（続）White Savior Filmに分類されていた

先日紹介した黒人エンタメ系のサイトは助演のMahershala Aliにズバリwhite saviorについて聞いていました。自分の意思で南部を旅行したのでそのようなものには当たらないと答えています。それでも記事では映画は白人の目によってしか語られていないと問題視していました。

'Green Book' Is A Poorly Titled White Savior Film

November 15th 2018

"Don Shirley goes down south because he chooses to go," Ali tells Shadow and Act about why he doesn't view this film as a white savior film. "He hires (Tony Lip) as a choice," he says, "So he's not really in need of Tony Lip in the way in which we may think of needing that character, usually."

And yet, we don't see Dr. Shirley's story in Green Book without Lip's lens. Without Lip, there is literally no movie. And perhaps that would've been best.

White Savior Filmについてわかりやすく解説してくれているYoutubeがありました。

この最後に紹介されているニューヨークタイムズのコラムニストDavid Brooksの言葉はアバターが公開された時に書かれたものでした。彼の言葉ではWhite Messiahのようです。

The Messiah Complex

David Brooks JAN. 7, 2010

このような映画が好まれる要因の一つに、プロットがお馴染みであることがあるようです。

It’s a pretty serviceable formula. Once a director selects the White Messiah fable, he or she doesn’t have to waste time explaining the plot because everybody knows roughly what’s going to happen.

The formula also gives movies a little socially conscious allure. Audiences like it because it is so environmentally sensitive. Academy Award voters like it because it is so multiculturally aware. Critics like it because the formula inevitably involves the loincloth-clad good guys sticking it to the military- industrial complex.

動画でも引用されていた部分が含まれているところは最後に出てきます。

Still, would it be totally annoying to point out that the whole White Messiah fable, especially as Cameron applies it, is kind of offensive?

It rests on the stereotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic. It rests on the assumption that nonwhites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades. It rests on the assumption that illiteracy is the path to grace. It also creates a sort of two-edged cultural imperialism. Natives can either have their history shaped by cruel imperialists or benevolent ones, but either way, they are going to be supporting actors in our journey to self-admiration.

この問題はアバター公開時に大論争になった模様で、一般的なニュースでも取り上げられていました。全然気づいていませんでした。

Racist Theme In 'Avatar'?

BY MARY-JAYNE MCKAY

UPDATED ON: JANUARY 11, 2010 / 12:30 PM / CBS/AP

Robinne Lee, an actress in such recent films as "Seven Pounds" and "Hotel for Dogs," said that "Avatar" was "beautiful" and that she understood the economic logic of casting a white lead if most of the audience is white.

But she said the film, which so far has the second-highest worldwide box-office gross ever, still reminded her of Hollywood's "Pocahontas" story - "the Indian woman leads the white man into the wilderness, and he learns the way of the people and becomes the savior."

"It's really upsetting in many ways," said Lee, who is black with Jamaican and Chinese ancestry. "It would be nice if we could save ourselves."

James Cameronの弁明は以下のようですが、Green Bookの監督の言葉と似通ってしまいますね。

Writer/director Cameron, who is white, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that his film "asks us to open our eyes and truly see others, respecting them even though they are different, in the hope that we may find a way to prevent conflict and live more harmoniously on this world. I hardly think that is a racist message."

このタイプの映画にLast Samuraiも挙げられていましたが、確かに日本人が見るとこの映画はいい気持ちはしないですね。