"condition in which blacks and whites (Asians, Native Americans, and Latinos appear to be both immune to the disease and irrelevant to the narration) become intimately involved because of their curiosity about their racial difference (perish the thought) rather than for love" (Wallace 126).

This is the basis of Spike Lee's Jungle Fever (1991), which focuses on the apparent lack of solidarity between the different classes within the black community as well as the absence of the strong two-parent black family. These relationships, according to the movie, seem to be a major factor in the downfall of the black family, causing isolation, chaos, and in some cases even violence. A major element in addressing interracial relationships is Lee's use of sexual based myths of gender and race. The myths are: (1) the natural awareness of sex and the lack of innocence of black women; (2) the secret desire that black men have to "conquer" white women; and (3) the lust-based interest that white women have for the exotic Other. While the movie does include a somewhat accurate representation of the frustration that black women, and blac

Lee's film had a message of Black separatism: his hero has betrayed his family, his community and his race. His miscegenation is a metaphor for the sin of taking his talents and himself out of the Black community. (Stone 9)

Jungle Fever attempts to reflect the sexual myths of society and therefore explain the problems with interracial relationships. However, Lee does not achieve this because the events of the movie are far to contradictory of the overall theme that interracial relationships are doomed from the start. The movie does serve to provide new ways to objectify black women, virginize white women, and allow men to still maintain their masculinity. This movie is not an accurate portrayal of black or white America. It is a confused bundle of myths and stereotypes; so confused that even Spike Lee is unsure of what he wanted to achieve.

...not focused on [as] the complete black woman on display at a fancy ball in the civilized heart of European culture.... She is there to entertain guests with the naked image of Otherness. They are not to look at her as a whole human being. They are to notice only certain parts. Objectified in a manner similar to that of black female slaves.... They were reduced to mere spectacle. Little is known of their lives, their motivations. Their bodies are offered as evidence to support racist notions that black people are more akin to animals than other humans. (hooks 62)

But even before the sex scene between Angie and Flipper we are given more background information on the two women at home with their families. This information serves to extend the differences between these two racially different women. While both women are cooking their families dinner, Angie is dressed in a comfortable sweat suit and Drew in a sexy off-the -shoulder blue dress and heels. The message of the sexual nature of both black and white women is even more apparent. The black woman is again on display, while the white woman is again pure and concealed. While both women are ultimately hurt, it is Angie is who is presented as victimized, allowing her to appear more vulnerable than Drew. Angie goes from a state of innocence to that of knowledge, while (if we look at Ming) the black woman is never guiltless.

On the one hand, we are supposed to read Drew's cries during sexual intercourse as idiosyncratic, Ming's mock curiosity about it as cute, and Drew's forthrightness in her explanation as progressive. But, on the other hand, there is a problem being cleverly (and perhaps unconsciously) delineated: the little black girl who already knows too much through her premature entry into the mysteries of sexuality. (Wallace 129)

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3078
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)