Woke-Scolds at The Movies

As the individual is deconstructed, so are individual stories

Every now and then, I come across a tired retread of the complaint that earnest popular movies about racism aren’t “anti-racist” enough, ack-SHULLY. The usual gist is that such stories “center” a “white savior” figure whose privilege eventually redounds to the benefit of the wise/funny/feisty/magical persecuted black co-star(s). Depending on the film, this white savior may begin his arc as a casual (or worse) racist himself, like Sam Rockwell’s Klan president in Best of Enemies, or he might simply be a white do-gooder, like Sandra Bullock’s adoptive mother in The Blind Side. But all of these arcs bend towards the conclusion of mutual understanding and racial harmony. Thus, so the critique goes, they’re less concerned with highlighting systemic injustices than they are with making white people feel good about themselves.

The latest variant on this silliness was offered up in a recent Twitter thread by Christian academic author/speaker Jemar Tisby. Hackneyed as the thesis is, the way he regurgitated it seemed, to me at least, especially revealing. I’ll bold a couple key phrases. “One of the reasons some people love these films,” he said, “is they offer a narrative of redemption, a way out of this racial morass in our nation.” And more, this redemption narrative “is highly individualistic and interpersonal—the friendship between two people, the benevolence of a white person. No analysis of systems and circumstances that lead to widespread injustice.” Such stories “let viewers off the hook” for “actually changing and taking action,” because they get to “identify” with the white hero, and “then I’m not racist. I’m not the one that needs to change.” In these films, racism is “mainly a problem of interpersonal relationships that is solved by being nice and sharing personal resources,” which doesn’t explain “how entire systems were set up for inequity.” In conclusion, “they feel good, but they don’t DO good.”