acceptance of interracial couples in U.S. society. Yet there are a number of ways in which the legacy of the tragic mulatto remains in contemporary cinema.
     One way is the prevalence of the white male lens. In nearly every Hollywood movie depicting interracial romance, a white male is coupled with a nonwhite female, in opposition to the national trend. In terms of African Americans, she is light-skinned, relatively thin, and sensual - the exotic other. Notable examples include such films as The Bodyguard (1992), Zebrahead (1992), Monster’s Ball (2001), Bullworth (1998), and the current Something New (2006). Sociologically, not only does this pattern reflect white male control of the production process, but is ultra-conservative in that it conforms to the paternalistic race relations (van den Berghe 1967) extant in the pre-Civil War South, where white masters had sexual control over black slaves.
     Another way is the continued association of the mammy and mulatto with goodness and evil. This mammy-mulatto dichotomy is present in The Color of Purple (1985). Celie, played by Whoopi Goldberg, is dark-complected, sexually unattractive, docile, and gets satisfaction doing household chores. Shug Avery, on the other hand, light-skinned and sensual, abandoned the country life, as well as her minister-father’s church, for a singing career, complete with all of its nightclub vices. In the end, she returns to her roots and is reunited with her father’s church, much like many of the previous celluloid mulattoes.
     Guerrero (1993) and Winokur (1991) astutely observe that in today’s socio-political climate, racial stereotypes have emerged through allegory. While the Star Wars and Gremlins series are clear examples of this tendency, the mulatto character is particularly relevant to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1989), where in the world of humans and “toons,” Jessica portrays the exotic other, the temptress who drives males insane (Winokur 1991: 204-09). In this form “passing” reemerges as a theme, along with all of the traits and messages identified above. An interesting note, however, is that Silas Lynch, the male tragic mulatto, returns in the form of Christopher Lloyd, a toon in human disguise, who commits murder in a dastardly plot to destroy “Toontown.”

References

Bogle, Donald. 2001. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Coons. New York: Continuum International Publishing.
Denzin, Norman K. 1995. The Cinematic Society. London: SAGE Publications.
Guererro, Ed. 1993. Framing Blackness. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Kaplan, Ann E. 1983. Women in Film: Both Sides of the Camera. New York: Methuen Inc.
Leab, Daniel G. 1975. From Sambo to Superspade. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Mulvey, Laura. 1975. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Screen 16(3):6-18.
Riggs, Marlon T. 1987. Ethnic Notions. (Documentary). Berkeley: California Newsreel.
Rosenblum, Karen E. and Toni-Michelle C. Travis. 2000. The Meaning of Difference. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
van den Berghe, Pierre L. 1967. Race and Racism. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Winokur, Mark. 1991. “Black Is White/White Is Black: ‘Passing” as a Strategy of Racial Compatibility in Contemporary Hollywood Comedy.” Pp. 190-211 in Unspeakable  Images, edited by
Lester D. Friedman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.