Screen Saviors: Hollywood Fictions of Whiteness

(Paperback)

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Screen Saviors studies how the self of whites is imagined in Hollywood movies - by white directors featuring white protagonists interacting with people of another color. This collaboration by a sociologist and a film critic, using the new perspective of critical white studies, offers a bold and sweeping critique of almost a century's worth of American film, from Birth of Nation (1915) through Black Hawk Down (2001). Screen Saviors studies the way in which the social relations that we call race are fictionalized and pictured in the movies . It argues that films are part of broader projects that lead us to ignore or deny the nature of the racial divide in which Americans live. Even as the images of racial and ethnic minorities change across the twentieth century, Hollywood keeps portraying the ideal white American self as good-looking, powerful, brave, cordial, kind, firm, and generous: a natural-born leader worthy of the loyalty of those of another color. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Reviews

The study cuts through 84 years of films with many specific and accurate analyses. It will give instructors a new perspective and students tough questions to ask in many classes. Recommended. * Choice Reviews *
Through a careful, detailed examination of an impressive number of significant American films, the authors vividly demonstrate the extent to which notions of white supremacy assert themselves, often unconsciously, even in works in which a liberal, ostensibly anti-racist viewpoint dominates. Screen Saviors is an important contribution to cinema studies and to the growing body of scholarship devoted to the study of white identity. -- Robert Elliot Fox, Southern Illinois University
Analyzes the images of white protagonists interacting with people of another race or ethnicity in American movies from 1915's 'Birth of a Nation' to 'Black Hawk Down' in 2001. This book reveals the diverse, often disturbing ways in which movies manufacture the 'white self,' the image and the story of whiteness articulated by white film makers. * Beaches Leader *
This book reveals the diverse, often disturbing ways in which movies manufacture the 'white self'the image and story of whiteness articulated by white filmmakers. Avoiding polemical posturing and relying upon historical analysis, the authors provide us with an insightful project that is written with clarity and care. -- Daniel Bernardi, University of Arizona
Provocative book. There's plenty to enjoy. * Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal *
A pioneering and highly original book. From Birth of a Nation to the latest Hollywood films, Vera and Gordon describe and critically analyze Hollywood movies made by dozens of different white directors, producers, and writers, people with different imaginations and styles. Yet virtually all the movies they have made fit the same mold of not challenging white privilege. -- Joe R. Feagin, from the Foreword
If you want to explore a colorful, controversial side of film lore, check out Screen Saviors. At the very least, it'll make you think about what you are watching. * Rockford Register Star *
A valuable addition to the growing scholarship of hegemonic whiteness in America. * Contemporary Sociology *

Author Bio

HernOn Vera is professor of sociology at the University of Florida and an author of several books on race relations. Andrew M. Gordon is associate professor of English at the University of Florida and a film critic.