Let's talk about "White savior narrative in film"

Well I think for superhero movies, a lot of filmmakers don't seem interested in making movies about non-white superhero movies. Like a lot of people say they want them, but no one is actually making any.

It depends a lot on the nature of the story I'd say, again District 9 is casting the white character as a racist South African policeman who'se enlightened from that state. Stories like Dances with Wolves, Avatar and Last Samurai the lead character isn't really shown in such a negative manner, there basically more broken apathetic people who learn to stand up for a good cause. The criticism being that the native cause exists more for the benefit of the white hero than it does actually highlighting it.

In terms of the issue relative to this years Oscars I think you could argue that films like Black Panather and BlackKKlansman are themselves not exactly the most hard hitting examples of race on film. Seems to me things have regressed quite quickly since 12 Years a Slave won with the Oscars looking to blander commercial examples of racial politics.

But I don't think there is a rule that a character has to be racist, instead of starting out as a broken apathetic person. I think it's fine if they want to write the character as that. I don't think it serves as a benefit only, I still think the hero can be highlighted from it, even if he/she is just a broken apathetic person.

How is the cause a benefit to the hero when the hero betrays his own people?

A movie like Rambo III, I would call a white savior movie, cause Rambo is not betraying his own people when saving the other race of characters.

This. It happened to be mostly whites who were the first immigrants to North America. Many of them were trying to escape poverty and war in their home countries... just like today's immigrants from third-world countries (and even Europe), whose numbers are only gradually catching up to that of the white people who naturally populated over centuries (besides such horrible crimes as slavery and segregation, but obviously not every white person back then supported it).

Is anyone complaining about Asian and Indian superhero or supernatural-hero films and TV shows where THERE IS NOT A SINGLE PERSON OF ANY OTHER RACE? Are they being racist and unfairly exclusive by not hiring people with a different heritage in their films?
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE. TIME FOR THE INTERNET TO START SENDING HATE MAIL.

/sarcasm

Japan IS actually racist. Look it up. Way more than the U.S. Then India has class systems with their own people. Countries with citizens of a Chinese majority act much the same way. These "old-world values" are causing innocent people to suffer, but no, it's always North America that's the problem. It doesn't matter how many immigrants are welcomed with open arms, nothing is good enough for them and for the Gen-Xers, Millennials and post-Millennial whites who have decided to feel guilty about being born when it was entirely out of their control.

I really can't believe first world countries are still so up-in-arms about people's skin color and background in the year 2019. We're all a beautiful mixture of random DNA. Everyone matters. Everyone is important. So LET IT BE.

Rambo III is an even more extreme version of it but still I think in the other examples you see less in the way of real self examination from the hero. That I'd say becomes an issue because the settings of these kinds of stories tend towards quite simplified good/evil situations that are often distanced from the everyday world.

blood diamond is the worst scenario of white savior....the film gives him an out after all he has done by making him a martyr....the script of that movie tries so hard to paint him as a hero despite being a crook

Just curious, if you put yourself in the coloured group's shoes, will you be saying the same thing? Yes, everyone DOES matter, everyone IS important. But we all know that is NOT reality.

I am Asian, I am not offended at all for Asian talent is not recognized or showcased as much as other races in Hollywood. However, just because we are OK with it doesn't mean it should be ignored or let it be in my opinion. When everyone is comfortable and chooses to let it be, isn't that how 'systemic racism' works?

I am not trying to argue for what you wrote above, to certain degree I even agree with you on not making it a HUGE deal. But I do want to voice for the other side of perspective a bit, and their voice should not be ignored or silenced just because they are the minority.

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Blood Diamond I would say is one of the better ones. I don't think that him being killed in the battle he was trying to one, counts as an 'out'. Most criminals who want to turn good, realistically would not consider this to be an out for them, when it comes to reaping what they sow.

But if you were to take a story like The Last Samurai, and switch the races around with that have made it any better though? Let's say the plot was written so that during the civil war in America, the confederate army brought over samurai from Japan to teach them to become better fighters. But then the samurai is captured by the Union army, and decides that he supports the Union's beliefs more and wants to fight alongside with them, against the confederate army he had joined in the first place.

Would this be a better movie, cause it's not a white savior story therefore?

