Paul + Diana Question
Why didn't their characters get together? I guess back then they didn't think a black woman would want a white man. They sure thought black men loved white women.
"He has risen, in me!" - Damien
It's not so much what "they" thought as it is what "they" wanted to show: because Connie was from the U.S. color was very much a part of her life. She also specifies that her friend is white when she meets Bowen, to which he responds something like "It won't be easy to tell you apart then, all you white women look alike." So, yes, Connie preferred the black man, but that's endogenous to the story.
shareActually Bowen says something like "It won't be easy to tell her apart...all the white women look alike". What's interesting---and daring, considering the time this movie was made---is that Bowen is initially interested in Connie, not the Joanne Woodward character. This is evident in the exchange between Bowen and Connie in the street, after the two women come to see Bowen play for the first time. I can't help but wonder what the movie would have been like if Connie and Bowen had become lovers---a bit too risky and daring for the early 60's but certainly an interesting possibility if the movie were remade now.
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I love that it sort of flipped the script on the viewer and makes you face your own assumptions. When I first saw the credits roll I thought, "Yep, Carroll for Poitier, Woodward for Newman." Yet Newman actually ignores Woodward in favor of Carroll until he realizes he's not getting anywhere with her. Her inability to process the fact that an interracial romance is not taboo in Paris keeps her from ever taking Newman seriously and he finally gives up. Since Woodward is throwing herself at him he sort of just takes up with her as second choice. Given the time period, really was sort of daring and would have been interesting to see it play out differently.
shareI would have really liked to see Ram and Connie get together. The movie would have been more interesting to watch. He did initially want to get with her and just settled with Woodward after Connie rejected him.
The first time I saw the film, I got so excited that an interracial romance would develop between a black woman and a white man. Most films are reverse.
It's Dihann not Diana at least get the actresses name right and don't forget at the time the film was made in late 1960 early 1961 Ms Carroll and Mr Poitier were romantically involved of screen and she had just had a baby with her husband before they left for the production yeah the interacial relationship would've made it slightly more interesting but other things also did as in by the end of production Newman & Woodward were expecting once again so they were scared if something went wrong in the filming they may lose the baby again and that would've been excruiatingly painful as they already had Nell who was a toddler at the time and having to explain that to an older child is hard enough let alone a toddler who is still very much attached to mom and wants a younger sibling so thankfully nothing happened and Lissy was born on the day the film was released
"why are you married to him then if you can't work with him how do you live with him?"
It's not that Connie couldn't process the fact that things are just different in Paris. Her character IS intelligent and that is well within her intellectual capabilities. It was how that particular White man approached her. Yes, she had all the baggage of how American White men viewed and treated Black women back then (and how most do now, when they do), but so did Ram. Ram was still an American White boy raised with American biases and stereotypic views. I don't think he just shed those like an old overcoat once he got off the boat/plane in France.
I can also see Connie not wanting to just "hook up" with someone for a vacation fling, which was what Ram was all about, even with Joanne Woodward's character at first. She felt that Ram just wanted his two week "Black Experience" with her. Sidney's character at least had some finesse and subtlety to his approach. Ram thought he could give Connie his usual spiel and she'd wet her panties for him. She probably experienced a lot of that in America being an attractive, Black woman. The fact that Ram was taken aback that Connie didn't just fall into his arms said a lot about his character and ego. Maybe he thought this li'l darkie wench should have been GRATEFUL he noticed her at all. If he'd come at her seriously, then maybe she would have taken him more seriously.
Damñ good answer from nkengez-126-535502. Paul Newman is great guy, but Diahn Carrol's character could do a lot better for herself than Ram...and did. Changes in his character (or her's) would have made for a much better match-up.
shareI was really hoping for a Paul and Diahann hook-up. It was obvious that he was hot after from the get-go. Especially when he went right up to on the street after they played at the club. Newman was so HOT and sexy. How could she say NO? Anyway...I really thought they could have gone in that direction since Poitier had an interracial affair in "Patch of Blue", which was right around the same time.
shareCheck out "Island in the Sun" 1958.
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