One of the ways that science fiction has sought to portray "the future" is through the use of non-typical character positions and relationships. This is a polite way of saying "you know it is the future because of X", where X could be anything that would't happen today ( i.e. Black President, to well....female president). Basically, any time (prior to 2008 ) you saw a non-white, non-male president, chances were that you were dealing with some sort of speculative fiction. See Freeman, Morgan;
Another tip off to the fact that you were dealing with dire straits was the taboo of interracial relationships.Anti-miscegenation laws were still on the books in southern states until 1967. However, even when certain relationships were illegal, science fiction authors used them to demonstrate either the scope of the catastrophic fall of humanity, or the blinding pace of "otherness" of the future. The 1959 film, The World, the Flesh and the Devil, explores this premise with a sort of rye humor one expects from a sci-fi film starring Harry Belafonte. In it, Belafonte plays Ralph an educated, technical savvy individual who spends most of his post-apocalyptic free time avoiding the sexual advances of Inger Stevens [ed: What ?]. The movie sets the audience up with an "unusual" tale, but keeps the action from getting into pearl clutching territory (remember it is 1959).
By the 1970's, audiences were more tolerant of interactive relationships taking the next step. As shown in the opening image, 1971's The Omega Man (the second remake of I Am Legend) features Heston and Rosalind Cash in all their leisure suit meets Afro in plague ravaged mutant Los Angeles {Ed - this differs from present day Los Angeles how ?] Unlike Belafonte, Heston has no qualms about romantic entanglements that might make some uncomfortable.
Even in present day media (see current season of Walking Dead, and past episodes of Firefly, Caprica, BattleStar Galactia, Star Trek, Terra Nova, the remake of I am Legend, Hancock, etc., ( Ed. we could have a separate discussion on Wil Smith and depictions of his love interests ) interracial relationships are sometimes used as a short hand to demonstrate the dire straits of humanity or a wild future where the uncommon is common.
The reason that this trope work[ed] is because historically, interracial relationships were unrecognized, if more common than conventional wisdom dictated. By showing "uncommon pairings" the world builder is telling us something about the underlying social strata in which the work takes place. Humans are social animals, and prize companionship over all else. These relationships are meant, in part, to tell us that human nature is to seek companionship, even in the face of societal (or because of societal) collapse.
However , it also takes the subversive position that social structure, miscegenation laws and the like are not natural to human condition. They are artificial constructs that sit on top of a simpler form of society, one of individual choice and preference, of a freedom of relationships which is not possible while the trains run and the Man punches your time card. The relationships in these pieces of fiction are simplified, there are no walks past disapproving peers, awkward family dinners; but they are also presented as partnerships. Survivors, regardless of social strata and ethnicity, make a good fit.
As time and progress marches on, the rate of interracial relationships are on a steady rise. What does that mean for this short hand, this short cut, when these types of relationships are common. I would love to see this trope get taken in different directions. Humanity is varied, so should our future disastrous relationships. With a Bi-racial president and a biracial family in the Mayor's residence of the largest city on the continent, it is time we updated what the future looks like.
