Introduction
The protests following the death of George Floyd exposed the problem of economic inequality in the United States. According to economists, the gap between African Americans and white people has remained the same since the middle of the last century (Marino et al. 510). The problem of inequality between black and white people, racism, and the injustice of dividing people into categories has been an important issue of social justice. This pro is discussed very often in books, films, songs, and all other possible forms of art and culture. Directed by Peter Farrelly, the 2018 film Green Book explores the intricacies of this particular topic. The current paper is focused on discussing the issue of race inequality as an injustice that limits human capabilities and freedoms based on the movie Green Book. Racism results in a significant obstacle to developing a just society and individuals by limiting people’s paradigm of perception.
Synopsis of the Movie
The time of action is the 60s in the USA. Italian nightclub bouncer Tony Chatterbox loses his job. Thinking about the family, he is looking for work. He is offered an appointment with a particular doctor, Don Shirley. The personality of this doctor is entirely different from what it seems at the beginning. He does not work in the sphere of medicine, but he heals people with piano music. In addition, he is black, and at that time, working for him meant causing misunderstanding in his surroundings. Moreover, the place of action is in the north of the USA where the issue of racial stigmatization is hazardous. Shirley suffers humiliation, beatings, and rejection by high society, even though he is already a famous and successful musician. During a joint tour, these two people learn to understand and accept each other.
The Social Justice Issue
Communicational Intention of the Director
The general tendency of producing movies as reflecting the issue of a particular group or society in general, the tragedy of specific people allows analyzing the social justice problems based on the cinematograph. The directors design the plot, which is conscript to answer particular questions. In the case of Green Book, the director aims to tell people that accepting black people can help eliminate negative prejudices and improve society’s humanity and empathy. Goldmann’s theory of genetic structuralism reflects such an approach to analyzing pieces of art (Anwar et al. 50). According to this theory, any literature or cinematography work should be studied in the genetic plan (Widyaningrum 10).
In other words, the researcher should consider not only the finished work but also the history of its creation, starting from the idea’s inception and, most importantly. The events in political and public life under the influence of which this movie was created should be addressed. Structuralism genetics contains the requirement to describe the sociocultural context that gave rise to the work under study.
Therefore, as an instrument of the spread of social ideas, the movie’s narrative reflects the historical context of the social justice issue of inequality. The central antithesis of the film is a comparison of the world of white and black people, vivid contrast of their rights and obligations, opportunities, and the attitude of the people around them towards them (Widyaningrum 11). The characters’ relationships are built on a common hostility based on misunderstanding each other’s cultural traditions and foundations.
The name of the movie itself represents the contradictional racial issue. In the Green Book’s publishing period, black people were allowed to use car traveling, which symbolized freedom in America. The Green Book, from the title, is a guidebook for black motorists that describes African-American-friendly services, eateries, and hotels. However, racial segregation has significantly limited the spaces for black people to visit despite their education, profession, or status (Candacy 4).
The Green Book symbolizes the paradoxical nature of freedom in America. In that period, people could not completely annihilate the perception paradigm claiming that black people should be stigmatized (Candacy 6). In this story, stating that all people are very different but equal in rights, the director finds the tone of a great comforter instead of the seemingly inevitable didacticism.
By the thirties, mass production of cars had already been established in the USA, and even not very rich blacks could afford a personal vehicle. As a result, the travel issue became more acute. More than 90% of hotels refused to accommodate black people. Wanting to alleviate the travelling of black people, Harlem postal clerk Victor Hugo Green tried to combine all the essential information into one directory. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, and segregation was ended in all public places (). Initially, the book’s geography covered only Greater New York. Still, more and more states were added to the description, and by the end of the forties, it had already included Bermuda and Mexico (Smardon 415).
