Great Films That Deal With Racial Prejudice

[Dan Backslide Joined: Apr 24th, 2016 Topics: 45 Posts: 3250 View Predictions]

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<p style=”text-align: left;”>Given all the drama concerning race in the US, I thought this would be a relevant topic to talk about and recommend movies revolving around racial injustice.</p>
For me, one of the best has to be 12 Years a Slave. When I first saw it, I found it to be an incredible and eye opening. We’ve all heard the stories in school, but to see the reality in such gruesome detail was shocking. Credit goes to the film for never pulling any punches, but also never coming across as torture porn.

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[The2ndAvenger Joined: Dec 5th, 2018 Topics: 4 Posts: 308 View Predictions]

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I hate to be that guy, but Green Book is actually really worth watching.

Harriet is great. So is Hidden Figures.

Amazing Grace is both set in the UK and almost entirely about white people, but it’s certainly a good movie. It’s about the leader of the British abolition movement, William Wilberforce.

And of course, the obvious ones (12YaS, Just Mercy, Selma, etc., and documentaries like I Am Not Your Negro and 13th etc).

"It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument." - William Gibbs McAdoo

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[Jojo Betzler Joined: Feb 12th, 2020 Topics: 0 Posts: 30 View Predictions]

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Do The Right Thing by Spike Lee. Unfortunately more relevant than ever, 31 years later.

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[Dan Jo Joined: Aug 16th, 2017 Topics: 3 Posts: 423 View Predictions]

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Imitation of Life (1959)
The Help
Driving Miss Daisy
Selma
If Beale Street Could Talk
Django Unchained
The Color Purple
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Blind Side
Far from Heaven
Monster’s Ball
Giant (1956)
The Green Mile
The Shawshank Redemption
A Patch of Blue
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Mudbound
Loving

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[MrOceanBlueEyes Joined: Dec 28th, 2018 Topics: 1 Posts: 341 View Predictions]

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Green Book is a white saviour film so I wouldn’t put it in this list. Green Book is not a movie you want to watch to educate yourself because is actually very misleading.

The Help and The Blindside are other two films that are also white saviour films that I wouldn’t recommend for people to watch. Maybe The Help shines light on the issues but it doesn’t take away the fact that it is a white saviour film.

The Hate U Give, Selma and The Last Man in San Fransisco are some great films that I would recommend.

 

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[Dan Backslide Joined: Apr 24th, 2016 Topics: 45 Posts: 3250 View Predictions]

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MrOceanBlueEyes wrote:

Green Book is a white saviour film so I wouldn’t put it in this list. Green Book is not a movie you want to watch to educate yourself because is actually very misleading. The Help and The Blindside are other two films that are also white saviour films that I wouldn’t recommend for people to watch. Maybe The Help shines light on the issues but it doesn’t take away the fact that it is a white saviour film. The Hate U Give, Selma and The Last Man in San Fransisco are some great films that I would recommend.

I’ll once again, say that I don’t think Green Book is a white savior film. Mortensen protects Ali from danger, but I’d say that Ali is the one who actually saves Mortensen, since he helps redeem him.

I can understand other criticisms directed towards Green Book, but I don’t think it’s a white savior story.

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[Chimichanggas Joined: Dec 13th, 2017 Topics: 11 Posts: 663 View Predictions]

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Anybody who watched Mississippi Burning? Any thoughts?

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[Dan Backslide Joined: Apr 24th, 2016 Topics: 45 Posts: 3250 View Predictions]

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A white savior film is any film that deals with the subject of race where the black character takes the back seat (in this case, literally) to elevate the experience of the white character. Also Mortensen’s character does “save” Ali multiple times. Ali winning Best Supporting Actor is enough to prove that it’s a white savior film. It’s also a boring, racist, tone-deaf, artless, PoS film anyways. Not to mention the fact that it’s all a big lie.

Worth noting, that just because Ali went supporting doesn’t mean that he was actually supporting. Everyone agrees he was a co-lead.

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[BenitoDelicias Joined: Nov 3rd, 2010 Topics: 0 Posts: 587 View Predictions]

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13th.

I really need to rewatch Do the Right Thing. I was too young the first time.

I don’t know what happened to The Hate U Give, but it went from great film in the first half to “wait, where did the other film go?” in the second half.

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[Dan Backslide Joined: Apr 24th, 2016 Topics: 45 Posts: 3250 View Predictions]

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You’re missing the point. He passed as supporting and the film is very much from Mortenson’s PoV. Ali is *kind of* co-lead, but Mortenson is still THE lead of the movie. It’s the white guy’s story and that’s the issue. Hearing the white guy’s perspective on racism, isn’t particularly helpful.

I’m just saying, while Mortensen is the bigger part, it’s incredibly easy to pass as supporting, so Ali going that route isn’t some huge deal. That stuff happens all the time.

And he’s not “kind of” a co-lead, he was a blatant co-lead. He’s the secondary main character, but he’s also probably the only person besides Mortensen who had more than 15 minutes of screentime. His going supporting isn’t as big of a fraud as Pitt last year, but he was still clearly a lead, even Mortensen’s role was more prominent.

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[Dan Backslide Joined: Apr 24th, 2016 Topics: 45 Posts: 3250 View Predictions]

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Yeah, while it’s undeniable that black artists are best when it comes to this topic, I don’t think Mississippi Burning should be completely written off just because it’s made by white people.

Watchmen was a fascinating view on racism and one of the most critically acclaimed projects of the past year, but it was made by a white man. That doesn’t invalidate it.

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[Atypical Joined: Dec 1st, 2011 Topics: 88 Posts: 5762 View Predictions]

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“The Color Purple” (1985)
“Do the Right Thing” (1989)
“Fruitvale Station” (2013)
“Get Out” (2017)
“Hoop Dreams” (1994)
“I Am Not Your Negro” (2016)
“Killer of Sheep” (1978)
“Moonlight” (2016)
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (2009)
“Sounder” (1972)

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[Dan Jo Joined: Aug 16th, 2017 Topics: 3 Posts: 423 View Predictions]

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Avoid a lot of the films mentioned above, especially Green Book, The Help, Driving Miss Daisy, and The Blind Side. They’re films by white artists, made to make white audiences feel good about “how far we’ve come,” and they surround a white savior, instead of talking about the Black American experience. They are not helpful. Watch instead: -Do the Right Thing (essential viewing, especially right now) -BlackKklansman -If Beale Street Could Talk -Mudbound -The Color Purple -Get Out -Malcom X -Precious -Paris is Burning -Moonlight -Fences -A Raisin in the Sun If you want to learn about racial prejudice in America, you’ve got to watch some movies that are going to hurt and make you sad. You won’t learn anything from a feel-good movie about racism.

Those films I’ve mentioned will never be avoided. Those films are significant and special. Just my opinion.

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[vlaxym Joined: Dec 29th, 2011 Topics: 6 Posts: 31 View Predictions]

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To Kill a Mockingbird tops them all.

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[Honey Joined: Jan 30th, 2017 Topics: 0 Posts: 410 View Predictions]

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The Joy Luck Club
Gook
American History X
Bamboozled
Brother Future
Gran Torino
The Great Debaters
The Killing Fields
Stand and Deliver
Half Nelson

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