Maybe it's my ignorance or it's just been too long since I've last seen them, but a couple of these movies don't fall into my definition of the white savior trope. Hidden Figures stands out to me....
Maybe it's my ignorance or it's just been too long since I've last seen them, but a couple of these movies don't fall into my definition of the white savior trope.
Hidden Figures stands out to me. Especially when they mention it in the same breath as The Help (which I do count as a white savior movie; who's going to argue with Viola Davis?). In Hidden Figures, we have a group of smart women who received no/little help from the white people in the movie. Janelle Monae's character won her court case through her own fierce determination. I can't remember if she had a white lawyer or if she represente herself. I just remember that she refused to throw in the towel. Octavia Spencer's character wasn't guided to COBOL (or was it Fortran?) by any white person, nor was she ever assisted by any white people. She taught herself the language, then she taught her team and her children. She saw the writing on the wall, took the initiative, saved her team and the mission all on her own merits. Are we counting it because Kevin Costner took down a bathroom sign near the end of the movie? Or because the white astronaut recognized Henson's skill? Henson's character was in stark opposition with the white people for nearly the whole movie and overcame in spite of them, not because of them. I just don't see it for Hidden Figures.
And Cool Runnings. Yes, John Candy is white. Did he do saving, by doing the job that he was hired (by Bannock's character) to do? It might be my nostalgia, but Candy's character (eventually) did what a coach does. And the movie was pretty clearly focused on the team and Bannock's character's goal of being in the Olympics. Does the fact that there literally wasn't (as portrayed in the movie) a POC available to help matter?
It just seems like the provided definition was not evenly applied, and it became overly broad as result.
By the article's logic, Remember the Titans should count. Denzel's character was going to be fired until a white guy stepped in and literally saved his job. It would have been a very short movie otherwise. By the article's logic, any movie with white people and non-white people should count. Especially if they happen to help each other. The Mighty Ducks, The LEGO Movie, Paddington, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, etc. can all be argued to fall under the too-wide umbrella laid out in the article.
Is my definition too narrow? Am I misremembering those two movies?
Please do note that I'm only calling out two films of the many that the author listed. I haven't seen all of them, and have to give credit for calling out others like To Kill a Mockingbird (I adore that movie; it is also a textbook example).
You are absolutely correct about Hidden Figures, and the wider definition this author places on the topic of "white savior" is absolutely useless. There are actual examples that showcase this....
You are absolutely correct about Hidden Figures, and the wider definition this author places on the topic of "white savior" is absolutely useless. There are actual examples that showcase this. It's not as huge an issue as this article would make you believe, though.
Historical adaptations shouldn't count at all either. A film like Green Book should not be changed to remove the white driver that gets the black pianist out of trouble on a tour through the still very racist south. Showcasing historical instances in which a white person helps a black person is a positive for society at large. It gives society more empathy and helps to erase the racial divide. I'd rather have to deal with savior complexes than to deal with completely segregated media where all characters are of one race in each film.
Did a film like The Last Samurai need Tom Cruise's Nathan Algren? Certainly not. That film is very, very loosely inspired by Saigō Takamori's Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. The reason why the writer chose a white character to be the central character of a very Japanese story is that it was a movie for western audiences and it could then cast a huge name actor like Tom Cruise to help sell tickets. The writer didn't set out to make the lone white guy a savior of samurai culture within Japan. He just wrote a script about an interesting event in history that could never be made without writing it the way he did. No one would go to see it. Ken Watanabe was not nearly as well known as he is now back in 2003. Therefore, the problem, if you can call it that, is that of society at large, not Hollywood. If a movie about 19th century Japanese samurai could make a lot of money with all Japanese actor leads then it'd be made.
The story of Michael Oher and his benefactor Leigh Anne Tuohy told in the 2009 film “The Blind Side,” based on Michael Lewis’ 2006 book of the same name, became a Hollywood fairy tale in its own right.
Enchanting moviegoers with its message of racial harmony, the film earned more than $250 million at the U.S. box office, scored numerous NAACP Image Award nominations and won Sandra Bullock a lead actress Oscar for her portrayal of Tuohy. Fueling the movie‘s appeal was the belief that it was based on a true story.
