Redeeming American democracy in Sayonara

Authors

  • María Isabel Seguro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/co20115215-225

Keywords:

Sayonara, U.S. Cold War foreign policy, interracial love politics

Abstract

Affection is perceived as something natural, pre-existing Culture and, therefore, free form discursive constructions. However, insofar as reality is mediated, if not given existence by language, human relationships are inevitably fashioned by narratives. Romance fictions and in particular heterosexual, interracial love stories have been used in U.S. popular culture as a means of promoting American democratic values of racial harmony at home and abroad. This will be exemplified by analyzing James A. Michener’s 1953 novel Sayonara together with Joshua Logan’s 1957 film adaptation.

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