Hello Meltingpot Readers,
By now you probably all know that the movie Green Book, the inspired-by-the-true-story tale of a white man and a Black man becoming friends during a road trip, won the Oscar for Best Picture last night. Some people are a little salty about this decision because they believe the movie is yet another version of a white savior film that traffics in stereotypes and makes racial reconciliation look easy. Other people are just mad because they thought some of the other contenders in the Best Picture category deserved the prize.
Funny thing, I promised myself I would try to see all of the best picture nominees before the awards ceremony but didn’t manage to see more than one film. Guess which one it was? Green Book! So, while I can’t compare it to any other film in the running (except Black Panther, because of course I saw Black Panther), I can tell you why I think the movie won. And I’m going to do it in an easy-to-read list, because, hey, why not. So, without further ado, here are five reasons why Green Book won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2019.
1. America Needs a Racial Reconciliation Movie Right About Now.
Let’s face it, America seems completely fu%*ed up right now as it relates to race relations. Hate crimes are at all all time high, White Supremacists are having recruitment fairs and parades in the middle of major urban centers, and there is a anti-semitic, racist, xenophobic hate monger in the White House. I’m sure a large amount of Oscar voters felt compelled to vote for this feel good movie because it felt like the right thing to do in the face of all of the racial hostility festering in our nation.
2. True Stories Have an Advantage
Even though there have been questions raised about how much of the Green Book was actually true, particularly as it relates to the life of Don Shirley, Oscar loves rewarding films based on reality. See Titanic, Twelve Years a Slave, Platoon etc.
3. The Drama was Done Well
As far as storytelling goes, Green Book hit all the important elements of compelling movie making. There were two dynamic main characters, played by two fine actors. The story itself was filled with dramatic tension, bits of humor, and best of all, a happy ending. Bonus, this feel-good story was based on real-life events, which we know from #2, plays well with the Oscar folks.
4. It was A Movie with a Message
Even though many people categorized this movie as just another white savior film, right up there with Driving Miss Daisy, Green Book actually had a simple but true message; that racial prejudice can be diminished when people take the time to “know their enemy.” In the movie, the character Tony Lip is an Italian American who thinks Black people are beneath him. He would rather throw away a pair of drinking glasses that two Black men have touched, than use them again. But by the end of the film, he has become friends with Dr. Don Shirley, a Black man he spent two months with driving around the deep south. Note, I did not say he became a friend to all the Blacks, but that’s not the point. The point was that a man who previously had no relationships with Black people because he categorized them all as beneath him, realized that his belief system was wrong. Personally, I think that is the way that most people come to renounce their racist ways, by having an intimate relationship with someone different than themselves. And by intimate, I don’t mean romantic. I just mean a one-on-one relationship that is deeper than, say, working with someone on the factory floor. Becoming friends with someone of a different race is not the only way to counter racism, nor is it necessarily a very efficient way, but it is a method that has been utilized by many racial justice workers over the years.
5. It was the Whitest of the Black Movies Nominated
Let’s face it, the Oscars have been trending white since forever. Thanks to the #OscarsSoWhite movement, people had a way to talk about it and demand change. This year, the nominations for Best Picture showcased a level of diversity previously unseen in this category. Black Panther, Back KKKLansman, and Green Book were all arguably movies where Black lives were centered. And let’s not forget, Bohemian Rhapsody and Roma featured non-White protagonists as well. So, the voting members of the Academy had an opportunity to really make a statement with their selection for Best Picture, but I think instead of a statement they played it safe. By choosing Green Book, voters could tell themselves that they were voting for a Black film, when the reality is, Green Book was a movie about a white man, told from a white man’s perspective, about what it’s like to befriend a Black man. Even the movie posters for the film put Viggo Mortensen in the foreground and Mahershala Ali is in the background, in the backseat. But this is still progress in my opinion. We are slowly shifting from Oscar being so white, to Oscar still being white but he’s gaining a racial consciousness.
I am going to be honest, I was prepared to not like Green Book based on all of the criticisms I’d read about the film, but while I was sitting there in the theater watching the movie, I did enjoy it. And I felt guilty about that afterwards. But I don’t think you should feel guilty for enjoying a film about two men who became friends despite the odds. And I don’t think you have to doubt that these two men could have become friends given the circumstances of how they met and travelled together. Green Book does not provide a Black person’s perspective about surviving the indignities of racism in America. It is not going to provide the answer to racism. It is a simple story that can inspire many to see the possibilities in friendships across the color or culture line. Take that for what it’s worth.