By the early 1960s, when the film takes place in the northern United States, such problems were gradually receding into the past (Sorin 12). However, in the US South, discrimination was still the norm. Conservative-minded residents referred, if not to laws, then to traditions. Such a situation shows the destructive impact of racism when society cannot accept the new rules strived at more just conscious social formation. Many cities declared themselves as sunset, requiring all blacks to leave their territory only before sunset. Formally, from the point of view of the constitution, it was illegal. However, since representatives of the authorities often spoke on the side of traditions, travelers had to follow these rules out of fear for their own lives (Green 66). Moreover, such unspoken rules persisted until the late sixties, even after segregation was officially recognized as unconstitutional. Therefore, it may seem that the film’s discrimination theme is being overdone, but it is not. The spirit of the era is just conveyed very accurately.
The picture’s theme is the specifically severe social justice issue of racial inequality. The film reminds people that, quite recently, the inhumane attitude toward black people could be seen in the streets of the world’s greatest country. The Green Book, through kindness and positivity, shows that people can change their attitude towards others. The film’s atmosphere is soft and light, without horrors and deaths. The director shows the two different realities of black and white men who are forced to face their own challenges and griefs. By the end, as befits in good films with a good plot, the characters, having gone through a series of events, change for the better, leaving behind the racial burden of the past.
The film’s message is that accepting other people should not depend on race. This film has an even more deep meaning hidden behind the lightness and irony of racism. The principal director’s idea is that it is challenging for one person even brilliant and famous) to change the conventional thinking of society alone. Only the united efforts of black and white people can help eliminate racial discrimination and stigmatization completely.
Discussion
Racism, injustice, and abuse are destructive in nature, but they have also been detrimental to everything society could learn or create. Even in its weakest manifestations, racism is still very time-consuming in the scope of society’s development. In order to focus on social justice, many black people have given up on their dreams and goals, which could potentially contribute to the development of society. Vast amounts of discoveries, books, ecosystems, art, and gardens could be made, written, created, and protected if racial oppression were to end (Marino et al. 508). The consequences of racism also affect the political environment and, accordingly, the functioning of society as a whole (Schroeder et al.). It follows logically from a racist ideology that the most effective government will be the one that is composed of people of the correct nationality or race (not the one that is composed of the most competent personnel).
Particular sociological reasons in an individual’s psyche explain the tendency to racism and cause xenophobic sentiments. Such misconceptions and unconscious beliefs result in the occurrence of harm for minorities and unjust attitudes. The psyche is arranged in such a way that in order to respect themselves, feel calm and dignified. Most people are forced to ignore some parts of their properties. Uniting against the stigmatized minority gives people the feeling of protection and superiority.
In the Jungian tradition of analytical psychology, everything that a person does not accept is usually called a shadow. Through shadows, people often transfer their external objects around them without noticing their unacceptable qualities (Burston 2). The mental mechanism here is as follows: the psyche, as a rule, extends itself and its properties beyond its limits (Vaughan 325). A mass person cannot recognize evil as “his or her own personal evil” since the consciousness is still so poorly developed being unable to resolve the conflicts that have arisen. National minorities are becoming objects of shadow projection in the country (Vaughan 331).
Obviously, due to racial and ethnic characteristics, and even more so in the presence of different skin colours, national minorities are most suitable for shadow projection. The Green Book shows explicitly the same situation when Tony changes his attitude towards Don, rejecting the forced by society’s stereotypes. In other words, Tony’s path symbolizes the need for the community to become more deliberate individuals capable of estimating good and evil separately from social cognition.
Conclusion
Racism is one of the mechanisms that work to curb progressive values: equality of opportunity, equality of all before the law, and so on. Progressive Social Democrats, therefore, on principle, are waging a struggle against all its manifestations. The analyzed movie touches upon the issue of racism, encouraging people to overcome racial stigmatization and learn acceptance and tolerance. Therefore, the issue of racism, as the problem of social justice, is vital to be addressed by the art spheres to provoke positive thoughts, broadening the limitations of social cognition in the audience.
Works Cited
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