White Man’s Burden

“White Man’s Burden”

The movie we watched in class was called “White Man’s Burden.” According to some sociologists the white man’s burden is an unwanted burden that white men, who are in the upper part of society, must bring the minority classes up to their status. For example, if it were applied today white folks would have to help bring black folks up into a higher class. While this theory was used many years ago, it is still in consideration today.

This movie took a very unique approach. It separated two classes of people, whites and blacks. They were separated by, what I believe is the greatest degree of separation today, money. In the movie the only people in the upper class were black and the main family in the movie was white. In today’s society that is different, you would expect white people to have the money and black to be in the lower class. While that is not always the case, it is what is perceived in today’s society.

The movie portrayed life in the inner city as we are conditioned to see it. Everyone in the inner city was of the same race. Everyone was poor and life was rough. There was some violence in the inner city but it was on only between the two classes. Also everyone in the inner city didn’t speak proper English. The movie almost implied that it was these people fault that they were poor and that they were bad people. It did not show the fact that these people of the inner city could have been dealt a bad hand. This point is shown when John Travolta is evicted from his house. When this happens his mother in law comes over to get his wife and kids. While she is there she yells at him and asks him what kind of husband he is that he can’t keep a job and raise his own kids and support her daughter. The fact that maybe he was dealt a bad hand was over looked. John Travolta is still a good person.

There were stereotypes portrayed in the movie. One can be shown when John Travolta was beaten by some cops. He was beaten by cops because he “fit” a description of a criminal. The stereotype here is that all people who are of the lower class are criminals. John Travolta was not stopped and asked for identification, it was just assumed that since he was of a lower class that he the criminal they were looking for. Also the fact that John Travolta’s wife in the movie didn’t have a job in the beginning was a stereotype. She was always just around the house raising the kids. She was never able to get a job. She had to do what women are supposed to do, not work and raise the kids. There was also a stereotype that can be taken as a stereotype if you perceived it to be. They can be seen in the part of the movie were John Travolta was buying he kid a present for his birthday. The little boy does not want to buy the “white” superhero in the store. Since the white people are of the lower class the white superhero doll cost less and the black superhero doll was more expensive.

There was a huge structural barrier that took place in this movie. It was easy to see that this was barrier was status. The man Thad in the movie had a high status and more money, while John Travolta has a lower status and less money. Thad had many luxuries with more money. He was able to not have to worry about struggling from paycheck and his family never had to worry about getting evicted. A maid was even present to take care of his light work, such as answering the door. On the other hand John Travolta had to struggle. There was no worry about if his family was going to make it to the next week. Money was a big concern and since he had none his family struggled.

There was a very big example of a prejustice mind set in the beginning of the film. Thad, who is a rich black man, commented towards the fact that white people were at the bottom of society. He also implied that they are stupid and helpless. Thad can also be looked at as prejustice against Thad when he had him fired from his job. The fact that John Travolta really needing the job was over looked.. He could of looked at him and saw him as a poor white man and that it, not a human being.

There were also three main instances of discrimination shown. One was when john Travolta was fired from his job. He was told how much his work meant to the company and then was let go. A black man was not let go. Also when Thad’s son brought home a white girl to bring out to that night, Thad’s wife gave her son’s date a dirty look. When Thad was shot at the end of the movie a white insisted on getting help but once she saw that Thad was black she drove away.

I don’t think that Thad thinks he is a racist. I believe that is he conditioned to truly believe that