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Riley Roos

FLM 1070

Spring 2017

The Superhero Genre and the White Savior Complex

Since the turn of the century, there has rarely been a summer blockbuster line up at the

box office that did not contain a film from the superhero genre. Beginning with the highly

anticipated original X-Men film starring Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart, the genre began to

take off with a new, younger generation that may have never before picked up a comic book.

Before long, we were introduced to the rebooted Batman franchise with the dynamic duo of

Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan as well as the beginning of the cinematic Marvel Comic

Universe, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. While such films have enjoyed both financial

and critical success, they tend to share the same issue: superhero films are notorious for suffering

from the white savior complex, thus reinforcing the dominant ideology of the United States.

In order to understand the why of that claim, we must first understand the what. What is

the white savior complex? Many scholars view the white savior complex as part of a larger

cultural narrative that emphasizes the primacy of whiteness at the expense of people of color.

Vera and Gordon, for example, argue that, "Hollywood movies are one of the main instruments

for establishing the apartheid mind-set that leads people of all colors to automatically consider

white to be superior" (Vera and Gordon). In practice, the white savior complex is a catch all for

the all-too-common narrative in which a kind, well-mannered white person comes along and

rescues the poor, downtrodden people of color who are in desperate need of help. This narrative

and these storylines often insinuate that these minority groups have no ability to rescue

themselves. All the while, this makes the white spectators feel great about themselves by
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portraying them as benevolent saviors as opposed to hegemonic victors of a great war and in

turn, depicts minority groups as helpless weaklings who rely upon the whites. This narrative is

effective in subliminally advancing the dominant ideology because those who fund these films

are those that are benefitting from the ideology. The power of this narrative is not lost on Hall,

who argues, It is this structured relationship between the media and its 'powerful' sources

which begins to open up the neglected question of the ideological role of the media. It is this

which begins to give substance and specificity to Marx's basic proposition that 'the ruling ideas

of an age are the ideas of its ruling class' (Hall).

There are plenty of examples of this narrative throughout film history. Some of the more

recent examples include Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood's film of a white racist being the hero to

his neighboring Asian community), The Great Wall (starring Matt Damon as the leader of a

story depicting Asian history), and The Blind Side (starring Sandra Bullock as the white savior

to a poor black boy who has a talent for football). The unique thing about the latter film is it is

an adaptation of a critically acclaimed novel. Often times, the white savior narrative becomes

overwhelmingly pronounced in film adaptations, even if the original source material is

incredibly more self-aware. Matt Barone from complex.com illustrates this for us, noting that

...writer Michael Lewis book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game presented an in-depth

and honest look at the tough road to success taken by Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle

Michael Oher.As written by Lewis, Ohers story could make for one hell of a sports biopic.

And were still waiting for it. Director John Lee Hancocks 2009 adaptation of Lewiss book

certainly isnt that; no, The Blind Side is actually a movie about Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra

Bullock), the football-loving, white mother of two who took Oher into her home and looked

after him during his high school and college years. Why? Because Hollywood loves a good
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white savior story, and The Blind Side, which depicts Oher as little more than the black

version of Lenny from Of Mice And Men, is arguably the film industrys most egregious

example of reductively color-bland storytelling (Barone).

Now let's shift gears towards the superhero genre. Think of the stereotypical superhero.

Are they wearing tights and/or a cape? Are they in a mask or bare faced? Do they have super-

human powers or expensive gadgets? Are they male or female? White or black? More often

than not, these ideal-typical superheroes will be white and male. Why is that? To understand

why our thoughts are conditioned to immediately go to this being, we need to understand the

origin of stories of the famous superheroes. Superman originally debuted in 1938, with Batman

appearing one year later. The demographic for these comic books were always the young white

male audience, thus these heroes were always white and always male. Barnett illustrates the

ubiquity of whiteness in early comics, noting that, even when Marvel brought its relatively

progressive take on superheroes to a 1960s public in the throes of social upheaval, the comics

were still produced by white men for a readership of largely young white males. Is it surprising

that the characters mirrored the creative teams and the target market? Even America's most

famous illegal immigrant, Superman, is a muscle-bound, corn-fed, lily-white paean to

Nietzschean physical superiority (Barnett). As we understand the demographics of the

original consumers of comic books, we understand that the dominant ideology has already

weaved its way into this genre long before film adaptations are even considered.

