"Come with me." "Where?" "Wherever you like."

iamabutchsolo:

comradeomega:

infantinoduck:

that-ethiopian-chick:

ethiopienne:

iamabutchsolo:

A White Savior Film (WSF) is a movie that features a white person coming into the lives of a person or people of color (POCs) who are often low-income, troubled, and/or severely oppressed. The troubled times that the people of color are in can be a product of oppression from other white folks, or their own doing. Either way, the White Savior comes in, quickly sympathizes with the problems of the people of color, learning what needs to happen to solve their problems, and in doing so, wins their favor and becomes their hero. Here is a list of some of these films:

• Gran Torino
• Avatar (Jake Sully literally becomes the Messiah of the Na’vi)
• The Blind Side*
• Hardball
• The Ghosts of Mississippi*
• Glory Road*
• Dances With Wolves
• Finding Forrester
• The Principal*
• Music of the Heart*
• To Kill a Mockingbird (slightly on the fence with this one because the savior Atticus Finch does not save Tom Robinson from being convicted)
• Radio*
• Cool Runnings*
• Dangerous Minds* (This film was based on the true story of a Latina teacher, yet Michelle Pfiffer played the teacher, thereby turning this into a WSF)
• The Last Samurai
• Wildcats
• Freedom Writers*
• Amistad*
• Black Rain
• Sunset Park
• District 9 (Also slightly on the fence with this one since the white protagonist mainly follows the plan of the oppressed alien that stands for a POC, and he is more of an anti-hero)
• Mississippi Burning*
• The Last Airbender (the TV series composed of all Asian characters, but the film’s three main heroes were cast as white people, while everyone else was of color)
• Dune
• Glory*
• The Ron Clark Story*
• The Help

There are a few different kinds of WSF. The most popular kinds includethe white teacher/administrator that helps the students of color realize their true potential and help them overcome their own prejudices (The Principal, Freedom Writers, Dangerous Minds, etc.), and the white sports coach leading his or her team filled with usually poor and troubled people of color to victory (Glory Road, Cool Runnings, Wildcats, Sunset Park, Hardball, etc).

The more epic, and true “savior” WSF that many sci-fi films also fit into feature a white person who is often an oppressor happening upon a culture of people of color or aliens that are POC stand-ins. The white hero eventually assimilates into their culture, and he even proves to be more skillful than them as learns the culture. He becomes their leader and savior in the battle against their enemies (Avatar, The Last Samurai, Dances With Wolves, Dune, District 9, etc.) Particularly for the “epic” WSF, the saviors are male, heterosexual, and very masculine.

So what are the problems with these films? Well, they portray people of color as too desolate, too hopeless, too overcome by their own prejudices and circumstances to help themselves, so they need someone to help them. But not just anyone, no, this helper must be a White Savior. This Savior inspires the people of color, teaches them how to be a better them, and makes their lives better when the people of color couldn’t do it themselves. These films ignore the stories of people of color helping their own communities and helping themselves.

Hollywood, and many white people, eat these WSF up because white audiences can identify wanting to be the “savior” in POC’s lives, to be the one who rescues the poor POCs from their circumstances, to be the hero in their lives. They help alleviate feelings of white guilt by projecting white people not as the oppressors, but as the heroes who can save people of color from their circumstances, and often, the oppression that whites in the past have caused. Essentially, these films capitalize on the stories of people of color, yet instead of telling the film through their eyes, they are presented as stories of the white people who help them. The people of color in these films function as catalysts for the White Savior to learn his or her lessons and reach the end of his or her own journey.

* You’ve probably noticed that many of these films are inspired by true stories. People who defend WSF often bring up the fact that several of these are “based on a true story,” however, that doesn’t necessarily mean that all WSF are valid as a group. Rather, it shows that Hollywood has a greater interest in the stories of heroic white people saving people of color than stories of people of color helping their own communities or people of color helping white people out of bad situations. WSF stories are being used to support the status quo.

Is it racist to enjoy these films? No, it’s not. You can still watch these films and like them, but they are part of a trend that chooses to ignore the perspective of people of color, and feed into the White Savior Complex that really shows what Hollywood, and unfortunately, many white people have, so choose your films well and watch them carefully.

BLESS THIS POST!

A well articulated reason for why I refuse to see “The Help” and why many parts in The Blind Side make me cringe.

“many parts in The Blind Side make me cringe” wtf? Do you have a problem with people opening their home and being generous? I’m sorry it was a white family that opened up their home but come on! But this post does make a good point that Hollywood likes to capitalize on these kinds of stories. 

