This idea of racist film tropes is pissing me off. Yeah, thought about putting this in the SJW thread, but I might actually be committing an act of SJWness with this.
First, let's examine the "White Savior" trope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_savior_narrative_in_film
It is considered racist because it stands for the proposition - explicitly or implicitly - that non-white people are incapable of solving their own problems. Ok. I can kinda see that. Except it isn't just non-white people. The list includes aliens. And non-humans. Ok. Whatever. I might disagree, but I can see the point that there are films that do suggest non-white people just aren't smart or good or capable. That would be racist.
But wait. One of the modern movies is Million Dollar Arm. Which is based on an actually true story about a baseball scout that goes to India to find talented pitching. That's not racist. That's the profit-motive. He didn't go to India because that's where the brown people are. He went there to find pitchers who also happen to be brown. He's not trying to save them. He's trying to make money on them.
And wait again. Lincoln. The movie about Abraham Lincoln. The president who... ended slavery. Now, it may be an interesting intellectual exercise to sort out if Lincoln was any more racist than any other slave-liberator or slave-holder of his day. But that dodges the issue in terms of the movie: the man actually did it. In real life. In a documented way. Liberated (predominantly) black slaves. As in, saved a bunch of them. Actually. For realz.
How can that be an example of a racist trope?
But hold up. That's not all. If a black character is the hero, that's a different racist trope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro
The racist idea here is somehow equivalent to the "noble savage" convention, which itself is the contrary assertion of the "white savior" proposition: that non-white people are able to achieve goodness, sophistication and effectiveness in the absence of white-ness. Then, they help white people. I'm not completely clear on how that's racist - elevating a non-white person to be subjectively better than white people, but... ok. It does hearken back to stereotypes associated with blackface and minstrel shows. So, within that context, I can somewhat understand it as racist.
But look at Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty. God was black, among other things. How in the world does that count as racist? Portraying an all-powerful deity (THE all-powerful deity for some of us) as non-white seems like a positive image.
And that's the start of what gets me peeved. Elevating people/aliens with admirable qualities should be ok regardless of what color their skin is.
Otherwise, things become overly simplistic: a black character saving white characters is racist. White characters saving black characters is racist.
All we're left with is white characters saving white characters or black characters saving black characters. That seems a lot like separate-but-equal.
And it stifles creativity.
If I were to start a literary/creative project (not saying I might have in the past), how in the world can race even be a part of it? Not even overtly - how can anyone cast anything without falling into one of these 2 "racist" tropes.
Seriously, some of these things are really counterproductive to race relations. And entertainment.
And personally, I want to see Black Panther with my son because it looks like a REALLY good movie. I don't want to have to wade through the emotional baggage of ivory (or ebony) tower pundits.
Entertainment is for... wait for it... entertaining. A well executed story should transcend these kinds of things and not have to worry about them at all.
Rant mostly over.
First, let's examine the "White Savior" trope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_savior_narrative_in_film
It is considered racist because it stands for the proposition - explicitly or implicitly - that non-white people are incapable of solving their own problems. Ok. I can kinda see that. Except it isn't just non-white people. The list includes aliens. And non-humans. Ok. Whatever. I might disagree, but I can see the point that there are films that do suggest non-white people just aren't smart or good or capable. That would be racist.
But wait. One of the modern movies is Million Dollar Arm. Which is based on an actually true story about a baseball scout that goes to India to find talented pitching. That's not racist. That's the profit-motive. He didn't go to India because that's where the brown people are. He went there to find pitchers who also happen to be brown. He's not trying to save them. He's trying to make money on them.
And wait again. Lincoln. The movie about Abraham Lincoln. The president who... ended slavery. Now, it may be an interesting intellectual exercise to sort out if Lincoln was any more racist than any other slave-liberator or slave-holder of his day. But that dodges the issue in terms of the movie: the man actually did it. In real life. In a documented way. Liberated (predominantly) black slaves. As in, saved a bunch of them. Actually. For realz.
How can that be an example of a racist trope?
But hold up. That's not all. If a black character is the hero, that's a different racist trope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro
The racist idea here is somehow equivalent to the "noble savage" convention, which itself is the contrary assertion of the "white savior" proposition: that non-white people are able to achieve goodness, sophistication and effectiveness in the absence of white-ness. Then, they help white people. I'm not completely clear on how that's racist - elevating a non-white person to be subjectively better than white people, but... ok. It does hearken back to stereotypes associated with blackface and minstrel shows. So, within that context, I can somewhat understand it as racist.
But look at Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty. God was black, among other things. How in the world does that count as racist? Portraying an all-powerful deity (THE all-powerful deity for some of us) as non-white seems like a positive image.
And that's the start of what gets me peeved. Elevating people/aliens with admirable qualities should be ok regardless of what color their skin is.
Otherwise, things become overly simplistic: a black character saving white characters is racist. White characters saving black characters is racist.
All we're left with is white characters saving white characters or black characters saving black characters. That seems a lot like separate-but-equal.
And it stifles creativity.
If I were to start a literary/creative project (not saying I might have in the past), how in the world can race even be a part of it? Not even overtly - how can anyone cast anything without falling into one of these 2 "racist" tropes.
Seriously, some of these things are really counterproductive to race relations. And entertainment.
And personally, I want to see Black Panther with my son because it looks like a REALLY good movie. I don't want to have to wade through the emotional baggage of ivory (or ebony) tower pundits.
Entertainment is for... wait for it... entertaining. A well executed story should transcend these kinds of things and not have to worry about them at all.
Rant mostly over.