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Olander

Lexi Olander

Matthew Whittaker

Film 1070

13 July 2017

White Patriarchal Capitalism: Still Polluting Our Theaters

Ever since the seed of film was planted in the 1890s, the film industry in America has

shown a common theme, a dominant ideology that has been plaguing Americas most beloved

films. In America On Film, written by Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, white patriarchal

capitalism is defined as, dominant ideology of the Western world; suggests that heterosexual

Caucasian males and gaining wealth are the most important things in the world (8). One would

think this ideology would be a thing of the past but it is still prominent in American cinema

today. It began with enduring films like Birth of a Nation in 1915 and The Jazz Singer in 1927,

with white male actors wearing blackface and overtly portraying stereotypes of African

Americans. At around the same time, box office hits like The Sheik and Charlie Chan were

created in which Arabs and Asians were played by white actors and depicted in the worst light

with offensive paradigms of each culture dancing across the screens in America. Flash forward to

modern day and Hollywood, whether consciously or not, is still adhering to their old ways of the

straight, wealthy, white male ruling the film scene. Through examining the highest grossing films

of 2017 thus far such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Beauty and the

Beast, and Guardians of the Galaxy II one can clearly see how minorities, women, and the

LGBTQ community are underrepresented in this dominant ideology that still exists in American

movie theaters.
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In 2008, America bloomed under the light of an election that told it Yes We Can. Many

Americans collectively exhaled for their better selves now had a chance to take the wheel.

However, with the results of the 2016 election, that progress is elusive. Now on the screen, with

every film where people of color, women, transgenders, people of the lower class etc. do not see

themselves truly represented or as mere background characters, the America that was once

blooming with change is shriveling once again. According to the article, The Real Work Must

Begin, written by Brent Lang and Mannie Holmes, Just over 5% of the 1,000 highest-grossing

films of the past 10 years were made by black directors, and only 3% were shot by Asian

filmmakers (59). There is proof in the numbers that Hollywood is still a white male dominated

business. Also, when speaking of equal gender representation in the film industry it is worth

noting that Lang and Holmes mentioned, even as the number of high-profile films about

racial issues rose, the number of opportunities afforded to female directors shriveled. Women

comprised just 7% of all directors working on the 250 highest-grossing domestic releases in

2016 (The Real Work Must Begin 59). In addition to people of color, women do not have a firm

grasp on creating popular films or even being lead actresses in them.

Delving into the biggest hits currently in American movie theaters, Pirates of the

Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which brought in a whopping 169 million dollars (the-

numbers.com) to the film industry, is a good example of how Hollywood has made some strides

in the right direction but there is still a great deal of work to be done. The film is adorned with

Johnny Depps funny antics which seem to overshadow the fact that there are some sexist and

racist undertones throughout the film. The film is the fifth feature in the Pirates of the Caribbean

franchise and it is all about sons and daughters. It follows Will Turners (Orlando Bloom) son,
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Henry (Brenton Thwaites), as he desperately tries to save his father and gets stuck in the chaos

surrounding Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp). He falls in love with Barbossas (Geoffrey Rush)

daughter Carina (Kaya Scodelario), and together they combat a cursed villain (Javier Bardem).

While the film does cast some actors and actresses of different ethnicities like Javier

Bardem as Captain Salazar and Golshifteh Farahani as a sea witch named Shansa who helps

Barbossa in the film, they only play supporting roles. Salazar and Shansa can be seen as token

characters, and tokenism being defined as, the practice or policy of making no more than a

token effort or gesture, as in offering opportunities to minorities equal to those of the

majority (Clay, Tokenism and Black America). With casting Bardem and Farahani in this

movie they are neutralizing any racist or sexist claims against the film. All of the actors and

actresses at the forefront of this film are white people and by the end of the movie, they are the

ones saving the day. Meanwhile, Salazar is the villain who makes Captain Jack Sparrow and the

other white pirates look like they are somehow better, even though they are offensive criminals

themselves. Shansa is seen as this exotic, gypsy-type sea witch who is dark and mysterious and

although, Farahani is a Persian actress playing in a white, male dominated film, she is simply an

extra character with little screen time. Also, the lead actress in this film is a white actress, Kaya