“Honey, you’re changing that boy’s life,” one of Tuohy’s wealthy friends tells her with awed admiration. “No,” she responds with a satisfied smile. “He’s changing mine.”
It sounded almost too good to be true. And it turns out ....the Tuohys had not been Oher’s adoptive parents but his conservators.
The Tuohys have denied the accusations, and their attorney Martin D. Singer has accused Oher in turn of attempting to shake the couple down for $15 million. They have also said that they plan to end the conservatorship.
But the explosive headlines don’t just raise questions about the authenticity of “The Blind Side.” The renewed focus on the picture, directed by John Lee Hancock, has vindicated those who blasted it at the time of its release as a glaring example of the “white savior” trope.
In this tradition, the stories of Black, Indigenous and other people of color are told from the perspective of heroic white characters who swoop in to protect their downtrodden, victimized counterparts and ultimately save the day — often to their own benefit, moral or otherwise.
Dating back decades, the trope anchors several of Hollywood’s most cherished and honored films, including “Lawrence of Arabia,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Glory,” “Dances With Wolves,” “The Help” and “Avatar.” Also on the roster are “Mississippi Burning,” “Grand Canyon,” “Amistad,” “Billy Jack,” “A Time to Kill,” “Gran Torino” and “Hidden Figures.” The TV slate includes “The White Shadow” and “Game of Thrones.”
“Hollywood likes to present itself as being this open-minded, liberal place,” Puig noted. “But there are white people at the top making these movies and not realizing the more insulting aspects of what they’re doing. Or they just don’t care.”
The uproar in 2019 over the buddy dramedy “Green Book” winning the Oscar for best picture may have slowed the white savior wave, but Hollywood shows few signs of abandoning the trope altogether. The more recent afterlives of “The Blind Side” and “The Help,” as well as the development of highly anticipated fall release “Killers of the Flower Moon,” point to the tenacity of the trope’s appeal to viewers — an appeal that seems unlikely to diminish at a moment of widespread attacks on the teaching of racial injustice in U.S. history and other forms of so-called wokeism.
“I remember being a film critic and saying, ‘Somehow a movie about the murder of Medgar Evers (Ghosts of Mississippi) winds up being about a white dude,” Cogshell said.
The trope has been deployed so frequently that it can be divided into subcategories. High schools are one common setting, showing white teachers grappling with unruly or failing students of color: “Dangerous Minds,” “The Principal” and “Freedom Writers.” There are also the sports dramas, in which white coaches — often seeking some kind of redemption — transform raw or underperforming Black athletes into champions: “Hardball,” “Glory Road,” “Blue Chips,” “The Air Up There” “Cool Runnings” and “Wildcats.”
Meanwhile, the makers of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and arrives in theaters in October, have been proactive in their efforts to preempt concerns about the film being labeled a white savior tale.
Of course, just because the (predominantly white) creatives behind a film took strides to avoid “another white-savior story” doesn’t mean observers will agree that they succeeded in doing so.
To kill a Mockingbird, really? Atticus Finch is a white man who didn't manage to save a single black person at the end. He saved no one in fact. The entire story is told from the perspective of a...
To kill a Mockingbird, really?
Atticus Finch is a white man who didn't manage to save a single black person at the end. He saved no one in fact. The entire story is told from the perspective of a powerless female child, to illustrate a thoroughly messed up environment in which bad grown up people are to blame. I would put that one in the white guilt category of movies I guess.
I guess I don't understand what white saviour means. Avatar and The Last Samurai for sure: outsider comes in and yee-haws away a long standing "lesser" cultural dilemma, often doing nothing different from what the "natives" were doing for centuries, except this time it works because he's a white guy with exceptional luck. Some are more respectful: if the hero has some kind of unique skill. Some are less so: if the hero does something that's been tried forever but somehow for him it works.
Some does something only a privileged white guy can and that's why it works: these can be very self aware and turns the story into a worthwhile criticism of racism. I would put Gran Torino in this category.
