CNN Panel Asks: Is The Key To Winning The Oscar A ‘White Savior’?

[RockaFowler]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn-panel-asks-is-the-key-to-winning-the-oscar-a-white-savior/

If you’ve been to the movies in the last half-century, you know the White Savior genre well. It’s the catalog of films that features white people single-handedly rescuing people of color from their plight. These story lines insinuate that people of color have no ability to rescue themselves. This both makes white audiences feel good about themselves by portraying them as benevolent messiahs (rather than hegemonic conquerors), and also depicts people of color as helpless weaklings — all while wrapping such tripe in the cinematic argot of liberation.

[frazzled]

1. Lincoln, really?

Is David Sirota truly this cranky (or crazy)?

[OceanEcosystem]

3. Yeah, that complaint doesn't make sense.

Lincoln is based off of real life. The "white savior" accusation only makes much sense for fictional portrayals.

[gollygee]

5. I don't know about that

First of all, our history is not always told in an unbiased way.

Second, we can tell the stories we want to tell to make ourselves feel better, and not tell the stories we'd rather forget. So even if it's 100% true as shown, the selection could have been made for the reason of telling a "white savior" story.

[EastKYLiberal]

2. Sounds like a promotion of Django Unchained to me...

But no matter the winner, I'm still going to be poor...

So the needle on my give-a-fuck-ometer, although I will be watching, will barely move.

[hughee99]

4. So this is why Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Steven Segal and Tom Laughlin won all those Oscars?

I had always thought the key was to have some physical or mental disability.

This certainly explains Lucinda Dickey's Oscar for "Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo", where she helps them save the rec. center.

[dairydog91]

6. Well, three movies hold the record for most Oscars.

Ben-Hur: Jewish guy triumphs in Roman NASCAR.

Titanic: Teenage boobs, a sexy peasant, and a literal boatload of white people dying.

Return of the King: A coalition of White people and even whiter elves triumph against the flaming Vagina tower and its army of necrotic sub-humans.