Scodelario, who plays Carina and some have praised her for being a feminist character. However,

throughout the entire film she is being sexualized while trying to prove her worth. Carina is a

strong female character but her role inevitably causes harm because she is in the margins and

overshadowed by her adventurous, sexist, and loud male counterparts. Throughout all of the

Pirates films, female characters are few and far between. Rachel Simon states that the film

could've (easily) avoided making any of those jokes and alienating half of the
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population (Simon, Pirates 5 Jokes About Ugly Women & Sex Workers In An Unnecessary,

Unfunny Way). The films undoubtably focuses on sexist jokes rather than letting strong female

actresses have the spotlight, or letting people of color play the heroes for that matter. This is just

one example of how that white patriarchal capitalism ideology continues to rule Hollywoods

biggest blockbusters.

Furthermore, another film besides Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales that

perhaps more subtly hints at the dominant ideology ruling the American film industry, is the

Beauty and the Beast, which gained 5 million dollars in box office sales (the-numbers.com).

While the Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful and magical love story that is adored by millions,

there are undeniably sprinkles of the backward-thinking ideology in this film. The themes are not

wrapped up and presented so obviously, rather they are looming beneath the surface.

The Beauty and the Beast is a fantastical romance set in the olden days of a provincial

town in France. In the new film adaptation, the main character Belle, played by Emma Watson, is

an intellectual girl who dreams of adventures outside of the town. She is the most beautiful girl

in the town and the towns hotshot, Gaston, played by Luke Evans, is doing everything he can so

that she will marry him. Belle on the other hand refuses to become his wife and wants to be

educated, and this makes her feel like an outcast. Belles father, played by Kevin Kline, is an

inventor and Belle has the task of caring for him. With her fathers eclectic style, she feels like

even more of an outcast. When her father leaves to present his inventions, he is almost killed by

wolves in the forest but thankfully he is rescued by a cursed Beast, played by Dan Stevens, and

taken to his dark and ominous castle. Belle learns of her father whereabouts and rescues him by

taking his place as the Beasts prisoner. The movie goes on to tell the story of how, with the help
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of enchanted house maids and butlers (who are turned into furniture), a romance formed between

a beautiful girl and an ugly cursed beast of a man despite all odds. It is worth mentioning that

Belle is among one of the most independent and strong willed princesses in Disneys history,

whereas in other Disney princess movies, the princesses are seen as simple-minded victims that

cannot survive without their prince coming to the rescue.

While Belle is more feminist than other princesses, she still adheres to some destructive

modern day gender stereotypes: beauty as the stereotype for femininity and beast as the

alpha-masculine stereotype of men. Nandini Maity, in her academic journal Damsels in Distress:

A Textual Analysis of Gender roles in Disney Princess Films states that, Disney Princess stories

not only teach us how a princess looks but also how women gain happiness, meet a soul mate

and live with the man (29). The story does focus on Belles intelligence but also a large chunk

of the focus is on beauty. Belle is no doubt very proper and docile in the film while it is

somehow acceptable for the Beast to be violent, offensive, and loud.

To truly understand this point of view one must put themselves in anothers shoes. What

if the roles were reversed? What if Belle was the Beast and the Beast was a simple but kind

townsman who sought more out of life? The common thought is that people would label the

movie/story as a horror film or even somewhat comedic.

Some would argue that the 2017 version of the Beauty and the Beast has a progressive

feminist twist to it. They claim that they portrayed Belle as more independent by how she

invented a washing machine in the film. However, this confines her talents and intellectual

capacity to domestic duties, a restriction historically forced on women while men are generally

encouraged to pursue whatever they want. Belle had the opportunity to invent anything. Why
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was it a washing machine? Maity also states, how womens representation in popular culture

facilitates the stereotype of the simple minded, emotional and domesticated female (Damsels in

Distress: A Textual Analysis of Gender roles in Disney Princess Films 29). This is definitely a

subtle hint at that fact.