In any so called 'white savior narrative' movie ask yourself one question, if the white character was replaced with a character from a different race, would the narrative then be considered a: 'Black savior ' or 'Hispanic savior ' or 'Asian savior' movie? And if it wouldn't be considered those, then people are just looking for hairs to split or maybe they are just racist against whites or maybe just plain ignorant about racial issues.



Either a standard should be applied equally, or not be applied at all.

Well I feel that movies like Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, and Avatar do not count because, the white hero is fighting against his own race in the movies, thereby canceling out the white savior stigma. I think it only counts in movies where the villain is a difference race as the hero such as Rambo III, or something like that, but that is just how I perceive it.

Hyperbole nowadays is unreal, truly the most evil thing ever that will destroy the world - nay, the universe. We're all going to die. Thank hyperbole!

I think every single race should be showcased in Hollywood if the actors are present, if they're willing to act, and if they're good at it. Isn't that how anyone gets hired (especially before they're super famous)? But isn't it actually racist to be like, "Oh, we need all these token characters. The tough black dude, the skinny white guy who can't defend himself, the smooth-talking Latino, the cute and nerdy Indian chick, the hot Asian girl, the vapid blonde model with a European accent..."

Should actors be hired to represent "accidental" stereotypes? No. It's fine to be angry over that if you see the same thing all the time (and yes, other countries than the U.S. also use stereotypes in their entertainment), but popular (and indie) films should be reflecting the actors who want to work hard and are willing to do so. Their race, skin color and background should have nothing to do with it... unless it reflects upon the script in a way that's insightful, current, and/or progressive.

I thought Sorry to Bother You was like that.

Also, most TV shows I've watched over the past decade have reflected back to me what I see when I walk around my city and all the surrounding cities. Multicultural people living their lives, no big deal. Various languages, races, and ethnicities.

So for me, what feels weird is watching modern day Asian shows and seeing ALL Asian people. Very rarely, there will be a white, black or Indian person.

Countries where all the people have the same race (or show that in their entertainment) ARE genuinely foreign to me.

I think their is something insidious where a movie that's central theme is to find the humanity in all of us is punished because the message comes from a white man. I think you could say both characters saved themselves but in many ways this is anecdotal story that really happened to deny this persons truth because of your feelings is wrong.


Now I've heard comparisons to CRASH, well the idea behind Crash was that all people are racist and we need to learn to accept that. That is a bad message but this film is not CRASH, this is a movie that tells us we can be better. Viggo's character wasn't some absurd racist he just had some ignorant ideas but he didn't go through some massive character arc. He just became a little bit better and that's a message everyone should take from Green Book.

see, their trick worked on you.....you yourself are in their spell.

The concept of whitewashing is by itself racist: the "race" of a person does not matter and those who think it does are racists.

Those who think a movie is problematic just because it does not portray the race of its characters as they were in the source material should take a look at the mirror. A truly non-racist person is even unable to notice that sort of thing because they do not see "race".

You guys should watch the glorious example of "yellow savior" in Wolf Warrior 2: the poor Africans are being opressed by white mercenaries which are being lead by a white American. The movie follows the main character, a glorious Chinese who saves the poor Africans by defeating the mercenaries and slaying the evil white American mercenary with a knife wound in the neck. It is the most popular movie of all time in China.

I don't think there is a their, it's not like these filmmakers have all conspired against some sort of movement .

This just makes it sound it "true" non-racists are ignorant people who have either no understanding of the complexities of existing race relations or deliberately choose to stay neutral and disengaged on the issue in a manner that can only be described as ineffectual. That kind of conscious denial sounds nice in theory but it also carries the unfortunate implication that you make the effort to disregard what can be a substantial facet of a person's identity in order to see them as another human being (e.g. saying "I don't care if you're ___" makes it sound like the ___ would otherwise be a problem).

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Would the remake of Ghost in the Shell have been able to get past the whitewashing, if they had just set it in an American setting like a futuristic New York or something like that, instead of going for a Japanese setting for an American remake? Like the American remake of The Departed for example, was able to escape whitewashing in audiences' eyes because the setting was changed to Boston, so if Ghost in the Shell had done that, would that have helped?

Those are not the only tricks in play....there are test screenings....script meetings with studio executives....man, you are so naive and innocent...you think all movies are magical creations made in heaven ? many of the movies are made using past data, reception, audience reaction to theses kinds of moves.