When a Kiss Is Not Just a Kiss: from the First Interracial Kiss on Screen to Love Actually (2003)

Abstract The aim of this work is to present the reader with the problematics related to the history of interracial depictions in visual media, with particular regard to the representation of kissing. In the introduction, I will explain why I have chosen to conduct this research and why I think it could an important contribution for further research studies. In the second chapter, I will describe the origins of the cinematic kiss from its first appearance on the screen, moving on to its evolution through the course of history. In the third chapter, I will focus on the main events which have led to the introduction of the Hays Code and which have revolutionized the representation of the kiss in the American world of visual media and move on to analyse some iconic examples of kisses, first in cinema and then on television. In the fourth chapter, I will analyse all the kiss scenes in the movie Love Actually (2003), which I have chosen since it represents a modern “kissography”, which can help us better understand how the interracial representation of a kiss has changed with time. In the fifth chapter, I will observe how blackness has been represented in the aforementioned movie and how it is being portrayed nowadays. In the conclusions, I will summarize my investigation and discussed what I have found out, stressing the need to constantly address the most recent products of visual media, to understand if they can can be used in a positive way to create a fairer representation of the society we live in, in order to stop perpetuating dangerous racist stereotypes and representations.