I don't pretend to know much about the history of racism in the United States, at least not much further than what I've seen in movies. So I'm sorry if I come across as ignorant but this was just my perception from seeing it as a foreigner. I never said Stallworth lacked agency (at least I don't think I did). But the impression I got from the film was "how much better the world would be if all the white people in power worked together to help black people." They even framed the one racist cop they had! They didn't try to 'save' him, transferred him to office duty or make up excuses, they just arrested him because they will not take any racist cops there! That sounds to me like white people saving the day.knives wrote: ↑Wed Feb 27, 2019 11:02 pmYou know the minorities wanted was a real thing at the time to the point where there was a successful comedy series about it?
You are not only talking out of clear ignorance of history, but also ignorance of the terms used. Agency doesn't mean independence. Rather it refers to initiative. Stallworth decided to join the police force. Stallworth decided to push for for promotion. Stallworth decided to go after the Klan. Just because society means working civilly with others doesn't make his actions lack agency. The purpose of the story wouldn't make sense with a failed attempt at being Stallworth, which you seem to suggest as the more interesting phenomena, a successful Stallworth who nevertheless can't prevent racism from still existing, as shown in his last scene, is the point.
For me it's not unusual that a black man would want to fight racism, but it's unusual for him to get the support from people in power that will enable him to do so. That's what makes Stallworth's story so different, wasn't it? His girlfriend and her group didn't lack agency, they lacked the "white support" that Stallworth had to really make a difference. But then again I don't know much about your history, you guys probably have way more background to judge this.
Just let me try to understand this, it's ok for a movie to show white people helping fight racism as long as the lead character / main agent is black? And it's not ok if the lead is white and the black character(s) is portrayed as passive. Is that it? (honest question)