The story behind the release of White Dog is a powerful reminder of the complex relationship between art, culture, and society. The message is clear and the careful consideration for the themes, characters, and metaphors of the story shows through. Not convinced? Then do away with the articles telling you about the film like this one and watch the movie for yourself. His intent was good, and the film reflects that. Fuller was acutely aware of the issues with previous iterations of the script and the source material.
The source material itself was changed dramatically from novel to screen and the fear that it wouldn’t have been changed appropriately is a valid concern. The organizations that were cautioning Paramount were only doing their due diligence and the socio-political factors that were present at the time weighed in on the culture. White Dog being labeled as racist doesn’t necessitate the instance of blaming either. Nevertheless, the outcry provoked Paramount to take precautionary steps. For example, the Black trainer in the novel re-trains the dog to attack white people, whereas Fuller’s character of Keys is an accomplished scientist who just wants to train the dog to unlearn its hateful behavior, proving racism can be unlearned. According to an article published in Film Comment magazine in 1982 by Lisa Dombrowski, Fuller never intended to use the same story and characters from Romain’s novel, and even introduced a completely different ending and characters to suit.
The LA Times also published an editorial, from a representative of the Black Anti-Defamation League, citing concerns not only over the content of the movie but of the decision to have a white writer/director helm the project. Before filming began, the NAACP voiced concerns to the studio that the film may spur racial violence, especially considering the recent string of highly publicized murders of Black youths in Atlanta at the time. In fear that writer and director strikes were around the corner, Paramount, headed by Michael Eisner at the time, fast-tracked the production, attaching Sam Fuller to re-work the script and direct.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Why Is 'White Dog' So Controversial?
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