White Savior

 The trope of the White Savior is one that has existed in film and television for decades.  The White Savior trope in movies depicts the people of color in the film as being hopeless and helpless while on the the flip side casting the White actor (usually male) as being the savior for the people of color.  There can be a thin line between a White Savior figure and a regular non-racist potentially even woke figure. The biggest difference in my opinion between these two is the way that the actors of color are portrayed in the film. There should be a certain level of dignity attributed to the characters of color. White character is not a problem as long as there is somewhat equal level of dignity between them and the people of color in the movie. The problem is when the people of color in the movie are made to look like less than the White Savior. This ideology specifically when it refers to Black characters enforces the age old stereotype that we have seen in minstrel shows back in the day about Black People not having enough intelligence and ability to help themselves. It helps maintain the ideal that White Men are the most dominant demographic and that only they have the power and ability to empower other "lesser" demographics.

When it comes to this concept the movie Blood Diamond comes to mind. In this movie the White character named Danny Archer starts out the movie playing somewhat of the anti-hero but towards the end of the  movie ends up being portrayed a form of White Savior. His intention initially was to take advantage of the Black character for his own personal gain. There is a huge pink diamond buried somewhere. The Black character knows where it is at so in exchange for helping him find his family the Black character would help him find the diamond. The Black does not fully realize the value of this diamond or even how to capitalize of the value of it and the white character knows it and takes advantage of it in exchange for his safety from rebel troops and the return of his family. In the process of retrieving the diamond the white character receives a fatal injury and as he's dying thats when he finally decides to instruct the black man and what to do with the diamond to capitalize from it. The white in the character in the movie makes the other main black character in the movie seem dumb and helpless. He is clearly taking advantage of the black character throughout the movie and that black character has no idea that it is happening


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