MovieChat Forums > Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) Discussion > The diversity in the town

The diversity in the town

posted 9 years ago by codyhoskins
5 replies | jump to latest

I've noticed there's a handful of African American people living in Green Town, which is apparently a fictitious town in Illinois from Bradbury's imagination , but the fact that it's clearly set somewhere between the 1910s and the 40s makes me wonder about how diversity worked in some parts of the US before segregation came to an end. Least of all, everyone is captivated by the Dust Witch at the carnival without behaving bigoted as they would whenever black and white people shared the same spaces back then. Is it a fact that some places in America embraced diversity more than others like in the Midwest where this is set or was this film being made in the 80s have to do with looking back at America in a different era more positively in its diversity?

[–] Eve_of_Destruction 9 years ago

Segregation was only in the South. The North was always diverse and accepting. Hence the Civil War which fortunately we won.

[–] Royalcourtier 9 years ago

No. There was as much if not more segregation in the north. Segregation continued until the 1950's in many areas.

The US armed forces was segregated until 1948.

Acceptance and diversity are entirely different matters to segregation. The north had discrimination against Chinese, Japanese, Jews, Catholics, Irish, etc. as well as against Africans.

The south was more accepting than the north, in many ways (ever heard of southern hospitality?).

It is a great pity that the south lost the civil war, for the main consequence is a total misrepresentation of what it was all about.

[–] PopperTheKungFu-Dragon 9 years ago

I didn't notice the African Americans in the town, but as for the Dust Witch, I don't think color really mattered. It was the magic that made people captivated with her not just her beauty. At least that's what I thought.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

[–] seroteamavi2001 9 years ago

The North was segregated too but did not have separate but equal. There were race riots in the North well into the 20th century. Boston even had a segregated busing system until the 1970s.

[–] Btrixkiddo35 8 years ago

Hmmm in smaller towns in Illinois who knows what was going on tbh. My background has a lot of mixed ancestry (Black/White/Asian/Native American). In one case my German Great Great Great Grandmother came up to Quincy Illinois with her Black Fiancé and got married because it was the only place that allowed it back then. Ive had relatives born in towns and cared for by whites who have no idea how they got there but they took care of them as if they were there own. These experiences of course aren't the norm, but you just never know...