Does that make Bill and Ted white saviour, even if the "natives" in trouble are future white babes?
Hollywood is full of white guys making movies for white guys, so of course the stories are going to be told from that perspective. It's great we are starting to get more diversity but to look back on ancient films like Laurence of Arabia and judge it anachronistically feels unfair.
I watch a lot of HK that are downright racist and "HK saviour" is just the norm: human beings like hearing stories told about guys like them.
We should all aim to do better, but I feel like sometimes bashing the current norm does nothing to elevate conversation, but instead serve to alienate innocent bystanders. Instead of saying, hey you like these films, try watching these foreign films with subtitles and no white guys because the pathos are the same and you'll gain empathy.....it's saying, if you like classic films you're a racist bad person and everything you like and grew up loving are problematic and holding everyone back.
It's another unfortunate side effect of the modern internet. If you're a nobody and you say "[Hidden gem] is really good" on social media, then you won't get much traction. But say "[popular...
I feel like sometimes bashing the current norm does nothing to elevate conversation, but instead serve to alienate innocent bystanders.
It's another unfortunate side effect of the modern internet. If you're a nobody and you say "[Hidden gem] is really good" on social media, then you won't get much traction. But say "[popular movie] isn't all it's cracked up to be", you'll have people come out of the woodworks on both ends of the spectrum to talk about how [popular movie] is actually banal trash or [popular movie] is actually really good and underrated. Simply because curation in social media is focusing on the popular, and not on the hidden gems.
Even modern media articles that in theory try to curate for hidden gems will skew towards the popular stuff, because that will be reflected in their SEO and get them more views, even if it defeats the purpose of such an article. I know it's becomes a bit passé to blame everything on algorithms, but it really can't be understated how much these seemingly innocent design decisions drive entire industries of conversation.
indeed :( often we're engaging with statistical discourse rather than genuinely having a discussion if the article didn't have some controversial pickings then I wouldn't have commented on it...
indeed :( often we're engaging with statistical discourse rather than genuinely having a discussion
if the article didn't have some controversial pickings then I wouldn't have commented on it either....
Maybe it's my ignorance or it's just been too long since I've last seen them, but a couple of these movies don't fall into my definition of the white savior trope.
Hidden Figures stands out to me. Especially when they mention it in the same breath as The Help (which I do count as a white savior movie; who's going to argue with Viola Davis?). In Hidden Figures, we have a group of smart women who received no/little help from the white people in the movie. Janelle Monae's character won her court case through her own fierce determination. I can't remember if she had a white lawyer or if she represente herself. I just remember that she refused to throw in the towel. Octavia Spencer's character wasn't guided to COBOL (or was it Fortran?) by any white person, nor was she ever assisted by any white people. She taught herself the language, then she taught her team and her children. She saw the writing on the wall, took the initiative, saved her team and the mission all on her own merits. Are we counting it because Kevin Costner took down a bathroom sign near the end of the movie? Or because the white astronaut recognized Henson's skill? Henson's character was in stark opposition with the white people for nearly the whole movie and overcame in spite of them, not because of them. I just don't see it for Hidden Figures.
And Cool Runnings. Yes, John Candy is white. Did he do saving, by doing the job that he was hired (by Bannock's character) to do? It might be my nostalgia, but Candy's character (eventually) did what a coach does. And the movie was pretty clearly focused on the team and Bannock's character's goal of being in the Olympics. Does the fact that there literally wasn't (as portrayed in the movie) a POC available to help matter?
It just seems like the provided definition was not evenly applied, and it became overly broad as result.
By the article's logic, Remember the Titans should count. Denzel's character was going to be fired until a white guy stepped in and literally saved his job. It would have been a very short movie otherwise. By the article's logic, any movie with white people and non-white people should count. Especially if they happen to help each other. The Mighty Ducks, The LEGO Movie, Paddington, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, etc. can all be argued to fall under the too-wide umbrella laid out in the article.
Is my definition too narrow? Am I misremembering those two movies?