Also later in the film, Belle chooses to sacrifice herself to free her father and while it is

seen as Belle being independent and making her own decisions, our society fails to acknowledge

the internalized fallacy as to why a woman would choose to imprison herself as a sacrifice for

her family, or in Belles case, her father. Lastly, it is also important to note that some would argue

that the story reeks of Stockholm syndrome in which the victim of a kidnapping or hostage

situation develops feelings for his or her captor. Audiences are divided on whether or not the

story presents this, however one cannot doubt the possibility that it exists in the storyline. While

Belle is undeniably self-sufficient, she is in fact a prisoner of the Beast in the end. During her

imprisonment the enchanted housemaids and butlers that were morphed into material objects

pressure her to be the one to lift the curse. Not to mention that the Beast does tempt her with an

entire library in order to get her to stay. So whether or not the Beauty and the Beast is a blatant

example of Stockholm syndrome, there are definitely some hints of it.

In addition to the subtle moments of sexism, the 2017 film is quick to pat itself on the

back for the diversity of the actors/actresses in the motion picture. While the film does recognize

the ability of people of color to exist in its narrative, it merely assigns them to smaller,

background roles. Specifically in the roles of, Madame de Garderobe, played by Audra

McDonald, and Plumette, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Casting actors and actresses of color in

supporting roles is not inherently unacceptable. However, it becomes troubling when these minor
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moments are praised as pioneering or revolutionary. One cannot champion diversity without

looking at the way in which people of color function in the film. Speaking of the supporting

roles, the film has also been praised for the inclusion of a gay character. It is LeFou who is

Gastons goofy sidekick, and once again he plays a supporting role in the film. He is shown

having an unrequited love for his cooler straight friend.

In a Daily Bruin article written by Olivia Mazzucato, she states how at the 2016 Emmys,

Jimmy Kimmel remarked on this battle with diversity in the film industry when he said, Here in

Hollywood, the only thing we value more than diversity is congratulating ourselves for valuing

diversity (dailybruin.com). This speaks on tokenism once again which consequently negates any

blame that the films in Hollywood arent diverse. Then, when the film industry holds these

moments as milestones, it lessens the power of true milestones and relieves Hollywood of any

real responsibility of making their films racially and sexually diverse. It makes it seems like

change in Hollywood is rapid but in reality the change is slow.

Lastly, following a deeper look into the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No

Tales and the 2017 adaptation of the Beauty and the Beast, the whiteness domineering the

American movie theater ideology can again be seen in the 2017 film, Guardians of the Galaxy

II. The film racked up almost 4 million dollars in box office films and had everyone who entered,

leave crying from laughter. What is not funny is how the film is yet another addition to the

countless number of Hollywood films that reinforce the lacking diversity in the American film

industry.

The movie is a sci-fi comedy about romance, comradeship, and family. It is set in outer

space where the main character, Peter Quill, played by Christ Pratt, with the help of his fellow
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Guardians must escape the grasp of a powerful alien race, named the Sovereign, after they stole

precious items from them. While fleeing from this dangerous race, Peters parentage is revealed.

The rest of the Guardians, Gamora, Drax, Baby Groot, and Rocket, played by Zoe Saldana, Dave

Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper respectively, play supporting roles to guess what? A

straight white lead actor. Peters father is revealed as (spoiler) Ego, played by Kurt Russell, who

is a space god who created his own planet and has been searching for his prodigy while traveling

around with his submissive assistant named Mantis, played by Pom Klementieff.

The film is a classic Marvel superhero film in which the lead hero is white, male, and

straight. The lead hero is so much stronger and skilled than any of his counterparts in the film,

and he is seen saving the day, implying that everyone else in the film is incapable of doing so.

Guardians of the Galaxy II is stained with white savior syndrome and a term called, othering.

White savior syndrome can be defined as a cinematic trope in which a white character

(usually a straight, white, male) rescues people of color from their plight (matadornetwork.com).

In the film, there comes a moment where Peter must save his friends and love interest, Gamora,

from his father who aims to destroy them. Surprisingly, his friends are people of color however,

the films shows them incapable of saving themselves without the help of Peter. The lead white

hero also rescues Mantis, a weak Asian woman, from his white, powerful, god-like father. Why

couldnt the film show Mantis saving herself rather than by a white, male protagonist?

