*** Welcome to piglix ***

White savior narrative in film


In film, the white savior is a cinematic trope portraying a white character rescuing people of color from their plight. Certain critics have observed this narrative in an array of genres of movies in American cinema, wherein a white protagonist is portrayed as a messianic figure who often learns something about him- or herself in the course of rescuing characters of color.

The narrative trope of the white savior is how the mass communications medium of cinema represents the sociology of race and ethnic relations, by presenting abstract concepts—such as morality—as innate characteristics (racial and cultural) of white people, rather than as characteristics innate to people of color. In the praxis of cinematic narrative, the white-savior character usually is a man who is out of place within his own society, until he assumes the burden of racial leadership in order to rescue non-white foreigners and minorities (racial and ethnic) from their plights; as such, white-savior stories "are essentially grandiose, exhibitionistic, and narcissistic" fantasies of psychological compensation.

In "The Whiteness of Oscar Night" (2015), Matthew Hughey describes the narrative structure of the subgenre:

A White Savior film is often based on some supposedly true story. Second, it features a nonwhite group or person who experiences conflict and struggle with others that is particularly dangerous or threatening to their life and livelihood. Third, a White person (the savior) enters the milieu and through their sacrifices, as a teacher, mentor, lawyer, military hero, aspiring writer, or wannabe Native American warrior, is able to physically save—or at least morally redeem—the person or community of folks of color, by the film's end. Examples of this genre include films like Glory (1989), Dangerous Minds (1996), Amistad (1997), Finding Forrester (2000), The Last Samurai (2003), Half-Nelson (2006), Freedom Writers (2007), Gran Torino (2008), Avatar (2009), The Blind Side (2009), The Help (2011), and the list goes on.


...
Wikipedia

...