"If the Bedouin Arab does not know how to read, some English missionary or schoolmaster must be sent to teach him to read, but no one ever says, 'This schoolmaster does not know how to ride on a camel; let us pay a Bedouin to teach him.' You say your civilisation will include all talents. Will it? Do you really mean to say that at the moment when the Esquimaux has learnt to vote for a County Council, you will have learnt to spear a walrus?"
“There needs to be white people who do the right thing, there needs to be black people who do the right thing. And someone does the right thing. And so who cares who does the right thing, as long as the right thing is achieved?”
— Theodore Melfi
, director of Hidden Figures, explaining why he includes a fictional scene in which the white male director of NASA desegregates NASA’s bathrooms, when in reality Katherine Jackson, the black female protagonist, simply used the white bathrooms without seeking anyone’s permission.
, director of Hidden Figures, explaining why he includes a fictional scene in which the white male director of NASA desegregates NASA’s bathrooms, when in reality Katherine Jackson, the black female protagonist, simply used the white bathrooms without seeking anyone’s permission. “There’s no need for Hidden Figures to follow the true-to-life story to the letter—it’s not a documentary. But if the raw material is so powerful and interesting, why did the writers need to add a white guy who ‘does the right thing’? The answer to that question is pretty obvious. Black people wouldn’t be bothered by a movie that shows white characters who are oppressive at worst and aloof and unhelpful at best, anymore than women would be bothered by the male characters in The Stepford Wives. So this kind of alteration only serves to soothe the conscience of white people. That’s the purpose of the White Savior trope—to provide a white character that allows white viewers to feel good about themselves. In this case, it means that a white person doesn’t have to think about the possibility that, were they around back in the 1960s South, they might have been one of the bad ones. Or the possibility that in 50 years, when someone makes a movie about 2017 America, that their own behavior will qualify them as one of the bad ones.”
— Dexter Thomas, “Space So White,” responding to Theodore Melfi's quote above
,” responding to Theodore Melfi's quote aboveTake up the white man's burden.
Send forth the best ye breed.
Go bind your sons to exile,
to serve your captives' need.
Send forth the best ye breed.
Go bind your sons to exile,
to serve your captives' need.
"We're here to help the Vietnamese because inside every gook, there is an American trying to get out."
— Colonel, Full Metal Jacket
