But it points to a more general trend--"Criming While White." You've probably seen this as a hashtag or something similar, and while it deserves its criticism as well, for many white audiences viewing these posts on social media does help to point out the privileges that white (especially young and wealthy) people have when it comes to breaking the law. While there's a huge difference between a cop laughing off your joint and the FBI taking your bribes while you run a violent mob, we're looking at a bigger picture here.
There's a whole slew of these movies out there, too--The Wolf of Wall Street, Madoff, etc.--and others not based on true stories, all focusing on white (male) criminals--and not getting caught. Even those that are eventually brought to "justice" often face minimal consequences (house arrest in your giant mansion isn't quite the punishment I had in mind) and have major motion pictures made about them. This ties into a whole other issue of racially disproportionate prison populations, racist sentencing, etc, But even in media, we see these kinds of protagonists again and again. White criminals are badass, or glamourous, or intelligent, or conniving enough to escape consequence. When people of color commit crimes (or act unethically) on the screen, it's probably a film about gang violence or "true crime" or drugs or maybe even partner violence. (When drugs are used in these white criminal movies, it's usually "fancy" stuff like cocaine, which of course is okay.) Of course, there are movies that don't fit into these categories--but it's definitely a trend to notice.
I was so excited to hop on to the blog website and be greeted by Johnny Depp's face, I knew I simply HAD to comment!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I'm glad you liked the movie, but I agree with you, it does have its problems. I actually interned for the production company that released Black Mass and was working there at the time the film came out. It was kind of amazing to watch it after having read the original script and the source material, and I must say that the film diverged from the written material quite a bit, and sadly I think that is to its detriment. In the original script, the plot focuses far more on the crime scene of Boston, and particularly the crime rings of different ethnic groups in the Boston area and how they worked with or against the Winter Hill Gang. However, at the end of the day, the film is still focused around Whitey Bulger, and is even spun slightly so that we feel empathy for him when he shows his rare moments of humanity. This just simply isn't done in crime stories featuring people of color. They rarely (if ever) are shown not nearly as much mercy as Bulger is shown in the film. We don't even get to see Bulger's ultimate arrest directly- it's shown very briefly and through security footage (another element from the script that was changed, by the way).
So yes, you bring up a very intriguing point about race depiction in crime dramas that makes me think past just gushing over how lovely Johnny Depp is to look at!
I think that your post was right on the money. I think you should take a look at the show White Collar. It's stars Matt Bomer, a young white attractive man who is a career criminal that gets away with his many misdeeds by helping out the FBI. He steals millions from many different people and ends up with an ankle bracelet. The show chronicles him committing many more crimes but getting away with it. I think the show might be seen in a completely different light if the main character was black. Just something to look into that proves your theory more right :)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your point! Very interesting!
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