University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2016 Reel racism, real consequences : a multiple case analysis of savior films as racial projects. Eric A. Jordan University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons Recommended Citation Jordan, Eric A., "Reel racism, real consequences : a multiple case analysis of savior films as racial projects." (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2391. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2391 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The nivU ersity of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The nivU ersity of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REEL RACISM, REAL CONSEQUENCES: A MULTIPLE CASE ANALYSIS OF SAVIOR FILMS AS RACIAL PROJECTS By Eric A. Jordan B.A., University of Louisville, 2014 M.A., University of Louisville, 2016 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Sociology Department of Sociology University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2016 REEL RACISM, REAL CONSEQUENCES: A MULTIPLE CASE ANALYSIS OF SAVIOR FILMS AS RACIAL PROJECTS By Eric A. Jordan B.A., University of Louisville, 2014 M.A., University of Louisville, 2016 A Thesis Approved on March 9, 2016 by the following Thesis Committee: Derrick Brooms Gul Marshall Siobhan Smith ii ABSTRACT REEL RACISM, REAL CONSEQUENCES: A MULTIPLE CASE ANALYSIS OF SAVIOR FILMS AS RACIAL PROJECTS Eric A. Jordan March 9, 2016 This thesis analyzes how four blockbuster movies released in the years 2000-2014 represent racial projects. Racial projects encompass anything that helps people understand race. Films are racial projects because of their racist portrayal of characters. Films can be used to train audiences to view race in various ways that may contribute to problematic colorblindness. Specifically, the “White Savior” and “Magical Negro” tropes are ways through which films tell the viewers what to expect from White characters and characters of color. Viewers walk away from these films having constructed a racialized schema about White and Black characters, which further supports the notion that films are racial projects that inform people's views of certain races. Not only are films racial projects, but White Saviors are more obvious, while “Black Saviors” are far less obvious. This privileges Whiteness while subverting Blackness, perpetuating a slave-master narrative that has been common throughout America's racial history. Keywords: White Savior, Magical Negro, racial project, racism, film iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................iii INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................1 LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................4 Racial Formation Theory......................................................................................4 Racial Projects: An Introduction and Typology...................................................5 Racial Project Typology: Racist Racial Projects Extrapolated.............................6 Racial Project Typology: Anti-Racist Racial Projects Extrapolated.....................8 Racial Projects: Discussion and Relevance..........................................................10 Race in Film..........................................................................................................12 Characteristics of the White Savior in Film..........................................................14 Characteristics of the Magical Negro in Film.......................................................15 The Effects of Mass Media Images of Whites and Blacks in Film.......................19 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE....................................................................................23 METHODS.......................................................................................................................25 Film Criteria..........................................................................................................26 Selected Films.......................................................................................................27 Procedure...............................................................................................................28 iv Film Synopses.......................................................................................................30 General Film Themes............................................................................................32 DATA ANALYSIS...........................................................................................................34 Explicit White Savior............................................................................................35 Subverted Black Savior.........................................................................................41 Savior Agency: Black Obligation.........................................................................52 Savior Agency: White Altruism and Interest........................................................62 Conclusion.............................................................................................................66 DISCUSSION...................................................................................................................67 Theorizing the White Savior Project.....................................................................68 Theorizing the Black Savior Project......................................................................70 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................73 Empirical Findings................................................................................................74 Savior films as racial projects...................................................................76 The differences between themes and representations of White Saviors and Black Saviors in film.................................................................................79 Theoretical Implication.........................................................................................79 Recommendations of Future Research..................................................................80 Limitations of the Study........................................................................................81 Conclusion.............................................................................................................82 REFERENCES..................................................................................................................83 APPENDICES...................................................................................................................86 CURRICULUM VITA....................................................................................................112 v INTRODUCTION Movies reflect our society. Through their narratives, tropes, and character archetypes, films create and transform how we view gender, class, and race. “Savior films” – films in which there is at least one redemptive or messianic character – reveal the zeitgeist of contemporary America, with each film taking the form of another internalized social narrative. These films, no matter the narrative, have real consequences on how we navigate the waters of social justice. Savior films are subtle, yet powerful, agents of socialization, and the real-time effects of savior films can be largely attributed to the massive reach they have, which makes them an important way to examine and understand the popular constructions of race relations in the United States. Given their historical connection to our ideas of race, and racial narratives, a range of savior films can be identified as racial projects. With this study, I propose that savior films are examples of racial projects, and I intend on showing how specific films with savior narratives represent these racial projects as theorized by Omi and Winant. Racial projects are the building blocks of the racial formation process. Michael Omi and Howard Winant championed the theory of racial formation, and race scholars have used their work to analyze the racial milieu from its layers to its core. Racial formation theories have been applied to the various facets of our racial society, revealing race, and the resulting racism, to be an inconvenient social fact that has come to define the mutations within race relations, racial politics, and the racial state as a whole. When we speak of racial projects, we are speaking of the mechanisms from which our ideas of 1 race, racism, and race relations, manifest in their myriad and chaotic forms. To wit, we speak of racial formation when we speak about racial projects. Thus, the history of racial formation theories is requisite for a better understanding of the concept