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Watching While Black

By Jason Harrison, Curator

Watching films about black people made by white people has become a difficult exercise for me, largely because I've gotten to the point where I can't watch stories unfold on their merits rather than analyzing them for flaws. I understand that this is my problem, and a minor one at that. But I can't help but notice that I'm not alone in looking at critically acclaimed films such as "Half Nelson" or "Monster's Ball" with a somewhat more skeptical eye than others.

It's important to point out first that I enjoyed both "Half Nelson" and "Monster's Ball." But I wasn't entirely comfortable with either film's portrait of black characters who seemed to exist to help a white character through some struggle. In "Half Nelson," Ryan Gosling's predominantly black and brown students--one in particular, played by Shareeka Epps--help him through an increasingly crippling addiction. Halle Berry's Oscar-winning performance as a widower who helps Billy Bob Thornton's character recognize his own humanity was dramatic and heartfelt--but also reviled by many black women who see the role as nothing more than an actress prostituting herself for a white man.

I can run through a number of films from the past ten years that I otherwise love, but with which I have problems in instances where white and black characters interact. I've often wondered how a black writer or director might have handled these scenes differently. To take just a couple of examples:

* In Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic," Erika Christensen's character hits rock bottom when a black drug dealer pumps himself into her, then walks away naked for a reveal of his naked behind. This scene elicited gasps in the theaters in which I saw it, but there were no such gasps when Topher Grace's character similarly takes advantage of Christensen's. Soderbergh unwittingly sends the message that you can't do any worse than having a black man nail your daughter.

* A black suspect pees down his own leg during a key sequence in "L.A. Confidential." There were no other significant black roles in this film, and the site of a white police officer intimidating a young black man for no other reason than a convenient plot point was jarring.

A friend of mine who particularly loathes "Monster's Ball"--produced, by the way, by Lee Daniels, an African-American--says that she might not have a problem with it if she also had the chance to see a wide variety of black female characters on film. But Halle Berry's performance, while powerful, stands out for my friend because it is one of only a few dramatic roles available to women of color. I've heard from black women, young and old, the common refrain: a sister's got to take her clothes of to get an Oscar.

My friend has a point, but I'm not comfortable with the noble Negro character either. I actually liked Berry in "Monster's Ball" and thought that her sex scene with Thornton was about two pained individuals needing something from one another and not black-white titillation. But there is a big part of me who shares my friend's discomfort. If "Monster's Ball" might have made me a little uncomfortable, then "Half Nelson" left me shifting in my chair even more.

Maybe it's because, as a former teacher, I've seen noble white teachers like Gosling come and go. Especially in New York one tends to meet a panoply of highly educated progressive white young people who want to help Negro children. And who can blame people for wanting to help other people? It's unfair, isn't it, to blame someone who's trying to do a good thing. As a black man who knows how dire the situation is for young black people in American public education, there's really no part of me that should be uncomfortable with anyone who wants to help. That's my problem, but I'm not alone: I've talked with a number of black teachers who somehow feel discomfort with the idea of white people coming into classrooms to "save" black children.

Maybe with "Half Nelson," however, it's not just an issue of the images evoked by seeing a young white teacher in front of a predominantly black and brown student body. I wonder: How would audiences have reacted differently to "Half Nelson" had the teacher's character been played by a black man? Same drug addiction. Same family issues. But black. I suspect that not as many people would have seen the film--black or white. And I suspect that that's why I'm uncomfortable: we are still struggling to get to the point where the complexity of black life can be shown without the need for a white lead as a device to make the connection with the audience.

Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden wrote "Half Nelson." They are clearly talented and have made a significant contribution with their film. I just can't help but want to see the same film from another perspective. A black perspective. Maybe if I had the opportunity to see a greater diversity of blackness on film, I could enjoy fine films such as "Half Nelson" and "Monster's Ball" without dissecting them because of race. We've all got some work to do.

Posted on 05/04/07 by: FilmCatcher 03:32 PM

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