Please do note that I'm only calling out two films of the many that the author listed. I haven't seen all of them, and have to give credit for calling out others like To Kill a Mockingbird (I adore that movie; it is also a textbook example).
Yeah, Cool Runnings isn't a "white saviour narrative". The guy who coached the team in real life was white.
You are absolutely correct about Hidden Figures, and the wider definition this author places on the topic of "white savior" is absolutely useless. There are actual examples that showcase this. It's not as huge an issue as this article would make you believe, though.
Historical adaptations shouldn't count at all either. A film like Green Book should not be changed to remove the white driver that gets the black pianist out of trouble on a tour through the still very racist south. Showcasing historical instances in which a white person helps a black person is a positive for society at large. It gives society more empathy and helps to erase the racial divide. I'd rather have to deal with savior complexes than to deal with completely segregated media where all characters are of one race in each film.
Did a film like The Last Samurai need Tom Cruise's Nathan Algren? Certainly not. That film is very, very loosely inspired by Saigō Takamori's Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. The reason why the writer chose a white character to be the central character of a very Japanese story is that it was a movie for western audiences and it could then cast a huge name actor like Tom Cruise to help sell tickets. The writer didn't set out to make the lone white guy a savior of samurai culture within Japan. He just wrote a script about an interesting event in history that could never be made without writing it the way he did. No one would go to see it. Ken Watanabe was not nearly as well known as he is now back in 2003. Therefore, the problem, if you can call it that, is that of society at large, not Hollywood. If a movie about 19th century Japanese samurai could make a lot of money with all Japanese actor leads then it'd be made.
By Greg Braxton
To kill a Mockingbird, really?
Atticus Finch is a white man who didn't manage to save a single black person at the end. He saved no one in fact. The entire story is told from the perspective of a powerless female child, to illustrate a thoroughly messed up environment in which bad grown up people are to blame. I would put that one in the white guilt category of movies I guess.
I guess I don't understand what white saviour means. Avatar and The Last Samurai for sure: outsider comes in and yee-haws away a long standing "lesser" cultural dilemma, often doing nothing different from what the "natives" were doing for centuries, except this time it works because he's a white guy with exceptional luck. Some are more respectful: if the hero has some kind of unique skill. Some are less so: if the hero does something that's been tried forever but somehow for him it works.
Some does something only a privileged white guy can and that's why it works: these can be very self aware and turns the story into a worthwhile criticism of racism. I would put Gran Torino in this category.
Does that make Bill and Ted white saviour, even if the "natives" in trouble are future white babes?
Hollywood is full of white guys making movies for white guys, so of course the stories are going to be told from that perspective. It's great we are starting to get more diversity but to look back on ancient films like Laurence of Arabia and judge it anachronistically feels unfair.
I watch a lot of HK that are downright racist and "HK saviour" is just the norm: human beings like hearing stories told about guys like them.
We should all aim to do better, but I feel like sometimes bashing the current norm does nothing to elevate conversation, but instead serve to alienate innocent bystanders. Instead of saying, hey you like these films, try watching these foreign films with subtitles and no white guys because the pathos are the same and you'll gain empathy.....it's saying, if you like classic films you're a racist bad person and everything you like and grew up loving are problematic and holding everyone back.
It's another unfortunate side effect of the modern internet. If you're a nobody and you say "[Hidden gem] is really good" on social media, then you won't get much traction. But say "[popular movie] isn't all it's cracked up to be", you'll have people come out of the woodworks on both ends of the spectrum to talk about how [popular movie] is actually banal trash or [popular movie] is actually really good and underrated. Simply because curation in social media is focusing on the popular, and not on the hidden gems.
Even modern media articles that in theory try to curate for hidden gems will skew towards the popular stuff, because that will be reflected in their SEO and get them more views, even if it defeats the purpose of such an article. I know it's becomes a bit passé to blame everything on algorithms, but it really can't be understated how much these seemingly innocent design decisions drive entire industries of conversation.
indeed :( often we're engaging with statistical discourse rather than genuinely having a discussion
if the article didn't have some controversial pickings then I wouldn't have commented on it either....