Crash and Learn: Green Book Highlights a Bigger Academy Problem
(AP Marvel is looking for diverse voices from underrepresented and marginalized communities to provide written content such as the following essay; please consider supporting our Patreon so we can pay writers!)
Last Sunday night was the biggest night in Hollywood. The Academy gave awards to deserved winners and we saw some unexpected losers. But no winner was more unexpected, or rather disappointing, than Green Book winning Best Picture.
I don’t think Green Book is a poorly-made film in any regard. Instead, its core messages, both intended and not intended, are deeply problematic in the modern age of filmmaking. Its treatment of the true story, the problems with its writer Nick Vallelonga, and the implications of its victory over other films show that the Academy is still wildly off from the current standard of filmmaking, which has risen to greater levels of nuance than what Green Book provides.
The plot is key in understanding the core problems of Green Book. It tells the story of Don Shirley, a black jazz musician who hires Tony Lip, a white Italian driver, to take him through his performance tour of the deep South. Along the way, they discover the segregation of the South while Shirley and Lip bond and overcome racial barriers to become dear friends. On the surface, this isn’t inherently bad. It could make for a heartwarming true story — except it isn’t true. Shirley’s family disputes the claims of the film that the two ever had a relationship beyond employer and employee. Coupled with the fact the film is written by Lip’s son, Nick Vallelonga, the film tends to show bias from a man who may be trying to honor his father at the expense of the truth.
But so what? All films do that. While that is true, the film’s embellishment wouldn’t be as big of a problem if that was the only issue. When bringing into account the film’s other problems, it becomes clear that the motivations of the filmmakers may be more troubling than they appear.
A crucial part of the travesty of this film’s win is the win for Nick Vallelonga, both for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. Before final Oscar voting ended, a tweet from Vallelonga to Donald Trump came to light, with him saying that he saw Muslims celebrating after 9/11 happened. Even though this tweet is a well-disproved lie, Vallelonga still spread it. And while he has apologized, he has not done enough to properly account for the racist remarks. Vallelonga has a deep-rooted Islamophobia that affected his ability to tell the truth. Now, do I think Vallelonga is racist against black people? No, probably not. But considering the fact he doesn’t seem to have a very nuanced opinion of all races, I have severe doubts on his ability to tell a thoughtful story on race in America.
This brings me to the most crucial flaw of Green Book: its message. The general message is that racism is a problem of people, not institutions. It communicates this message through the story that the friendship that grows between the two main characters proves that all we need is to get to know each other a little more and we will drop our prejudices and get along better.
This is a widely simplistic message on race for a film in 2019. It is reminiscent of the point of view of a similar film now thought to be a huge mistake for a Best Picture win: Crash. Both films’ idea that racism comes solely from people who don’t know each other enough is not just wrong but hurtful to the legacy racism has on our nation. Individual people are not the whole story and not where the battle against segregation ended. It was movements of people fighting back against the government until their voices were heard. It was their bravery in refusing to bow to the whims of laws they knew were unfair. Changing one person’s mind one at a time is a nice sentiment, but it could have never been enough.
And now we come to the implication of Green Book’s win. The Academy is political, it always has been. It not only chooses the “Best” in art but the most relevant. Combating racism and increasing representation of black Americans have been rising causes for the past few years, heightened by the success of big and small budget hit movies like Get Out, Moonlight, and Black Panther. But in the same few years we’ve had those landmark films, we’ve also had Green Book.
Green Book presented an “easy answer” to racism that Academy members could swallow. It told them the comforting lie that if we all just talked to each other more, we would get along better.
It’s not just Green Book’s win but the losses it created that makes it a tragedy — specifically, its win over Roma. Alfonso Cuaron’s touching story of humanity and love, based on the life of his own mother, was beautiful while also making statements on race in Mexico through its Indigenous lead. Unfortunately, some voters found its beauty and respect to its tale “boring.” BlacKkKlansman also made statements about American racism, but perhaps in a too flashy and confrontational way for most voter’s likings.
And so we get stuck with Green Book. What many voters might guess as being a safe bet was anything but. Green Book is almost a spit in the face of the incredible innovations of directors, specifically younger directors of color, in portraying people of color and their stories in film. Besides Black Panther and BlacKkKlansman, we had the raw and honest Blindspotting and the artistically innovative Sorry to Bother You in 2018 as well, both films that took incredible approaches to their subject matter.
Innovation is happening in Hollywood, in front of the camera and behind the scenes. But change is scary, and Academy voters crave the comfortable. So they overlook innovation for stories that make them feel like they saw something that mattered even if it just told them exactly what they believed. The art they award doesn’t challenge them or show them something in a new light. They want the applause for rewarding art about “deep” issues without ever having to confront the complexities of those issues.
I have no doubts that within ten years we will remember Green Book the way we remember Crash: as a terrible misjudgment. Its win is a somber end to a strange Oscars ceremony, and a telling mark on the state of the Academy.
But this misjudgment matters. It matters because the Academy Awards can still be a place where we celebrate great filmmaking and every aspect that comes along with it. But as long as we continue to celebrate movies like Green Book over all the other greats that came out in 2018, Hollywood will struggle to bring innovative art to the foreground.
The Academy Awards has been home to some great moments over its lifetime of rewarding people who make art that challenges and surprises and mystifies us. It still has that power — I believe that in my heart. But please, no more Green Books and Crashs. Sometimes the answer that is the hardest to accept is the one we need to believe.
