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 P 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.
Off screen black activists were leading the fight for civil
rights in America,
but film makers turned to white characters to tell these
non white 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 saviour 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 regimen LED into battle
by Robert Shaw.
Fun fact, Glory manages to be a white saviour 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 these Chinese have to move in this neighborhood for
hard pass. No matter how black or multicultural a film
is in its content,
film makers 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 saviour 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 was an extreme racist and who
was still a racist at the end.
Indeed, Tony Lipp, 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 a strained 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 Black
Klansmen
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. 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 saviour movies are becoming increasingly tiring.
Film makers 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.