Based on the movie “The Green Book” connect some of the scenes, dialogue and

situations with the concepts seen in class (1 concept and 1 connection per lecture):

Lecture/Presentation Concept Connection to movie

Philosophical Hegemonic During the years in which this movie
Anthropology Speech takes place, the hegemonic speech was
that White people were superior to Black
people. This construction had been long-
standing, and it had created structural
inequality. As a result, the character of
Don Shirley isn’t respected in the industry
by White people, despite having as much
education and talent as his peers.
Chauchat & Serrano Identity At the beginning of the film, we get a
formation glance of the identity that Don Shirley has
developed, which is close to his African
American origins. However, we realized
throughout the film that the identity he
has formed in the context in which he has
found success is also a complex identity.
He doesn’t seem to fit with neither the
White community nor the Black
community.
Honneth Idea of We can briefly see the idea of recognition
recognition during the moments Don Shirley plays
the piano and is respected by the White
audience. In those moments in which he
shows off his talents, he is treated as an
equal and he is recognized by that part of
the society. Unfortunately, this contrasts
with the lack of recognition he might face
 on the outside.
Taylor Policy of At the end of the movie, we see Don
Equality Shirley accepting to celebrate Christmas
with the family of Tony, and the brief
interaction we get to see between Don
and Dolores, Tony’s wife, show us that
they respect each other’s dignity. We
don’t get to see much else, but we can
infer they celebrated the holiday together
despite the differences that the society of
those years tried to focus on.
Habermas Social During the climax of the movie, we see
Reality an example of social reality construction.
Constructio We see how Shirley resists the social
n construction that existed in the
restaurant, that prevented him to eat
there but was OK with him performing
there. This social interaction might have
not yielded results right away, but those
type of actions were necessary during
those years to show that a change was
needed. If Don Shirley was important
enough to play for the White guests at the
restaurant, he certainly should have had
the right to eat there along with them.
This resistance to the rules that are
wrong and the support he receives from
Tony are actions that once they sum up
through time, they can change social
norms.