- [Emmanuel] The film "Hidden Figures"
is based on a true story,
and one of its most powerful scenes
is when Al Harrison, played by Kevin Costner,
heroically rips down a "coloreds only" sign
above a women's restroom.
- Here at NASA, we all pee the same color.
- Later in the film, Harrison graciously
grants Katherine Johnson, played by Taraji P. Henson,
access to the control room so that she can watch
the rocket launch that she helped bring to fruition.
Couple problems here though.
The real Katherine Johnson says she had to watch
the launch from her desk.
Furthermore, it turns out
that Al Harrison never even existed.
He's completely made up!
Why?
Kevin Costner's character is
what's known as a "white savior."
A white character who saves
a person of color from their troubles,
troubles that the person of color
can't save themselves from.
The white savior trope has been utilized
since the beginning of filmmaking,
but it really grew popular during the civil rights era.
Offscreen, black activists were leading the fight
for civil rights in America,
but filmmakers turned to white characters
to tell these nonwhite stories.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" is about a white lawyer
who defends a black man from fabricated charges.
"Lawrence of Arabia" is about a British lieutenant
who acts as a liaison for the Arab National Council
in the Middle East.
As the years went on, the number
of white savior films multiplied.
"Mississippi Burning" is the story of missing civil rights
activists and the white agents' tasked to find them.
"Glory" is about an all-black regiment
led into battle by Robert Shaw.
Fun fact, "Glory" manages to be a white savior film
despite the fact that Shaw doesn't actually save anyone.
He literally leads them to death.
And the power of the white savior
should never be underestimated.
In "Gran Torino," a racist white man is heralded
for saving the people of color that he's always racist to.
- What the hell'd
these Chinese have to move in this neighborhood for?
- Hard pass.
No matter how black or multicultural a film is
in its content, filmmakers would have us believe
that white characters are the best vehicles for the story.
Characters of color become
far less important in their own stories.
And yes, many white savior films are based on true stories.
But they often either oversimplify race issues
or flat out get things wrong.
This is how we get movies
like the 2019 Best Picture Winner, "Green Book."
The film is about Don Shirley, a black, queer musical genius
with multiple doctorates, told
through the lens of his...driver?
The film quickly became controversial
because Shirley's living relatives
say that it's incredibly misleading.
They told USA Today, "The thing that bothers our family
is that the focus of the film is all about a white man
who is an extreme racist
and who was still a racist at the end."
Indeed, Tony "Lip," played by Viggo Mortensen,
is the main character.
At one point in the film, he tells Don Shirley
that he needs to connect with black culture more,
going so far as to say that he's blacker than him.
- Excuse me?!
- And at one point, teaching him how to eat fried chicken.
Of course, Shirley's younger brother told 1A
that Don was not estranged
from the black community whatsoever,
and that he had 100% eaten fried chicken before.
Details aren't the only things
that white savior films struggle with.
They're also accused of reinforcing the idea
that racism is largely gone today.
After being bombarded with movie after movie
about how far we've come as a nation,
white savior films end up minimalizing the issues
that people of color go through today.
Viewers may leave a white savior film saying,
"Thank God we are not like this anymore!"
When in fact, many of us are still exactly like this.
Spike Lee illustrated this point ever so clearly
in "BlacKkKlansman" by tying the bigotry and hate
from its story set in the '70s to the current
political climate we're in today.
- America first.
- America first!
- In a time where politicians are being outed
for wearing blackface, white supremacists
are on the rise, and racially motivated shootings
are in the headline, these "look how far we've come"
white savior movies are becoming increasingly tiring.
Filmmakers seem to believe that if stories about
people of color are told in a real and authentic way,
then white characters would have little to no place in them.
Well, maybe that's how it should be.