The first article I read compared and contrasted MGM's musicals with those of Fox. I always forget about Fox. It brought up a lot of interesting points. For instance, MGM appears to be less stereotypical of African Americans, but that's because they don't have many African American roles in their movies. While Fox did use African Americans, although in more stereotypical ways, they were at least being used.
I personally like the MGM style of integrated musicals more than Fox's vaudeville-esque musicals.
Another interesting point, racial integration didn't really kick off until after World War II. I suppose the genocide of six million people can really make you think about how you treat your neighbor.
Griffin, Sean. “The Gang's All Here: Generic versus Racial Integration in the 1940s Musical.” Cinema Journal 42.1 (2002): 21-45. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 February 2011.
Griffin explores the connection between integrated musicals, or musicals where the music is integrated into the storyline, and racial integration in musicals. MGM quickly adopted the integrated musical after the immense popularity of Oklahoma! on Broadway (24). However, Fox tried its best to resist the integrated musical and instead chose to produce musicals in the vaudeville fashion. In Fox’s musicals, any musical numbers were performed in nightclubs and on various stages to create variety in the plot line rather than accompany it and reveal character (29). In MGM musicals, black performers were almost completely excluded to promote the utopian feel. When black performers were included in MGM musicals, they were in limited and stereotypical roles (26). Conversely, in Fox musicals, black performers had more say in their performances. While roles were still minimal, blacks were able to work on their own terms. Although they were in very stereotypical roles, they were able to negotiate into roles that demanded attention rather than be forgotten and bossed around (35).
