On Green Book and Why the Oscars Love a White Savior

Last February, the Oscar for Best Picture went to… Green Book.

Yes, Green Book. The movie about segregation, featuring a Black music genius, but told entirely through the perspective of his white driver.

Yes, Green Book. The movie that claimed to give marginalized people a voice but had a mostly white cast and entirely white producing, directing and writing team.

Yes, Green Book. The movie that wanted to honor black history while only one person out of the many producers, actors and writers honored thanked its black subject in an acceptance speech.

Green Book. The movie about how “we are all the same and we can all work together” that beat more nuanced portrayals of blackness, such as those in Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, BlackKklansman and If Beale Street Could Talk.

It makes no sense, but we shouldn’t be surprised.

Green Book doesn’t call out racism; it fuels it. It assures white people that they can be the “saviors” who make life easier for black people. But the idea that we can all compromise to find common ground doesn’t work in a society plagued by institutional racism. Racism isn’t a disagreement. It’s a system of power imbalance that can’t be erased just because we decide that we’re all equals. We need critical analysis, reformism and frank discussions about how race operates on a daily basis in America.

But Academy voters love the movie and it’s clear why. Older white men don’t want to be reminded of their privilege and Green Book serves as a sort of hand-holding. Americans (including POC) have been conditioned to watch or read about stories featuring POC through the perspective of a white person. White storytellers and producers feel that non-white characters aren’t “relatable” or don’t “sell well” without a white man as an audience surrogate. This trope is used in several award-winning films, such as Driving Miss Daisy, The Blind Side and The Help.

Movies about countries that do not have majority white populations, such as Lost In Translation, Isle of Dogs, Out of Africa, and A Passage to India, are especially guilty of this, because they use a white perspective as a way to interrogate other cultures. Even Best Picture winning movies with mostly POC casts, such as Slumdog Millionaire, Gandhi, and The Last Emperor use a white perspective since the team behind the camera is almost exclusively white.

Specifically, Slumdog Millionaire is a movie about the slums of India directed by the White British Danny Boyle that has been accused of orientalism, due to its almost romantic view of Indian poverty. Filmmakers associated with the film have boasted that it shows the “real” India but how can we get an authentic film interpretation of a country when the producers, director and screenwriters are all foreigners? Due to its lack of Indian crew members, Slumdog ends up being a British outlook on a place they once colonized.

The Academy has become more and more aware of the perception that they are tone deaf about race on film. Many argue that Green Book is a different case and that the white chauffeur isn’t necessarily a white savior since he is still presented as uneducated and crass. However, every time the black character gets into a scuffle with a client or trouble with the police, his white friend is always there to bail him out. This isn’t an example of a white character using their privilege for good since the screenwriter seems to expect the audience to admire him, as if he is being equally or more courageous than his black employer when he encounters racism.

Many people tend to ignore that the black man featured in the movie was also queer in real life. There is a brief scene where he gets in trouble with the police when they catch him in a compromising position with another man, but the issue is never brought up again. In fact, the white driver just bribes the police so they can leave, making the mention of the black character’s queerness only a catalyst for white character development.

Black and queer people deserve better than Green Book. They deserve to be seen as more than a way for the white characters and audience around them to grow. Rewarding white savior movies only allows people of color’s narratives to be erased. Now, more production companies will greenlight movies like Green Book over BlackKklansman because the former received a better reception. The Oscars have taken 10 steps backward since they gave Best Picture to Moonlight, a movie about black queer youth made by black filmmakers, in 2017.

Like all old rich white people, the Academy cares a lot about their reputation. Make your opinions about their decision known and maybe the film industry will respond.

by RIA BHANDARKAR