Sapphire

Sapphire is a 1959 British crime drama. The film is about a pregnant girl who was found dead. Sapphire appears to be white , but her brother arrives at the police station to give evidence and he is black. It then becomes evident to the police officers that this girl has been 'passing for white'. This film reveals the underlying insecurities and fears of ordinary people that exist towards another race, the black race especially.

In the film black people are presented negatively and are perceived as beings that obtain negative attributes. As the film progresses, there is a constant reference to the word 'coloured' to describe black people. This suggests that a majority of black people were seen as foreign people and that if you are black you are different. The detective says towards the beginning of the film that 'I think she died because she was coloured'. This reflects the racist attitudes during that time and shows how negative people were towards black people. There was almost an outrage at the thought of white individuals marrying someone from another culture due to the amount of negativity attached to it. Therefore, this set a boundary to love during that era as it was almost 'impossible' to be in love with an individual that was a different race/colour from you.

The fact that Sapphire used a different identity by 'passing for white' shows that she was ashamed of her colour or knew that there were negative stereotypes attached to her race. The film implies that it was a disgrace to be associated with a 'coloured' person because it is a negative thing to be black and they are much different from white individuals solely because of the colour of their skin and it also tarnishes the reputation of the person being associated with the 'coloured' person.

It was a mind blowing concept to grasp considering white people would actually marry someone from another culture and of different colour due to the amount of negative stereotypes related to it. There seems to be an unspoken law that there should be no mixing of race relations and there was a boundary to love during that era as it was almost impossible and unthinkable to be in love with an person that was of a different race/colour from you.

Overall, the film was made to educate people and to show people that such attitudes towards black people were wrong. Although it has gotten better considering that we have moved on from those times. Black people were also seen as subordinates and below white people simply because of their skin colour and they were not allowed to be free in their own environment.