“An American In Paris” Reminds of Classic Love Stories… For Better or Worse

In the age of Diversity with a capital letter — a culture-shifting topic that influences entertainment to provide wider representation of and for audiences — it feels strange to watch a film like An American In Paris, a new rendition of the 1950s musical. The filming of the live musical, now re-released in theaters, does not feature a prominent person of color (or any person of color, to my awareness). It doesn’t take long into the plot before the fact of its whiteness is just one of several aspects that transports you to a world that tells the type of story we’ve now graduated from. Indeed, it’s a classic tale, and one that holds an undoubtable charm for those finding beauty in the “traditional values” of boy-meets-girl, perseverance through denial, and winning love to dance into the moonlight. For those who bristle at the Baby It’s Cold Outside-style seduction there’s little to hold onto in a film built upon its antiquated allure, but for others the 4-time Tony Award-winning musical will spark a feeling of international romance and enchantment that you might only feel on vacation. On the heels of World World II, an American soldier named Jerry Mulligan (Robert Fairchild) decides to stay in Paris after several serendipitous encounters with a Parisian dancer. It’s a different Paris that he fell in love with, as the musical teleports us to a time before the romantic charm of the enchanting city — back when the city was more notably full of poverty, unemployment, and violenc…