Jones, just as his latest film is more sophisticated (if not as exciting) than the second iteration of his 1980s archaeologist-superhero franchise. Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln is certainly a more nuanced character than Dr. He is, after all, the creator of one of the most unself-consciously archetypal White Savior movies of all time: "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." In that cartoonish adventure, a whip-wielding white archaeologist drops from the sky into India and quickly becomes the only person able to save destitute peasants from the rein of a tyrannical human-sacrificing cult. This, of course, is the backbone of Spielberg's "Lincoln." As historian Kate Masur recently wrote in the New York Times, it is yet another "movie devoted to explaining the abolition of slavery in the United States" but one in which "African-American characters do almost nothing but passively wait for white men to liberate them." The result, she writes, is a film that ignores actual events of the 19th century, "helps perpetuate the notion that African Americans have offered little of substance to their own liberation" and thus reinforces "the outdated assumption that white men are the primary movers of history and the main sources of social progress."Ĭoming from Spielberg, this isn't particularly surprising. This both makes white audiences feel good about themselves by portraying them as benevolent messiahs (rather than hegemonic conquerors), and also depicts people of color as helpless weaklings - all while wrapping such tripe in the cinematic argot of liberation. These story lines insinuate that people of color have no ability to rescue themselves. It's the catalog of films that features white people single-handedly rescuing people of color from their plight.
If you've been to the movies in the last half-century, you know the White Savior genre well. If history is any gauge, "Lincoln" has to be the front-runner thanks to its status as this year's only Oscar-nominated White Savior film. That top spot right now goes to Ben Affleck's "Argo" - but it shouldn't. According to oddsmakers, Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" does not have the best chance of winning the 2013 Academy Award for best picture.
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