BLINDED BY THE WHITE: IS THE FEEL-GOOD FILM A WHITE SAVIOR NARRATIVE?
*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (and GREEN BOOK )* I felt a real bond with Spike Lee when Julia Roberts announced Green Book as the best film of 2018. You can see him here jumping up, looking like the grape mascot from the Hanes commercials, fuming in his aisle, his blaxploitation crime thriller BlacKkKlansman just having won him his first Oscar for Adapted Screenplay. It was a short-lived victory for Spike, because Green Book (the next entry in the Driving Miss Daisy cinematic universe, my friend joked) has been accused of perpetuating the stereotype of the white savior film. And the bippidy-boppidy Italian stereotype that Viggo Mortensen portrayed. Like your favorite $6 plate of lasagna from your local Italian restaurant (maybe Mario's? maybe something with "La" in the title), Green Book went down easy with a lot of familiarities, no harmful spices. The white driver has Christmas dinner with the black musician! So long racism, you had your d