Hidden Figures and White Savior

— the position of white men being the oppressors and saviors.

I have to admit, when I watched Al Harrison smashed hateful “colored bathroom” sign, I felt great. It was a cathartic moment of good vs. evil, progression vs. oppression. I welcomed it. I had watched those poor women went through so much injustice, I felt that they, and by extension myself, deserved this moment of triumph. It was one of the highlight of the movie.

It wasn’t until much later did I realize it was not a triumph of the black women who are being oppressed, it is a triumph of white man the savior. And that is the perhaps the most poisonous aspect of the White Savior character trope.

In most cases, white savior come out as the good guy. They come out when the audiences are fed up with all the misery and injustice minority characters suffered through the story. The minorities need saving, and we the audience need to see justice done, we need to be told that the world is fair, and good people get to be winners. But more importantly, white savior trope serves a on-screen audiences avatar for the white audiences. The trope separate white people into two groups: The bad white people who oppress the minorities, and the good white people who save the minorities. Once the story adds a white savior, the story has ceased to be a story about minority struggle to raise up against all odds, instead it becomes a story about good white people struggle against bad white people.

To kill a Mockingbird was never about Tom Robinson and his crime, it’s about the heroic White attorney Atticus Finch. Mississippi Burning was never about murderers of civil rights organizer, it’s about White FBI agents. Dances with the Wolves was not about Native Americans and their lives, but a white guy CHOOSE to give up his white life and stay with the Natives. The Japanese samurais were struggled against the Emperor until a white army officer joined them and help with the resistance. Hmong teenager girl need a white dude to protect her from other Hmong people. Solomon Northup was tortured by white slave maters, but also saved by a white guy.

And now, we have a white guy smash a symbol of oppression for black women. Both times when Al Harrison stood up for Katherine weren’t real. Katherine’s boss never smashed any bathroom sign, neither did he “let” Katherine into the mission control room and watch the launch. And yet, the writer felt that these are the two moments when he needs a white person to “save” the black people.

When asked about the white savior trope, screenwriter Theodore Melfi defended by saying

There needs to be white people who do the right thing, there needs to be black people who do the right thing, and someone does the right thing. And so who cares who does the right thing, as long as the right thing is achieved?

This comment is very telling, because the writer stated the very reason of white savior trope being so prevalent: There NEEDS to be white people who do the right thing. Not only that, when someone does the right thing, it should be a white person doing it. Because white people in the audience must have someone they can identify with. Someone they can point and say “if I were in that situation, I’d be that guy, I’d be the hero, I’d be one saving everyone.”

I get it. Representation is important. To be able to see your race and gender being presented as hero, the savior, is important. But dear white people, you are already the hero in every other movie, do you really need to be the hero in movies specifically about minority’s struggle against racism? Shouldn’t minorities, for once, get to be the savior? Shouldn’t they look at the hero on screen and saying “I’d be that person, I’d be that hero who save myself and everyone else”?

Now, let’s re-exam the two scenes where Al Harrison actively play the hero:

First, he smashed the colored bathroom sign. Let me remind you again, this never happened in history. What if instead of Al Harrison the white boss, we let Katherine the black heroine smashed the sign? And when security came to intervene, Harrison could back her up. Indeed, in a systematic racist society, any regulation changes must come from white people who set the rules. So there are many “good white people”. But do they need to be show actively “saving” the minorities? Couldn’t they take a back seat, let minority be the hero and perhaps legitimize their action simply because white people represents “system”?

But, one would argue Katherine being a minority woman could never even think of smashing the signs, and only the authority figure Al Harrison could do it. That argument really doesn’t hold much water. If the authority figure Al Harrison want to remove the signs, he could just ask the janitor to remove it. He doesn’t need to go down there and smash it himself. That cathartic moment shouldn’t come from Al Harrison in the first place. He had never suffered the injustice, he didn’t have that kind of rage. But Katherine does. It actually make a lot more sense when Katherine being pushed over the edge, went smash the sign, didn’t give a fuck about consequences. And it made a lot more sense for Al Harrison to recognize Katherine’s value and the injustice she suffered, and APPROVE her action by not firing her, and remove the colored bathroom system all together.

In this way, we have a triumphant moment for minorities without taking away minority’s agency.

Same goes to the scene where Al Harrison invited Katherine into the Mission Control room. Would Al Harrison’s character even think of Katherine at that moment? Wouldn’t it make equal if not more sense to have Katherine quietly sneak into the Mission Control room, and Harrison saw it, but didn’t kick her out. Again, we have a minority character taking initiative, while white character providing a supportive role.

There are good white people and bad white people. There’s no doubt about it. Civil rights movement wouldn’t have that much success if there are no white allies. But the story of minority struggle should always be about minority struggle. It shouldn’t be minority struggle and waiting to be saved, recognized. validated, lifted up… by white people.

We should show white people doing the right thing, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of minority losing their agency.