So I just finished watching 'Green Book' starring Vigo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, and I have to say it was really good.
Now going into this movie I hadn't heard about any of the controversy over it or that it was an award winner. I just saw Mahershala and Vigo and hit play immediately since 'muh king' and because Mahershala is one of my favorite actors.
So I finish it and immediately want to do some research on these individuals (Frank and Dr. Shirley) and to my surprise I'm flooded with articles about how it's a classic white saviour movie, and was stunned. I felt the complete opposite. IMO this was a movie that portrayed the ignorant, fear mongering side of racism and how it can be combatted REALLY well with exposure, and how DR. SHIRLEY was the Savior.
Frank hadn't left the neighborhood he grew up in, and so when he meets the Dr., He is finally 'saved' from his ignorant little bubble. throughout the movie you see him commit acts of racism that really show it seemingly comes from a place of shit he heard/grew up with/ fear mongering. As Frank and Dr. Shirley go throughout the tour you see Frank be exposed to a vast amount of new and not so new stuff, and you begin to see a change in him since he isn't in his little bubble anymore, and Dr. Shirley does an amazing job of staying calm and trying to EDUCATE Frank, instead of fanning Frank's fire of fear/ignorance while also inadvertently showing Frank he's just as human as him.
By the end of it when you see Frank tell his family not to call the Dr. a slur, that smile of approval from his wife I feel is because SHE SEES THE CHANGE. She sees how her husband has been able to look past the fear mongering and hatred and was able to see Dr. Shirley as a friend or atleast take steps towards improvement, and is only compounded by her reaction when he enters their home on Christmas Eve. That look on her face, smile and hug is just a HUGE thank you for what he did for her husband.
Now in saying all this I realize Frank helps the Dr. to try and find himself, but to me this was more character building for Dr. Shirley than anything else. It added some good background on the man's upbringing and how it effects him and his work among other things. It really demands its own movie imo, I wanted to know so much more.
But this brings me to my final point; people say it's in Frank's POV because he's white. I say it's in his PoV because Frank's real life son wrote the damn thing, so of course it's in the PoV of his dad, who do you think told him the stories?
All in all I just think it's a bit of a hate train people jumped on and would like to hear some thoughts on the movie and it's 'white saviour' Label.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/sh7ws8/green_book_and_its_white_saviour_label/
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