white privilege – The Concordian

So, you’ve likely heard the news about the Oscars.

There were no female directors nominated and only one person of colour was named for an acting category. The thing is, I’m less angry about the nominations themselves, and more frustrated at what this perpetuates about films and their relation to women and people of colour (POC). There was no lack of films starring and directed by women and POC this year, but it wouldn’t seem that way based on Oscar nominations alone.

The issue in Hollywood is that white men are seen as the standard. A male director is just a director, but a female director is a female director. A movie starring a mostly-male cast is simply just a movie. A movie with a mostly-female cast is suddenly a female film. This creates a distinct separation between films helmed by women and films helmed by men. When a director or movie has the adjective “female” in front of it, it somehow loses credibility in the eyes of many male moviegoers and Academy voters. When it comes to characters on screen, white, male characters are considered to be more relatable than films about other groups of people; thus the nearly all-white acting nominees at the Oscars this year.

People want to be represented in the stories they consume, and are naturally drawn to those stories. The nominations by the Academy definitely reflects this, considering in 2018 the Academy was only 31 percent female and 16 percent non-white. Perhaps voters don’t connect to certain films, so they don’t interact with them. Moreover, according to Variety, one Academy member noted that there is “a bias even in what people choose to watch,” and later said that if nothing is done about this, then “we’re awarding awards to the best performance within films that Academy members are predisposed to watching, not the best acting performance in a given year.”

Hollywood could easily change and diversify the films it produces and the Academy could change the films in recognizes as prestigious, but they don’t.

When everything is taken into account, it seems as though there’s no real consideration for films about and by women and POCs—like movies that aren’t helmed by white men don’t matter as much. We’re taught to value the lives and struggles of white men while disregarding the lives and struggles of minorities. I’m not saying that the Academy should just give out awards to a film just as long as it is directed by a woman or POC. Artistic merit still matters. I’m saying they need to give those films a fighting chance, that they should be open to the stories of people that are different than they are.

A film doesn’t necessarily have to pass the Bechdel test to be a good movie, and most of the Best Picture nominees prove this since most of the films don’t pass but are still great films. But, I can still watch a film like 1917 or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, connect to its characters, be emotionally invested in them and the picture regardless of the fact that the leads are white men. By that token, white men can then get themselves to the theatre to see films about women and POC and feel something for those characters. I’ve been able to find small ways to see myself in these roles all my life, so they can do it too.

We may not be Academy members, but we can choose which films to give our money to. Go and support films led by women. Go support films led and directed by people of colour. It’s not difficult, it’s just a matter of empathy.

Collage by Laurence BD

Dear Laurence Fox,

I’m writing to you today in response to a claim you made on BBC’s Question Time, during an exchange with an audience member about whether or not the media’s representation of Meghan Markle was racist. While talking to this member of the audience, you told them, “to call me a white privileged male is to be racist.”

The first thing I’d like you to note is that when the audience member said you were privileged, they did not mean it in terms of financially privileged or class-based privileged. What they meant is that you, as a white man, do not have the disadvantages or hindrances that minorities have in our societies and institutions.

Another thing to note is that being called a “white privileged male” isn’t racist, because it is not used in a derogatory way; they were simply stating a fact. You are a man and you are white, and because you are white, you are automatically privileged.

Now, you might argue that poor or uneducated white people wouldn’t consider themselves privileged, but technically, they are. As previously mentioned, a white person does not have to suffer through the racial inequalities in our system and institution. A poor white person is rarely seen as “dangerous, lazy, unambitious” in comparison to a poor person of color.

Now, if you still think that remark was a form of racism towards you, the term I think you’re looking for is reverse racism, which is essentially racism against white people. I’m sorry to inform you that reverse racism is not an actual thing, you can’t even find it in a legitimate dictionary, and here’s why: it’s a myth!

Many scholars, such as Amy Ansell, Professor and Dean of Liberal Arts at Emerson College, have argued that while the term has gained more and more popularity since it was created in the 1970s, it is not technically possible. The reason for that is because, as Ansell mentioned in her book Race and Ethnicity: The Key Concepts, when a group of people have little to no power over you institutionally and systematically, they cannot define your existence and they cannot limit your opportunities.

Yes, there are many stereotypes directed towards white people that can be insulting or derogatory, but think about it this way, do they cause any problems or have any concrete impact in your life? They may hurt your feelings, but do they lower your chances at getting a job or a promotion? No, they don’t.

As a privileged white male, maybe instead of trying to pull the “reverse racism” card, you should be thinking of how you can use this advantage, this privilege, to help those who are actually facing this racism and discrimination.

You were born with opportunities and options that many others are born without, and that doesn’t make you a bad person in any way, shape or form; it’s the way you use them that will decide that. So please, take this letter and the comment made by an audience member, and use your advantages for something constructive, something that will give back to the community.

Maybe next time you think of accusing someone of being racist towards you, you’ll take a second and remember that given your privilege, that isn’t possible.

Sincerely,

Victoria Blair

Graphic @sundaeghost