Put It in the Background

How to keep racism from ruining the movie-viewing experience

Keep the protagonist “pure,” make the background the racist one

We can spare our movie ego, the one that holds the main character as an ideal person who we aspire to be, by ensuring that they never purposely benefit from an oppressive system. How? We can just make the background deal with it. We can keep our idyllic movie self, maintain a race-free storyline, and give a nod to systemic racism all at the same time. So many series and movies have a hard time talking about race, no matter the race of the cast, director, or producer so I will give four ideas on how race can be broached by looking at some classic cinematic material and a scene from the movie This Is Where I Leave You (Levy, 2014).

Idea 1. Classic “buying the house” scene

A white, middle-class couple scouts out a two-story ranch in a suburban area of California during an open house. Instead of the snoopy neighbor poking her nose above the hedges to give her two cents about the neighborhood, we can show the real estate agent getting out of her car to welcome the couple, and on her clipboard she can be marked, “Okay, we have a Caucasian couple, lower the price a bit. Check!” We don’t have to go into a long-drawn-out historical explanation of red-lining. The movie doesn’t even need to “be about race,” it just needs to provide a little context. Then she can put her clipboard away, spray the cookie-fragrance throughout the dining hall, and we can get on with what we came to see!

Idea 2. Weed smoking scene in This Is Where I Leave You

This Is Where I Leave You is about a family sitting Shiva after the patriarch’s death. During a service in the synagogue, the three grown white brothers sneak into a backroom to smoke weed and clown around which sets off the fire alarm. Boys will be boys, right? The whole congregation is forced to evacuate. When they find the culprits, heads are shaken, fingers are wagged and the grown boys go back to their mom’s house for a nice home-cooked meal. Maybe the weed-smoking scene would have been just the right moment to show the one black friend in the bunch (there was none in the movie) get arrested while the brothers receive a stern talking to. Just make it casual, like the officer says, “Hey, you are coming with me,” to the black man. When someone asks why he is being arrested, the officer can simply insert a gerund, “ [fire-setting, smoking, blinking, gazing]” to name a few. Then the officer turns to the three brothers who actually set off the fire alarm by smoking marijuana, and says, “You be careful now, ya hear?” The officer speeds off with the friend, and then the family goes back to eat their home cooked meal.

Idea 3. Classic “cut you in line” scene at the coffee shop

What about the business executive who cuts everyone in the Starbucks line extending out the door and around the corner. Everyone groans and heckles a bit, but the cashier says, “How can I help you?” with a smile. We could spice that up, too. In the background, maybe you could have the police handcuffing and escorting out two brown people sitting at a table, you know, just peripheral-like.

Idea 4. Classic “going into labor” scene at the hospital

We have seen dozens of movies where the woman is rushed into the hospital on the brink of giving birth, bellowing and panting as the hospital staff scramble to get her on the gurney. As this is happening, maybe we could have a brown woman in labor being denied entry and the staff is saying, “No insurance? You’d better try your luck somewhere else,” or better yet, they want written proof that she actually is having a baby and doesn’t just want drugs. This could even be done in pantomime.

Look how easy it could be! We can keep the main characters free of any bias, and the world around them is the one causing the issues. That way we can love our characters and not worry that they could ever be caught in the web of perpetuating any kind of ism, it’s just everyone else’s issue. And at the same time, we actually learn a bit about how the system works. So, let’s stop banging our heads against the wall about it, there is plenty of room to put racism in mainstream cinema.

References

Levy, S., (2014). This is where I leave you. [Film]. Warner Bros. Pictures.