For as long as movies and TV have been around, there have been countless stories about the subject of love. These stories can often inspire a very emotional reaction from audiences, either with happy feels or emotionally devastating ill-fated romances. The industry can also shed a light on important real-life issues, including those related to interracial relationships. And in my opinion there are 5 movies and TV romances with great discussions about interracial relationships.
Over the past few years, there's been a ton of discussion about the importance of representation, whether its queer stories or ones focused on people of color. The #OscarsSoWhite movement has helped to increase the discourse, although there are some acclaimed TV and film projects that focus on interracial relationships that do a great job at this. Let's break it all down
A Bronx Tale
While the discussion of representation in the media is fairly new, there are a number of projects that pre-date it and still managed to tell powerful stories about interracial relationships. Robert De Niro's 1993 drama A Bronx Tale is definitely in that category, and did a great job with approaching the film's sensitive subject matter. Specifically related to to the relationship shared between Calogero (Lillo Brancato Jr.) and Jane (Taral Hicks).
Set in 1968, we follow Italian-American Calogero and see as he falls in love with a Black girl named Jane. Their relationship is star-crossed, and while we see how much the young lovers like each other, Calogero ultimately is forced to deal with the inherent racism that he feels. And director/actor Robert De Niro deserves praise, especially as he also contributes to A Bronx Tale's Broadway musical adaptation.
Looking
Looking ran on HBO for two seasons, and its life was tragically much too short. Luckily for fans (who can stream the show with a Max subscription) the network ended up greenlighting a Looking movie to wrap up the story. And through all incarnations of the franchise, the main love story has been between Jonathan Groff's Patrick and Raúl Castillo's Richie. And the show definitely didn't shy away from conversations about their interracial relationship during that time.
Patrick falls for Richie immediately in the first episode, in one of the best TV meet cutes of all time. But Groff's protagonist makes some serious missteps along the way, including fetishizing Richie and focusing on whether or not his new lover was circumcised. Fetishism can definitely be a problem in the queer community, and Richie appropriately tells him off at first, before eventually opening up and sharing his culture with Patrick later on in the series.
The Big Sick
Michael Showalter's The Big Sick hit theaters back in 2017, and transformed Kumail Nanjiani from a character actor to a bonafide leading man. The movie is arguably one of the best romantic comedies in modern memory, thanks to the excellent performance and writing involved. And the story also told a different type of romance that had discussions about being in an interracial relationship.
Early on in The Big Sick, Kumail meets Emily (Zoe Kazan). They're originally an unlikely couple, as she pokes fun at the comedian and they originally decide to just have a NSA hook-up. But they fall for each other, which ends up conflicting with his strict Pakistani family, who want to see him marry another woman from the community. It's moving watching the way the film's couple connects due to their differences, and the conversations between Kumail and his family definitely offers an accurate look at generational differences, the immigrant experience, and (of course) interracial realtionships.
Girls
This one might not be what folks expected, but it's a romantic plot point that stuck with me in the years since it aired. Back in Season 2 of HBO's coming-of-age comedy Girls, Lena Dunham's protagonist Hannah briefly dates Sandy, played by the incomparable Donald Glover. He only appeared in two episodes, with his final one offering an excellent take on the issues that can sometimes arise within interracial relationships.
Girls has plenty of sex scenes during its run, including some intimate sequences between Hannah and Sandy. During this chat they come to a disagreement about Hannah's work as a writer, and things soon become untenable. Hannah tries to claim that she "doesn't see race," something that Glover's character finds unacceptable as a proud Black man. They have a hilariously uncomfortable fight which results in their break-up, and shows how harmful and downright ridiculous it is to "ignore" someone's race when dating, rather than embracing it.
West Side Story
Romeo and Juliet are the quintessential star-crossed lovers, and their story has been adapted countless times over the years. One of the most iconic is West Side Story (and the remake is streaming now with a Disney+ subscription), both the stage musical and the two movie adaptations. The story follows a young couple, Tony and Maria as they fall in love in 1957. But rather than the Capulets and Montagues, the forces keeping them apart are two rival gangs: the Jets, who are white and the Sharks, who are Puerto Rican immigrants.
While the material might be a bit dated by today's standards, it's a tale of an interracial relationship that has withstood the test of time and helped to change minds. It's touching seeing Tony try and understand Maria's culture and language, and how he tries to stop his Jet compatriots from resorting to violence. Unfortunately, we all know how tragic the ending of West Side Story ultimately is.
Obviously this list is a small one, and there have been many more interracial relationships shown on both television and film. Some other titles include Monster's Ball, the sci-fi series Sense8 (which is available with a Netflix subscription), and many many more. But I though the conversations in these five projects were particularly powerful and effective in the way they approaches these connections.
Hopefully we get more powerful stories of this nature sooner rather than later. In the meantime, check out the 2024 movie release dates as well as the TV premiere list to plan what you're watching next-- either on the small or silver screens.
