Illusions
According to film scholar and critic Clyde Taylor, “Dash's film plays inventively on themes of cultural, sexual and racial domination.” The film is set in Hollywood in 1942, a time when the role of the film industry was to create an illusion for the audience to believe in. This illusion was based on the creation of American history in films; what is seen on screen is usually what they want you to believe and not actually the truth. Made during a time of heavy war propaganda, Hollywood created its own version of America and its freedoms.
Illusions follows a young woman working at National Studios in Hollywood, very rare during that time. As the film progresses and we see this woman, Mignon Dupree, create the illusion of talent among white film stars while a young African American girl, Esther Jeeter, actually sings the part for the film. Dubbing of voices was not uncommon during those times but the use of dubbing voices using African American stars for a white performer and audience only shows the great divide between the races during that time.
Over the course of the film Mignon talks a lot about the illusion of Hollywood and the different levels of society that it creates in film and in real life. It is hinted throughout the movie, like when Esther tells Mignon, “Oh don't worry....they can't tell like we can,” that there is a secret that she is hiding. It is not until the final scene when the Lieutenant opens her mail to find a picture of Mignon's African American boyfriend that it is clear to the audience that she has been passing as a white woman and is actually an African American woman, just like the young girl Esther Jeeter that they use at their whim.
Dash's film hints on more illusions than just Miss Dupree's. Not only has Mignon created her own illusion but she is also a direct participant in Hollywood's. Mignon not only works in a field of illusions, working on sound dubbing in Hollywood and directly contributing to the industry's absence of African Americans in film but also the absence of African American woman in film and the work industry. Mignon is given a certain amount of power in her office but was still below her male counterparts, like the Lieutenant. When she is discovered to not be a white woman, she is placed at a lower standard and it is certain that she would be let go if anyone else had found out. Mignon has created not only opportunities as an African American but as a woman.
Dash has done the same in similar fashion by being one of the first African American women filmmakers to make it in the industry. Her work efforts have created illusions not only for the characters on screen but her audiences too. She has introduced many themes such as gender, sexuality and race; that other filmmakers have not touched before.
The film ends with Miss Dupree thinking to herself that she will get just as far as the white men and women that surround her. She will prove to everyone that race has nothing to do with ability and should not be a limiting factor.
romantic