Hollywood in Color

The Bodyguard, released in 1992, starring Whitney Houston in her first acting role and leading man Kevin Costner, was a mainstream film about an interracial relationship — with maybe very little to say about race.

The movie Selena was without a doubt Jennifer Lopez's big break, but it was also the completion of singer Selena Quintanilla's much-anticipated crossover into American mainstream music.

This is episode 1 of Sonic Cinema: a five part series looking at a handful of films starring history’s most iconic musicians. Today — The Making of Selena, the icon and the movie.

In the third and final episode of the season, Hattie finds it difficult to keep up as Hollywood and her community forge ahead to a new era of black representation and politics.

When Gone with the Wind was released, critics were flabbergasted by the willing participation from black actors to be in the film. Hattie McDaniel was at the center of this controversy. She really wanted the part, but she couldn’t foresee, or, maybe she just didn’t care, about the backlash.

"Mammy" is only one role of many that made up Hattie McDaniel's multi-faceted career. She was also a singer, a songwriter, a stage and vaudeville veteran, a comedian, and a radio personality. In the first episode of the season, we follow her journey from Denver, Colorado to Hollywood.

In the last episode of the season, we look at Lupe’s and Dolores’ careers in the late 1930s to the mid 1940s, when both women leave Hollywood when it becomes an unwelcome space and place. Season 2 begins June 19.

In the fourth episode of the season, we look at Dolores’ career during the Hollywood transition to sound film. The coming of sound limited Dolores’ roles. They became more stereotypical and forgettable. With her accent, sound amplified the difference that her Spanish señorita persona had overcome.

In this episode, we see how Lupe Vélez rose to stardom in Dolores’ shadow and how the differences between her and Dolores evolved along simple, fraught, lines. Dolores was the “good” Mexican, and Lupe, in her relationship with actor Gary Cooper, became the "bad Mexican."

In this episode, Dolores Del Río becomes a transnational superstar when she undergoes a makeover where she seemingly leaves behind her Mexicanidad and assumes a Spanish identity. Interestingly, this parallels Southern California's own transformation, which covered over its Mexican past in favor of a mythical Spanish heritage.