Hayden Saltz
MFS 260
10-24-22
In the film Devil in a Blue Dress, we follow a war veteran turned gumshoe, played by Denzel Washington, as he tries to find a missing girl. The movie adress many social issues, that being interracial marrige and the treatment of African Americans by police in 1940s Los Angeles.
In the film the mayor of Los Angeles is in love with the titular Devil in a Blue dress, who is a woman that ironically wears a blue dress. Denzel's character was asked to find her, not by the mayor, by gangsters. As the story plays out, it is revealed that the mayor and the woman are in a relationship, and the two cannot be together due to her race. The woman is mixed so therefore the mayor and his family cannot breach that line because of the societal hold that racism has on love and relationships. Though the two are madly in love, the mayor will not bring himself to engage in an interacial marriage because of society's view on it. This really stuck with me because I have always seen California, and Los Angeles as a whole, as extremely accepting and to see it even in the times of social reform in the 40’s just as bad as the deep south, really bothered me. It made me feel as if there was no real safe place for African Americans at that time.
On another note, the police brutality inflicted upon Denzel's character arose a sense of disgust inside me. Denzel's character was merely a suspect in a crime where he was treated as the murder. Instead of being questioned rightfully he was beaten and disrespected by the white officers continuously throughout the film. They also black mailed him with the charges of all the murders that occured in the film that he didn’t commit. I took this as lazy police work/men that wanted to take advantage of the black man for their own personal benefit. That being taking out repressed rage or just simply not wanting to do work for the risks it entailed. These actions are really not so different from how authorities treat the African American community today. The fact that I can draw similarities from 1940s racism and actions of today, especially in our so called reformed society, leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.