About Life in B Major

I write stories of YOUR lives as I am a young entrepreneur that trying to deal with the hypocrisy of business, the perils of women, and deciphering the facade of people as they try to manipulate, screw, and extort you ... its a cold world out there, so I can only try to 'play' out my Life in B Major (witty huh?)

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Freedom Writers or Dangerous Minds




I was ready & fired up to write a scathing piece on the movie 'Freedom Writers', starring Hilary Swank. After watching the previews on T.V., I came to the presumption that this is just another classic 'white savior' flick. You know the rhetoric, the Hollywood formula is comprised of:
Step 1 - An inner-city public school w/ poor learning conditions
Step 2 - Troubled black & Hispanic youth who have socio-economic & behavioral problems
Step 3- A 'white' protagonist who enters the environment & 'saves' the troubled youth from destruction

Whether it is manifested as a teacher, student, or friend, the white protagonist enters an environment & 'shows' the troubled youth a better 'life' or teaches the troubled youth how to 'appropriate' to society or normalcy. These types of movies kind of imply that the ethnic youth are 'savages', 'misinformed', 'delinquents' -- and only a 'white' figure can change their ways, or 'civilize' them. Kinda sounds like the Missionary period & world exploration period all over again.

I will acknowledge that there are also black protagonists in such films (Coach Carter), but I can't recall any films where a Black protagonist 'civilized' white youth delinquents .... if they exist, please let me know.

I could name countless examples of white protagonists such as:
- Michelle Pfifer in 'Dangerous Minds'
- Julia Stiles in 'Save the Last Dance'
- Jessica Alba in 'Honey'
- Sean Connery in 'Finding Forrester'


However .....

Back to my opening statement, I was going to blast 'Freedom Writers', but a co-worker of mines schooled me & said that this flick is nothing like 'Dangerous Minds', and I realized that I was going to make a gross assumption about this flick, without viewing the film first hand.


Thus, I guess the moral of this lil' piece is not about the 'Great White Savior' of inner-city ethnic youth - which is a valid point by the way, but the moral is not to ASSume something, because it'll make an ASS out of U and Me ..... yes i know, its a kinda cheesy phrase, but it is very fitting!


Peace.

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