When you think about white people saving black people in movies, the first movie that might pop into your head is The Blind Side. Although it is a well-made movie with good acting, cinematography, etc., The Blind Side perpetuates the idea that black folks need white folks to save them. The protagonist, an extremely wealthy white woman named Leigh Anne Tuohy, adopts a poor black teenager, Michael Ohre, thus changing his life. She gives him a nice bed, buys him a car, and gets him into a nice private school, where he has the opportunity to get amazing football opportunities. At the climax of the movie, an investigator suspects that Tuohy only took Ohre in because seeing his football potential, she saw an opportunity to give him the resources to go to Ole Miss in order to help the football team and get them fame. Although this is proven not to be the case, the investigator cannot fully understand her motives. Maybe she just wanted to be nice? Maybe white guilt played a role? This is very complicated because although Michael Ohre got a better life because of her charity, Tuohy perpetuates ideas of racism: black folks are helpless and need white saviors to rescue them. Also, the movie was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, and Sandra Bullock, who played Leigh Anne Tuohy, won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance, thus demonstrating Hollywood’s love for white savior stories.
Although there are many other movies that exemplify this issue (i.e. The Legend of Tarzan (2016), The Help, Freedom Writers, etc.), the next one I want to discuss is Hidden Figures. Although it tells an amazing, untold, true story, the movie also perpetuates the white savior complex. The white leader at NASA, who tears down the “colored” bathroom sign and paves the way for the protagonist to write the extraordinary math equations, is fictional. In fact, the white supervisor never did any of those things; he probably attempted to prohibit them from succeeding. This movie is based on a true story, but instead of telling it truthfully and letting it be about three badass, black women, who defied the odds and succeeded on their own, they created a fictional, white savior to rescue them.
Hollywood, America, and the world love white savior stories – they eat that shit up. Although the white savior complex is too complicated to address in one blog post, essay, or book, discussions around it are important and necessary. We must recognize it in the movies we watch and love.
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Pledged: William McLain
Another popular example of white saviorism that many of us have seen all over social media would be peoples' mission trip projects in Africa, whether they be religiously affiliated or not. Don't get me wrong, building a well of clean water in a place that has limited access to these kinds of resources is wonderful, but the way that people display these actions on social media makes it seem like they are "saving them," and then subsequently adopting a sort of messianic hero superiority complex.
ReplyDeleteThe white savior complex is an issue that is greatly looked over by mainstream America. When someone raises an issue with it it is always the answer of "they're just trying to help" and people don't see the underlining meaning behind it in movies such as Hidden Figures. That the only way that people of color are able to defy the odds and come out winning is through this one white person who "sees the light" and helps people of color by himself. That if it wasn't for this person, then the person or people of color would've never been able to fully achieve their goal.
ReplyDeleteThe charity work of white saviors is controversial because while it does offer relief and opportunity, it is also a display of white superiority. It allows whites to maintain their comfort and luxury, giving charity to one oppressed individual or group rather than targeting the system as a whole. While very prominent in film, media, and abroad, white saviors are also present in the education systems when white teachers are viewed as a saving grace for underprivileged students of color, which is yet another display of how white authority is needed to accomplish any form of mobility or opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add a few words in defense of Kevin Costner's character.I was not aware that his character was fictional and that does seem pretty problematic that they would feel the need to add such a character. However I do think that his character added value. Unlike Sandra Bulluck in Blind Side, he was not the one driving the narrative. The ambitious female black leads were. He was just a good gate keeper who was able to step up when he was needed to. He also had some hilariously oblivious lines, like in the bathroom sign seen he yelled, "At nasa we're all the same color!"
ReplyDeleteIt is problematic because "Hidden Figures" is a true story. Although the black women were the lead characters, the way the movie portrays this TRUE story is that the black women would not have been able to succeed without intervention from the white savior. But in real life, they succeeded on their own. So why did the producers feel the need to create Kevin Costner's character?
DeleteI think the producers were so uncomfortable with the fact that no white person stepped in, that they created a fictional character. So it doesn't really matter whether or not he drove the narrative. In the movie, the 3 women would not have been able to succeed without him. But in real life, they did.