At this year’s Academy Awards, the hashtag “#OscarsSoWhite” surfaced and took hold of Twitter. This was in response to the fact that — for the second year in a row — all 20 of the nominees for the lead and supporting-actor awards were white. Despite powerful roles such as those in Straight Outta Compton, Creed, Concussion, and Beasts of No Nation, not a single actor was recognized at the most recent Oscars.
Many activists argued that the Oscars had been whitewashed and the lack of diversity was, in some respects, intentional. And although the show’s host, Chris Rock, tried to make the right number of jokes, it did little to diminish the hostility surrounding the lack of diversity.
Most recently, the case of whitewashing was brought up with the upcoming Matt Damon movie, The Great Wall. The movie portrays Damon as a white traveler who finds himself on the Great Wall of China, discovering the real purpose of the wall: to protect civilization from monsters that lie beyond it. He then fights alongside a group of Asian fighters who man the wall as he becomes the film’s undeniable protagonist.
The problem with this film, however, is not whitewashing. The major issue, as brought up by Fresh off the Boat’s Constance Wu is another problem altogether, called “The White Savior” problem. This idea has been referred to many times in film studies and examples include The Blind Side, Dances with Wolves, and The Last Samurai, to name a few. Essentially, the White Savior problem is a story in which the protagonist is a white man or woman who inserts him – or herself in a situation in which the primarily diverse community has been unable to solve the issue on their own.
The problem, according to Wu’s tweet about it, is that “We have to stop perpetuating the racist myth that [only a] white man can save the world.” And while I generally tend to question these catchall statements, it is rather astounding the number of situations in which white protagonists save the day.
Generally speaking, Wikipedia is not a valuable source, but its list of movies in which this occurs is self-verifiable and important (and this is just a sample): Blood Diamond, Gran Torino, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Tarzan.
With a problem this prevalent, maybe it isn’t just American cinema. Rightfully so, Damon is imploring opponents to actually see the movie before they refer to it as whitewashing or as racially insensitive.
The movie has not yet opened, so any comments about the purported whitewashing or the white savior problem — including this column — very well may be misplaced. But if the movie is even remotely about what it seems to be, it would stand to reason that there is a problem with the American choice of having white famous actors play the role of saviors so consistently.
It’s difficult to comment on whether certain black actors, for example, deserved to be nominated for the Academy Awards because it’s so subjective. But it is not difficult to make the argument that Americans need to hear more stories from diverse cultures.