At the time of this writing, there have been 59 superhero films, solely based on the DC

and Marvel comic series that have been produced and shown in theaters since the year 2000,

with 14 more films slated for release through 2019. At that rate, we are looking at just shy of

four superhero films a year. As to be expected, these superhero films stay true to their original
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source material, a fact that is blatantly obvious when one considers the stunning lack of

diversity in the leading women and men. Of the 59 films produced since 2000, only four films

featured a minority in the leading role, with an additional 16 films having a token minority

as a super-hero/heroine to assist in a team effort. Unfortunately, the minority-lead films where

not as financially successful as their predominantly white counterparts. For example, in 2002,

Marvel released a sequel to their blockbuster film Blade featuring Wesley Snipes, a black

actor, as the protagonist. The film brought in $155 million, which seems like a decent earning.

However, place that next to the earnings of another superhero film released that same year

Spiderman, starring the unmistakably white Toby McGuirewhich earned a whopping $821

million, we see that white saviors profit more than black. In addition, female super-heroines

have a rough box-office record as well. 2004 saw the release of the well-known Catwoman,

created by DC comics and produced by Warner Brothers starring Halle Berry as the sexy

protagonist. The film was sub-par to say the least, and its earnings were equally mediocre: a

meager $82 million. The following year, the relatively unknown Constantine was released

(also created by DC Comics and released by Warner Brothers) starring Keanu Reeves.

Constantine brought in $230 million to pass not only Catwoman, but also Marvel's Blade in

earnings.

Examining particular films may help to achieve our point further. Let's look at the film

Doctor Strange, released late last year. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch (white and

British, but conceals his accent) as Steven Strange, an arrogant neurosurgeon who through a

car accident, loses the strength and steadiness of his hands. Strange hears of an obscure method

to regain his strength and precision and travels to the far east in search of this method. He is

taught the art of sorcery by the Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton (white female) and uses
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it to save our dimension from destruction. In one scene, Strange is accompanied by two other

sorcerers who assist him in defeating Kaecillius, played by Mads Mikkelsen (white, but

speaks with a heavy Danish accent, helping to other him). These sorcerers, Mordo, played by

Chiwetel Ejiofor (black) and Wong, played by Benedict Wong (Chinese), have studied the

ancient arts for years. However, they are depicted as weaker than Strange, who has only

studied the arts for mere months. Here we see another classic trait of the white savior; the

white male can pick up a difficult ability or talent and show how his dedication and effort can

pay off miraculously quicker than anyone else's. In the source material, Wong's character is

closer to an equal whereas depicted in the film, he is there to serve Strange. The film was also

blasted for its whitewashing by the Media Action Network for Asian Americans for the

casting of Swinton as the Ancient One, who is portrayed as a Tibetan man in the comics (Yee).

Through the lens of a typical moviegoer, Doctor Strange was cinematically beautiful.

However, seeing the film through the trope of white superiority, it is as guilty as they come.

We also need to look no further than the highest grossing superhero film of all time. The

Avengers has grossed $1.52 billion worldwide and features a disappointingly all white group

of heroes. 5 of the 6 main protagonists in this film are straight, white, socially attractive males.

The sixth is a beautiful white female who more often than not is simply eye candy for the male

viewers (who also has to battle for her own standalone film and memorabilia from the already

produced Avenger films [Rubin]). The idea of having a female lead in a superhero film has

often been referred to as tricky. The power of a marketable character is crucial in the

superhero genre, and when it comes to females, more studios are skeptical of the marketability

of female leads as opposed to male leads. There is also the fear that these leads will challenge

the hegemony. When Wonder Woman was first published, she was a pro-feminist character, so
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it's no wonder that it has taken her so long to get her own film. She is the oldest major female

superhero, one of the most beloved comic-book characters, and feminism is central to her

character and brand, from her origins to her ongoing stories. [...] she became for many the face

of the second-wave feminist movement, appearing on the inaugural cover in July 1972 of Ms.

magazine and used as a key symbol in feminist debates [] Thus, franchise branding of

Wonder Woman often seeks to minimize that which makes her character unique: her close ties

to feminism, which are seen industrially as unmarketable, especially to male superhero fans

(Howell). More often than not, when it comes to the super heroine, this female is objectified

and hyper-sexualized for the benefit of the male viewers. In the case of women in superhero

films, the sexual objectification of the body is central to the identity of the victim and the

super-heroine. Many times when women are included in the superhero narrative, they tend to

play victims in need of rescue by the male superheroes. Their abilities are stripped from them

and their bodies are the primary focus. [...] The superheroine characters are often portrayed

wearing tight, body-revealing clothing and use their sexuality to get what they want. Thus, the

superheroines can appeal to audiences in the way that they do not deviate too far from

traditional gender norms by maintaining a focus on their body and sexuality (Pennell and

Behm-Morawitz).

