History Film / BlackOrWhite

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Part of what drives the conflict is that both Elliot and Rowena are justified in their perspectives. Elliot is right that Reggie is a worthless deadbeat who's unfit to raise children. Rowena however is justified that Elliot has a drinking problem and that his own abilities to be a parent are impaired.

* AdultFear: Your only child, a 17-year-old girl, is involved with a 23-year-old drug addict who gets her pregnant, resulting in her DeathByChildbirth and leaving you and your spouse to raise your new granddaughter. Then, several years later, that same man, who already claimed to have turned his life around, shows up at your house at night, high on crack, wielding a knife and threatening to take his daughter. He beats you up, and while you're on the ground, he slips into the house where your granddaughter is sleeping...

* MistakenForRacist: Rowena assumes that Elliot is racist because he refuses to ignore Eloise's Caucasian heritage, referring to her as "half-black, half-white" while Rowena and her family only refer to her as black. Rowena's lawyer/brother makes matters worse by deliberately arranging for a black judge and bringing up the fact that Elliot had referred to Reggie as the "n-word" in a fit of rage. Elliot is disgusted by the lawyer playing the race card and brutally defies the trope himself. He calls Jeremiah out on his behavior and delivers a painful ReasonYouSuckSpeech[=/=]WorldOfCardboardSpeech, laying out exactly why he called Reggie that slur (it was how he referred to himself in text conversations with Elliot's daughter, so that was all he could think about when he was that angry), showing remorse for doing so, and explaining why he hates Reggie so much (being an irresponsible drug addict and criminal who never showed remorse over what happened to Elliot's daughter).

* MistakenForRacist: Rowena assumes that Elliot is racist because he refuses to ignore Eloise's Caucasian heritage, referring to her as "half-black, half-white" while Rowena and her family only refer to her as black. Rowena's lawyer/brother makes matters worse by deliberately arranging for a black judge and bringing up the fact that Elliot had referred to Reggie as the "n-word" in a fit of rage. Elliot is disgusted by the lawyer playing the race card and brutally defies the trope himself. He calls Jeremiah out on his behavior and delivers a painful ReasonYouSuckSpeech/WorldOfCardboardSpeech, laying out exactly why he called Reggie that slur (it was how he referred to himself in text conversations with Elliot's daughter, so that was all he could think about when he was that angry), showing remorse for doing so, and explaining why he hates Reggie so much (being an irresponsible drug addict and criminal who never showed remorse over what happened to Elliot's daughter).

* ThisIsUnforgivable: While it's not actually said in the movie, this is how Elliot sees Reggie's impregnation of his daughter. [[spoiler: Averted at the end: when Reggie saves Elliot from drowning (after a knife/fist/coffee mug fight while Elliot was drunk and Reggie was high on crack), Reggie finally apologizes for the death of Elliot's daughter, and withdraws his bid at the hearing the next day, admitting his unpreparedness to be in Eloise's life. This seems to be enough to convince Elliot not to tell the judge what happened, sparing Reggie drug, assault, attempted murder, B&E, and attempted kidnapping charges]].

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/black_or_white_poster_usa.jpg]]

A 2014 drama film written and directed by Mark Binder and starring Creator/KevinCostner.

Costner plays Elliot Anderson, the grandfather of a bi-racial little girl, Eloise (Jillian Estell). Eloise is the daughter of Elliot's own teenage daughter, who died in childbirth, and an older black man and drug addict named Reggie (Andre Holland). Elliot drinks to numb the pain of having lost both his daughter and his wife, who's just died in a car crash at the beginning of the movie. Despite this, he makes a very comfortable living, is not physically or emotionally abusive to Eloise, lives in a nice house in a safe neighborhood, and loves Eloise with all his heart.

The plot kicks off when Eloise's paternal grandmother, Rowena (Creator/OctaviaSpencer), files for shared custody of Eloise after the death of Elliot's wife. She then challenges Elliot for full custody because she believes him to be racist. The rest of the movie is both sides trying to come to terms with the situation and, ultimately, what situation would truly be best for Eloise in the midst of the racially-charged custody battle.

A 2014 Kevin Costner drama in which he plays Elliot Anderson, the grandfather of a bi-racial little girl, Eloise. Eloise is the daughter of Elliot's then 17-year-old daughter and a 23-year-old black man (also a drug addict) Reggie, with Elliot's daughter dying in childbirth. Elliot drinks to numb the pain of losing his daughter, and his wife at the beginning of the movie. Despite this, he makes a very comfortable living, is not physically or emotionally abusive to Eloise, lives in a nice house in a safe neighborhood, and loves Eloise with all his heart.

The plot kicks off when Eloise's paternal grandmother, Rowena (Creator/OctaviaSpencer), files for shared custody of Eloise after the death of Elliot's wife. She then challenges Elliot for full custody because she believes him to be racist. The rest of the movie is both sides trying to come to terms with the situation and, ultimately, what situation would truly be best for Eloise in the midst of the racially charged custody battle.

* Profiling: It is the threat of racial profiling that makes Jeremiah extremely reluctant to involve Reggie in the custody battle. Reggie is a drug-addict and a convicted felon, and Jeremiah doesn't want the stereotypical image of the black druggie convict damaging their case, especially since he's not convinced that Reggie is clean. He acquiesces to Rowena's insistence that Reggie is the father and therefore deserves to be involved. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Jeremiah was right all along about that if nothing else]].

The plot kicks off when Eloise's paternal grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer), files for shared custody of Eloise after the death of Elliot's wife. She then challenges Elliot for full custody because she believes him to be racist. The rest of the movie is both sides trying to come to terms with the situation and, ultimately, what situation would truly be best for Eloise in the midst of the racially charged custody battle.