Racism in early American film

The industry of the United States grew slowly at first. Over time, plots began to develop and movies became better produced. In 1915, the film The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith was released. The plot of the film basically showed that Ku Klux Klansmen were the saviors to the nation and that they would help to bring back a stable government.[1] The movie also included the use of actors in blackface. Over time, racism became embedded into the film of Hollywood. In 1927, the film The Jazz Singer was released. One of the central themes was the use of blackface by character Jack Robins. Scholar Corin Willis said about the movie:

In contrast to the racial jokes and innuendo brought out in its subsequent persistence in early sound film, blackface imagery in The Jazz Singer is at the core of the film's central theme, an expressive and artistic exploration of the notion of duplicity and ethnic hybridity within American identity. Of the more than seventy examples of blackface in early sound film 1927–53 that I have viewed (including the nine blackface appearances Jolson subsequently made), The Jazz Singer is unique in that it is the only film where blackface is central to the narrative development and thematic expression.[2]

In 1921, Paramount Pictures released the Rudolph Valentino movie The Sheik. The movie itself was a box office success but showed Arabs as savage beasts who auction off their own women. The film was followed up a few years later with The Son of the Sheik, which also portrayed racist overtones. Rudolph was even asked by a New York Times reporter once whether or not his well-off character could fall for a savage (an Arab woman). To Valentino's credit, he responded by saying: "People are not savages because they have dark skins. The Arabian civilization is one of the oldest in the world...the Arabs are dignified and keen brained."[3] In his essay "Arabs in Hollywood: An Undeserved Image", Scott J. Simon argues that of all the ethnic groups portrayed in Hollywood films, "Arab culture has been the most misunderstood and supplied with the worst stereotypes":

Rudolph Valentino's roles in The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926) set the stage for the exploration and negative portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood films. Both The Sheik and The Son of the Sheik represented Arab characters as thieves, charlatans, murderers, and brutes.[4]

He also singled out A Son of the Sahara (1924) as "the strongest subconscious attack on the Arab culture of all the Arab movies of the 1920s".[4]

Racism against East Asian peoples in Hollywood roles also began in the 1920s. Charlie Chan (actually based on the real Chang Apana), a supposed "good Asian" was used as an antithesis to Fu Manchu, the so-called "bad Asian". In 1923, the British silent film serial The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu came out. This movie ushered in the beginning of decades of movies with the Fu Manchu theme. In 1929, the American film The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu starring Warner Oland came out. The Show of Shows was released the same year and featured a stereotypical setting with Nick Lucas and Myrna Loy.

Several Hollywood movies continue to portray Asian destinations as underdeveloped or of being lived in by savages. This includes showing elephant as a primary mode of transport in modern India or any of the similar stereotypes that has no resemblance to reality.

Throughout the early 1900s, many films that perpetuate stereotypes about Native Americans were made, in particular the stereotype of the "Noble Savage". The roles of Native Americans were usually reserved for Caucasian actors. The portrayal of indigenous Americans of the silent era most notably remains The Last of the Mohicans (1920).

In 1936, the Three Stooges mocked Native Americans in the comedy short, "Whoops, I'm an Indian!"