One cant help but wonder whether the superhero genre will evolve to reflect our

increasingly diverse society, especially given the uniformity of the source material. Times are

changing. Comic books are beginning to become self-aware and are starting to incorporate all

minority groups into their mainstream publications. We have seen huge strides in this field to

the point of seeing origin stories rewritten to incorporate more minorities. In Truth: Red,

White, and Black, we see the original Captain America was a black man. At the end of Truth:
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Red,White, and Black,[...] readers learn that the events of this graphic novel have been

narrated by Faith Bradley, wife of the first governmentally created Capan African American

man named Isaiah Bradley. Faith tells the story to Steve Rogers, the white Captain America

who has worn the superheros public face since the 1940s, after his search for the true results

of the wartime super-soldier experiments leads him to the Bradleys Bronx apartment.

[...]While Steve Rogers personifies familiar notions of the twentieth-century American

superhero, Isaiah Bradley exists as the frames visual center through the very unfamiliarity of

his physical signifiers within conventional narratives of super-heroics. Here [the authors] argue

that the unacknowledged blackness underlying American mythologies will inevitably resurface

to challenge mainstream accounts of political responsibility and cultural identity even as the

publics willful amnesia about white exploitation of black culture continues to obscure

historical truth (Ryan). We have even seen the retiring of the longtime character Peter Parker

to be replaced by Miles Morales, a mixed-race teenager from an alternate marvel universe.

Stated in the Daily Telegraph: As everybody knows, Peter Parker became Spider-Man when

he was bitten by a radioactive spider. But Marvel has historically run several different comic

lines, often with the same characters but distinct from each other. In the so-called Ultimate

universe, Spider-Man is actually teenage Miles Morales, who has an African-American dad

and a Puerto Rican mother[...] Through a cross-title summer event, they are folding these

parallel worlds into each other to create one Marvel Universe, in which there will only be one

Spidey - and the job goes to Miles Morales (Barnett). Could this mean an end to the

hegemonic ideology and more superhero films with minority protagonists? Unfortunately, it

does not appear to be, as a reboot of Spiderman is in scheduled to release this summer with

Tom Holland, a white actor, starring as Peter Parker.

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We viewers got a glimpse of the possible light at the end of the tunnel with the film

Captain America: Civil War. In this film, we are finally introduced to the very first black

superhero to ever be created in the comic book world: Black Panther. As stated in Time

Magazine, While comics have long found champions among the alienated and tormented,

Hollywood offered deliverance mostly in the form of white men. Marvel built its film empire

on Iron Man, Captain America and flaxen-haired Thor. That's finally changing with the

addition of Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther. 'People ask, Why is diversity in our

superheroes important?'" says Coates. 'I'd turn that around and ask, How does it reflect the

real world to show just a bunch of white dudes?'"(Dockertman).

We will be introduced to the Black Panther film early 2018 and, while it's only one film,

the hope is that this will be a pivotal turning point in the genre to become more inclusive and

self-aware and begin to shed the chains of the hegemonic, dominant ideology.
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1. Barone, Matt. "The 10 Lamest White Savior Movies." Complex. N.p., 20 Sept. 2011.

Web.

2. Barnett, David. "Are the straight white male superhero's days numbered?" The Daily

Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 24 June 2015. Web.

3. Dockertman, Elina. "The First Black Superhero Leaps to the Silver Screen." Time16 May

2016: n. pag. Print.

4. Hall, S., Critcher, C., Jefferson, T., Clarke, J., & Roberts, B. (2010). The social

production of news. In S. Thornham, C. Bassett, & P. Marris (Eds.), Media

studies: A reader (3rd ed., pp. 648655). New York: NYU Press

5. Howell, Charlotte E. ""Tricky" Connotations: Wonder Woman as DC's Brand

Disruptor." Cinema Journal 55.1 (Fall 2015): 141-49. Web.

6. Pennell, Hillary, and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz. "The empowering (super) heroine?

The effects of sexualized female characters in superhero films on women." Sex

Roles 72.5-6 (March 2015): 211-20. Web.

7. Rubin, Robert P. "The real reason Marvel won't give Black Widow a movie Read More:

http://www.looper.com/25824/marvel-wont-give-black-widow-movie/?

utm_campaign=clip." Looper. N.p., 2016. Web.

8. Ryan, Jennifer. "Truth Made Visible: Crises of Cultural Expression in Truth: Red,

White, and Black." College Literature 38.3 (2011): 66-96. Web.

9. Vera, Heman, and Andrew M. Gordon. Screen Savior: Hollywood Fictions of

Whiteness, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003

10. Yee, Lawrence. "Asian American Media Group Blasts Tilda Swinton Casting in Doctor

Strange." Variety. Penske Media Corporation, 3 Nov. 2016. Web.