Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Reflection

The movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is about a daughter named Joanna that comes home from a trip to Hawaii early with a surprise for her parents. She brought home her fiancé, Dr. Prentice, who is an older, African American man that she had met during her trip. This was a complete shock to her parents, as they had just met and he was older and this movie was also during the times where interracial marriage had just became legal after the decision of Loving v Va. 

Dr. Prentice had made it clear that if there were any objections from either set of parents, they would not get married. Joanna on the other hand was determined to get married no matter what anyone else thought. They had jumped into this relationship very quickly and she was sure that she was going to go with him and get married a few weeks later.

Something that stood out to me was when Dr. Prentice said to his dad “But you think of yourself as a colored man. I think of myself as a man.” I found this to be something very bold to say to a parent. Dr. Prentice didn’t think marrying a white women as marrying a white women but as marrying the women he loved because he didn’t think about his race as what he can and cannot do, he just thinks of himself as a person. He was given opportunities by his parents to go above and beyond with his career and his life in general. 

Mrs. Prentice had made a comment saying that the dads didn’t know what it felt like to be young and in love like how Dr. Prentice and Joanna were. Which Mr. Drayton later defends this by saying the memories of his wife were still clearly there and this helped him realize that he should accept it and give his blessing. 

Mr. Drayton turned supportive but still made it clear that they would have a lot of issues ahead of them, but their main issue was not going to be him. He was also convinced  that he could change Mr. Drayton's opinion on the situation. The dad said the biggest problem in the end would be if the two of them did not get married, which this shows how serious his support is for the couple.