The next term, called othering can be defined as a, process by which one culture

defines itself against another, often by ascribing undesirable traits (shared by all humans) to a

specific cultural group (Benshoff & Griffin 425). We see this heavily in the film through the

role of Mantis. Her role in the film is particularly troubling. First of all, she is the stereotypical
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Asian woman type that was created in the 1930s. She is submissive and quiet and expected to

serve Ego, Peters father, and take on other peoples troubles because she is an empath. Her role

is clearly set apart from her strong white friends which highlights the bits of othering in her

role. In Dhanya Addankis article about Mantis, she states how her role is reminiscent of a time,

when European and American men went to Asia in the attempt to save Asian women from their

own countries, or use Asian women for their pleasure, or in many cases both (sojo.net).

While Addanki does mention that the portrayal of Asian women in American film has gotten

better, it is still not enough. We ought to portray Asian women as they actually are and not some,

docile and fetishized creatures that exist for the service and gaze of white men and white

audiences (sojo.net).

For imagination sake, if Mantis had been aggressive or loud and obnoxious, she would

have a very different view and American audiences might like her less. As Neil Slack mentions

in his academic journal, A Cinema of White Masculine Crisis : Race and Gender in

Contemporary British Film, he mentions how, the threat posed to the white subject by their

Other, is sometimes as real as that posed for that Other by the white hegemonic system (20).

In America, the white hegemonic system is very prevalent in the film industry and anything that

challenges it is cast out, as one can see in Guardians of the Galaxy II.

In conclusion, films of current day America have made some strides in the right direction

but as previously mentioned change in Hollywood is rather slow. One can see that the dominant

white patriarchal capitalistic ideology still exists in recent films like Pirates of the Caribbean:

Dead Men Tell No Tales, Beauty and the Beast, and Guardians of the Galaxy II. Whether it is

what actors and actresses they are casting, who is the focus of the film, and what roles the people
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of different ethnicities or sexualities play in relation to other characters in the film. There are

certainly ways to combat this and that is to challenge that white hegemonic system in the film

industry. Challenge it in a way that will perhaps not be so popular with Hollywoods fat, greedy

wallets, but will be popular in the heart of a little Asian girl who wants to see herself as a strong

female lead or the heart of a young African American man who is not sure if he loves girls or

boys, who is able to see someone just like him being the hero in a comedic superhero movie. Bell

Hooks said it best in her book, Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism, We have to constantly

critique imperialist white supremacist patriarchal culture because it is normalized by mass media

and rendered unproblematic (Hooks). Therefore, by making it a problem and actively seeking to

sift it out of our theaters, we are making huge strides towards equality in the film industry; and

that is worth every penny.

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Works Cited

"4 ways Americans are taught the white savior complex (and what we can do about it)."

Matador Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 July 2017.

Addanki, Dhanya. "'Guardians Of the Galaxy Vol 2.' and the Submissive Asian Woman Trope."

Sojourners. N.p., 23 May 2017. Web. 25 July 2017.

"Annual Movie Chart - 2017." The Numbers - Where Data and Movies Meet. N.p., n.d. Web. 13

July 2017.

Benshoff, Harry M., and Sean Griffin. America on film representing race, class, gender, and

sexuality at the movies. Chichester (GB): Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.

Hooks, Bell, and Amalia Mesa-Bains. Homegrown: engaged cultural criticism. New York:

Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. Print.

Lang, Breng and Mannie Holmes. The Real Work Must Begin." Variety, vol. 335, no. 6, 21 Feb.

2017, p. 58. Web. 13 July 2017.

Maity, Nandini. "Damsels in Distress: A Textual Analysis of Gender roles in Disney Princess

Films." IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 19.10 (2014): 28-31. Web. 13

July 2017.

"Reel Representation: Diversity in Beauty and the Beast is less radical than Disney claims."

Daily Bruin. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2017.

Simon, Rachel. "'Pirates 5' Jokes About "Ugly" Women & Sex Workers In An Unnecessary,

Unfunny Way." Bustle. Bustle, 23 May 2017. Web. 13 July 2017.

Slack, Neil Graham. "A Cinema of White Masculine Crisis : Race and Gender in Contemporary

British Film." 2010. Web. 13 July 2017.

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"Tokenism And Black America." Clutch Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2017.