15 Of The Whitest White Saviors In Film History

Been spending most our lives living in a... world of cheesy bad movies, and that is Dangerous Minds to a T. The acting was bad (Pfeiffer was okay); the dialogue was vapid; and it got a lousy 1.5 stars from Ebert. But what's most annoying is how overused the “how do I reach these kids” narrative is. This is another true story, based on the 1992 book by ex-marine turned rebel teacher, LouAnne Johnson: My Posse Don’t Do Homework. The real LouAnne Johnson had a problem with how the makeup of the class was portrayed in the movie.

“In my class, the kids were evenly mixed: Black, white and Hispanic,” she told The Guardian. “In the movie they made it all minority kids with a token white kid here and there. That perpetuates this myth that only minority kids are at risk, and that white kids don’t have any problems.”

At least we got one good thing out of it: Coolio’s "Gangsta’s Paradise." Oh, and also maybe the best parody song in the world out of that.

While The Blind Side is a true-story, it’s on screen portrayal is almost sickening with its endless amounts of clichés. In the film, Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a trophy wife who, out of the kindness of her southern belle heart, took in a homeless Black teenager named Mike Oher.

The infuriating thing was that the film was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2010. Sandra Bullock also won Best Actress for her role in it. But the film was simply not good. Mike Oher was too timid and too thankful to the Touhys. Leigh Anne was too loud, in both appearance and demeanor. It all seemed like a bad sitcom.

“Blind Side the movie peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of African-Americans who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them,” said film critic Melissa Anderson from The Village Voice.

You may not think about Avatar as being a white savior film right off the bat, but it most certainly is one. A disabled, white marine by the name of Jake Sully infiltrates a tribal alien society with an avatar and all of a sudden he is more Na’vi than the actual Na’vi on Pandora. The film was breathtaking, but it doesn't just produce a white savior; Avatar gives viewers a white messiah. Jake is “the one” who has tamed wild beasts even the most experienced Na’vi warriors haven’t been able to overcome. He then goes on to save the entire race of Na'vi from the very people he conveniently chooses to not identify with anymore. He’s like the Rachel Dolezal of outer space.

David Brooks, writer at the New York Times, explained how films like Avatar strip away the accomplishments of others: “[the movie] 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,” he said.

The movie Radio is uncomfortable to watch on so many levels. For one thing, you never go full-on mentally disabled in a film because of the extremely likely chance that you're going to trample all over real, complex people with cognitive issues with your bad acting. But Cuba Gooding Jr. really, really went for it. It’s almost hard to tell who the film is most insulting to. Yes, the film tears at the heartstrings, but its whining, melodramatic sap becomes unbearable after a certain point.

The film come from a Sports Illustrated article by Gary Smith that's based on a real-life story. The article was written about the true Coach Jones and his buddy James “Radio” Kennedy. It’s hard to say how true to the real story the film is. But in the film, Jones, played by Ed Harris, is portrayed like a total saint for looking after Radio.

Blood Diamond director Edward Zwick has an obsession with the white savior narrative. You just need to look at his films Glory or The Last Samurai to understand that people of color can’t attain their goals without the help of a hardened white man, who in the process of freeing the oppressed, discovers he’s changed his outlook on life. Yeah, that's also Blood Diamond in a nutshell.

Set during the 1999 civil war in Sierra Leone, Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, a pretty racist diamond smuggler. When he meets Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), a local fisherman who has found a massive pink diamond, he agrees to help locate Vandy’s kidnapped son. Initially, Archer’s interests in Vandy were solely monetary. But, as the characters in Zwick's films tend to do, Archer has a change of heart and risks it all - including his very life - for Vandy.

The film got mixed reviews, with some critics commenting on the savior complex of the movie.

“Much like Zwick’s Glory and The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond strives to be an ‘important’ film while stopping well short of being genuinely provocative and artistically chancy. Basically, Zwick attaches a well-meaning, self-congratulatory message to a cardboard action movie in which Africans are reduced to noble sufferers or collateral damage,” said a critic from A.V Club.

How would Arabs defeat the Ottoman Empire if it weren’t for a tall gangly blond haired blue-eyes super savior? Lawrence of Arabia completely perpetuates the idea that non-white people simply cannot do things as well if it weren’t for the help of people like Lawrence, a very heterosexual white male in a position of power. Lawrence and Jake Sully from Avatar actually have a lot in common. This largely stems from the fact that Lawrence begins to show disdain for his own race and nationality. There comes a point in the film wherein he doesn’t just want to save the Arabs, he wants to be them. He wants that oriental mysticism to encapsulate his life. But at the same time, Lawrence still feels superior and is not shy about passing judgment on the Arabs who he has called “cruel and barbarous.”

But there is a big difference between Sully and Lawrence. Lawrence eventually realizes he can no longer live the lie. He realizes that he may have brought more destruction on the people he admired than he actually brought good.