Cool Runnings was loosely based on the true story of the 1988 Winter Olympics, where the Jamaican bobsled team was indeed coached by a white American, Howard Siler, who Devon Harris (one of the original team members) describes with respect. ”[He] was one of the top competitors in the world…The script did him an injustice.” Most of the original members enjoyed the film, acknowledging its inaccuracies, but praising the inspiring adaptation nonetheless. It would have been unrealistic and inaccurate to have a Jamaican coach the team; Jamaica had never had a bobsled team before. I have a personal problem with the Mighty Whitey films myself (Dances With Wolves, Last Samurai, etc), but not every movie featuring white people inspiring people of other races should be dismissed as Hollywood ignorance. There are plenty of examples where the race of the characters shouldn’t matter and people are just looking too far into things and stretching elements to add more examples to what they’re complaining about. And yes, people should be allowed to like these films, but should also keep an open mind. People should keep an open mind and be conscious of the implications in regard to everything they engage themselves in.

I want to remind people the point, because it seems like it’s getting lost.

I and this post, and all those who agree with it, are not suggesting that the individual films listed are racist.

The problem is the trend of White Savior-ism and how it is so pervasive in American films. It doesn’t matter if the film was completely true to its source material or story, because the point is that these types of stories about the relationship between white people and people of color are far more valued and told than stories of people of color saving each other or saving white people.

The nature of the films as individuals don’t matter; it’s the trend that is racist and needs to be looked down upon.

bananaleaves:

And this is why I am so invested in the handful of Asian-American characters that I get to see on screen, because they so rarely exist. Not even speaking of simply Asian characters, but the hyphenated Asian-American because if I had to break it down, I don’t think I’ve encountered a character on television that speaks to me in the way that I would wish it to speak to me. And perhaps that’s demanding a lot, but you would think in all of the years, that there would be something.

This is why translation - in all of its nebulous definitions - is also so important to me because you lose things in translation - and not just words, phrases, but entire meanings, and emotions - and I want to see that on film. I want to see that encapsulated in a scene or a story. And I get these snippets - Cristina Yang snapping at Izzie because she’s from California, and she’s not Chinese, she’s Korean, but thank you for those assumptions; and Tina who so badly wants to be seen that she configures her entire body to reflect it - the way that she walks, the way that she carries herself, the way that she dresses, the way that she performs to announce that She Is Here and she Has A Presence even if inside, she’s petrified because she has always been petrified but her motto is be the change you want to see in the world for a reason, because every day she embodies the persona that she wants to become; Tosh! And that is all I will say about that - but they’re only snippets and none of them truly pin down what I want pinned down.

What I want pinned down is the image of people who are not necessarily as Othered as Hollywood would have it, who can speak English, who have perhaps been here for a while (or not so long a while), who aren’t completely disconnected from their traditions, nor completely latched onto them. And you know what, it’s fine, we can have both. But I want the breadth of Asian-American experience addressed to some degree. You know what? Not all of us were white-collar professionals who immigrated to the United States in the ’90s to become doctors and scientists. Not all of us were refugees who camped out in boats and are still struggling to make it either. Not all of us graduate from high school, not all of us play the piano or violin, not all of us speak the language, but not all of us don’t speak the language either.

And I just want that balance. I want to see a family that is not completely Americanized with the touches of Chineseness (Japaneseness, Koreanness, East-Asianness) here and there, but a family that celebrates its traditional side in a way that is also secular and mindful of what the world is like outside. I want to see the stories of families that are struggling, but don’t glamorize the way that life is and don’t also simply focus on its struggle. 

The closest I have to that right now, I would guess, would be Mike Chang. On Glee, of all things. Because you know what, they go yum cha and they eat their chicken feet and they visit their grandparents and his family is strict and there’s pressures there and that’s great because he chafes against them every single day. I just wish he got more than an episode a century. And it still doesn’t change the fact that ultimately, Mike Chang is one of those ’90s professional immigrants, and that’s fine, we need those stories, but we need something else.

This somehow emerged out of translation feelings.

bananaleaves:

svnoyi:

(Source: hellogiggles.com)

yellowcars:

okay tbh that post with tweets about ‘i’d let chris brown beat me anyday’ is disturbing as fuck. however.

to me it just reeks of internalized misogyny. these girls live in a society that has not punished chris brown for his behavior at all. they live in a society that teaches them that the ultimate form of masculinity is temperamental and strong and violent. they’re desensitized to violence because it is everywhere. i’m hesitant to condemn these individual girls for these tweets. let’s blame the music industry which has welcomed chris brown back with open arms. let’s blame the advertising industry which bombards us with violent imagery every single day. let’s blame the patriarchy, which sets up impossible standards of masculinity that men have to act out in order to quote-unquote “fulfill”. let’s blame the patriarchy again, for desensitizing women to domestic and sexual abuse. let’s blame rape culture, which makes abuse into a ruse and a joke. people are, after all, only a product of the environment in which they are raised and it’s damn near impossible to escape all of that shit.