The Poitier Effect

Download or read book The Poitier Effect written by Sharon Willis and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The civil rights struggle was convulsing the nation, its violence broadcast into every living room. Against this fraught background, Sidney Poitier emerged as an image of dignity, discipline, and moral authority. Here was the picture-perfect black man, helping German nuns build a chapel in 'The Lilies of the Field' and overcoming the prejudices of recalcitrant students in 'To Sir with Love', a redneck sheriff in 'In the Heat of the Night', and a prospective father-in-law in 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'. In his characters' restrained responses to white people's ignorance and bad behaviour, Poitier represented racial reconciliation and reciprocal respect - the 'Poitier effect' that Sharon Willis traces through cinema and television from the civil rights era to our own.