White Savior Filmに分類されていた

映画グリーンブックについてはTIMEの記事では興行成績が思わしくないのでアカデミー賞は難しいのではと書かれていました。

Defining an Oscar Movie Is Harder Than Ever. That Can Only Be a Good Thing

Stephanie Zacharek @szacharek  Jan. 3, 2019

Take a picture like Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, based on a true story, in which a racist, working-class joe (Viggo Mortensen) learns a crucial lesson about racial equality when he drives a cultured, educated musician (Mahershala Ali) through the segregated South of the early 1960s. Early last fall, Oscar prognosticators seemed certain Green Book would be an awards front runner. But after the movie opened to disappointing box-office numbers, its Oscar buzz began to drain away. Some critics have found the film retrograde to the point of being racist. In reality, it’s probably just the kind of outmoded “message” film we feel we’ve outgrown, a work that spells out an antiracism lesson that most Americans don’t think they need to hear (even if some actually do).

興行成績よりも問題視されているのはその描き方のようです。よくあるwhite saviorの類型に当てはまるとか。黒人系のエンターテイメントを紹介するサイトの記事から。

How 'Green Book' And The Hollywood Machine Swallowed Donald Shirley Whole

December 14th 2018

As is typical of a Hollywood White Savior Film, Green Book places Dr. Shirley in several dangerous circumstances with racist white men so that Vallelonga can swoop in and save the day. In the process, Vallelonga teaches the world-renowned Black pianist about Black music and how to eat fried chicken.

典型的なハリウッドの「白人救世主」映画のように、グリーンブックではDr. Shirleyが人種主義者の白人たちに何度も危ない目に合わせられるようにしている。そうすればVallelongaが颯爽と登場して、その場を切り抜けることができるからだs。道中、Vallelongaは世界的に有名な黒人ピアニストに黒人音楽やフライドチキンの食べ方も教えたりしている。

White Saviorについては過去にもブログで取り上げたことがあります。

（Wikipedia）

白人の救世主

映画における白人の救世主(英語: white savior)とは、白人が非白人の人々を窮地から救うという定型的な表現である[1]。その表現は、アメリカ合衆国の映画の中で長い歴史がある[2]。白人の救世主は、メシア的な存在として描かれ、救出の過程で自身についてしばしば何かを学ぶ[1]。

（Wikipedia）

White Savior

The term white savior, sometimes combined with savior complex to write white savior complex, refers to a white person who acts to help people of color, with the help in some contexts perceived to be self-serving. The role is considered a modern-day version of what is expressed in the poem "The White Man's Burden" (1899) by Rudyard Kipling.[1] The term has been associated with Africa, and certain characters in film and television have been critiqued as white savior figures. Writer Teju Colecombined the term and industrial complex to coin "White Savior Industrial Complex".

この記事では黒人ピアニストのDr. Shirleyが家族からも黒人コミュニティからも孤立しているような映画での描き方に家族が異議を唱えています。

“It was rather jarring,” Edwin shared with Shadow and Act of his first experience seeing this on-screen portrayal of his uncle as a Black man who is estranged from his family, estranged from the Black community and seemingly embarrassed by Blackness.

Never mind that Dr. Shirley was active in the civil rights movement, friends with Dr. King, present for the march in Selma, and close friends with Black musicians—from Nina Simone to Duke Ellington and Sarah Vaughn—Dr. Shirley was also very much a part of his family’s lives.

また、白人ドライバーと生涯の友人関係を結んだという映画の主張に対しても、ドライな雇用関係しかなく、最終的にはクビにしたのだとしています。

“Including the cellist and the bassist [he worked with in the Don Shirley Trio],” Patricia said. “It was always a professional employer-employee relationship.”

Beyond that, Maurice added with laugh, “You asked what kind of relationship he had with Tony? He fired Tony! Which is consistent with the many firings he did with all of his chauffeurs over time.”

And some of the reasons why Maurice said Dr. Shirley fired Tony were featured in the film.

“Tony would not open the door, he would not take any bags, he would take his [chauffeur’s] cap off when Donald got out of the car, and several times Donald would find him with the cap off, and confronted him,” Maurice recalled.

この映画の原作は白人ドライバーの息子が書いた原作を元にしているので、視点が偏っていて、黒人ピアニストの家族には相談もなかったそうです。

次のSlateの記事ももっともな点を指摘しています。個人的な関係を結べれば人種問題を解決できるというのは表面的で、制度的な問題に取り組むことを妨げてしまうこともあると語っています。

Driving Mr. ShirleyWith Green Book, this year’s Oscar race gets its Driving Miss Daisy.

By INKOO KANG

Is there a cinematic subgenre more immediately suspect than the race-themed feel-good movie? Films like The Blind Side and The Help—and before those, a too-long list of Oscar winners, from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner to Driving Miss Daisy—make clear that the audience members meant to be satisfied by these tidy tales, with their white perspectives and white priorities, generally aren’t viewers of color. Even Hidden Figures, which greatly improved upon the subgenre by actually placing black women at the center of their story, shoehorned a (fictional) white savior into its already inspirational retelling of history.

*******

Sparked by Ali and Mortensen’s chemistry, the odd-couple dynamic is winsome if familiar, but racism isn’t just about these kinds of interpersonal relationships. It’s also about institutional power imbalances. That reality chips away at the movie’s lunkhead appeal, particularly given its initial setting in the postwar Bronx, where white flight and cold-hearted city planning would soon leave the borough’s south end a haven for crime and poverty. Friendships between people of different races can bring more joy to the world, but they alone won’t put an end to racism. You can certainly enjoy this heartwarming tale about Tony and Donald as an isolated event, even if it centers on a prejudiced white man granting humanity to an exceptional black man who, by his own admission, shares little in common with his fellow black Americans. But there’s something unseemly about singling out this story, about the seemingly narrow scope of racism and how easily it can be undone. Green Book decries those cultural pockets designed to make white people feel good, often at people of color’s expense. But that’s about all it does, too. 

興行成績が思ったより伸びなかったのは、観客がこのような問題を感じ取ったと見るのは穿ちすぎでしょうか。。。