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What Color Are You? (1967)

1967 · Short film · 15 min

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Synopsis

Disclaimer for viewers: this is an outdated educational film. It includes some politically incorrect and potentially offensive wordage for viewers. It depicts different races and speculates where they come from labeling them into three groups. These are identified as brown, white and yellow referring to those whom have brown pigment in their skin, those of Asian descent and those of a Caucasian skin tone respectively. The film was presented by Encyclopedia Britannica Corporation (:17). The opening setting is at the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois. The first few animals shown in montage are a Red and Green McCaw parrot (:20), two toucan birds (:23), an elephant (:24), a giraffe (:36), zebra (:39), a hippo (:43), tiger (:45), and a polar bear (:50). Students are seen crowding around an animal pen (:58) prior to the title screen (1:10). Within the pen, two polar bears stand up (1:17). A flamingo (1:51) appears just before children visit a parrot (1:58). The film then switches to black and white footage to symbolize how much harder it would be to identify the animals if they were not in color (2:07). The various shades and species of birds is compared to the various shades of humans (2:39). The film pans around to show the variety of people and heritages at the zoo (2:43). Here is where the film notes at the time, scientists were dividing people into three different groups and the colors are pointed to (2:51). Three boys take to a small train ride which moves them around…

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Details

Running time
15 minutes
Collection
Ephemeral Films

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