The boundary-pushing artist behind HBO’s “Random Acts of Flyness” discusses his new multimedia project that skewers White savior tropes.

Colorlines
Sep 4, 2018 · 1 min read
Colorlines Screenshot of Brock Peters (R) and Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as used in Terence Nance’s “WhitePeopleWontSaveYou.org” and taken from Instagram on August 31, 2018.

By Sameer Rao
August 31, 2018

How often do you see a White movie character arrive at a struggling high school, an Indigenous reservation or a Middle Eastern or African country to save the day? Too many. This is why Terence Nance, creator of HBO’s ”Random Acts of Flyness” takes on the White savior trope with WhitePeopleWontSaveYou.org.

Visit the website to immerse yourself in scenes starting in the 1960s. These scenes play at a neverending pace as a chorus repeatedly sings, “White people won’t save you,” with dramatic intensity.

Nance tells Colorlines that the scenes play “ad infinitum,” and that the “algorithmic” project will pull from new productions with similar tropes.

“It’s not going to end unless people stop making White savior movies and TV shows,” Nance explains.


Read more about Terence Nance’s take on White savior tropes: http://bit.ly/2LxSpFB.

© 2018 Colorlines. All right reserved.

Colorlines

Colorlines is a daily news site where race matters, featuring award-winning in-depth reporting, news analysis, opinion and curation.

Colorlines

Written by

Colorlines is a daily news site where race matters, featuring award-winning in-depth reporting, news analysis, opinion and curation.

Colorlines

Colorlines is a daily news site where race matters, featuring award-winning in-depth reporting, news analysis, opinion and curation.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade