Do the White Thing:An Analysis of the ‘White Teacher Saviour

Film’as a Colonial Civilizing Mission Narrative

When Edward Said looked for cultural forms in which to

examine modern Western empires in his book Culture and

Imperialism, he identified the novel as an important

aesthetic object in constructing imperial attitudes.

“Stories are at the heart of what explorers and novelists

say about strange regions of the world” (1997, xiii).

Just as Said uses the novel to explore attitudes about

empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I

believe the twentieth century calls for the analysis of

films to uncover modern narratives of empire. Given their

ability to reach multiple audiences and the speed in

which they can become international forms of

entertainment, the contemporary film provides an

effective vehicle for both retelling colonial history and

reasserting colonial discourses. White Saviour Films emerged

as a popular genre early in film history. Raka Shome

describes the genre as one where “the white saviour

becomes the ‘means’ through which an oppressed humanity

delivers itself from life’s evils” (1996, 504). Within

this genre, emerges the story of the white teacher

saviour. Following the patterns of the White Saviour Film,

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this narrative features struggling racialised students

and a benevolent white teacher who self-sacrifices to

save the students from themselves. The following is an

analysis of this subset genre of which I will call white

teacher saviour films. Drawing on the theories of postcolonial

scholars, it will be argued that white teacher saviour films

mirror characteristics of the civilising mission in

colonial discourses.

The analysis that follows reviews four white teacher saviour

films released between 1995 and 2007, all based on true

stories. Dangerous Minds (1995) depicts the experiences of

first time teacher and ex-marine LouAnne Johnson in an

East Palo Alto, California high school. The film, based

on LouAnne’s book My Posse Don’t Do Homework (1993), captures

snapshots of her four years at Carlmont High School. Both

Music of the Heart (2000) and The Ron Clark Story (2006) take place

in East Harlem elementary schools in New York City. The

former retells the story of first time violin teacher

Roberta Guaspari as she establishes a music program for the

students in the nearly bankrupt school district. The

latter, based on teacher Ron Clark’s book The Essential 55

(2004), portrays his success in raising student tests

scores. Freedom Writers (2007), staring first time teacher

Erin Gruwell, is based on her book The Freedom Writers Diary (1999)

about her three years at a California high school in the

wake of the Los Angeles Riots where race tensions were

high.

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There are undisputed facts represented in the films; all

of Ron Clark’s students raised their standardised test

scores and all of Erin Gruwell’s students graduated

albeit less than half were expected to. Roberta Guaspari

founded Opus 118 Harlem School of Music, in order to save her

violin program and to continue to serve “at-risk”

students.1 The following analysis and critique is not

designed to undermine the work of these figures and/or

their students. Instead we need to analyse why the films

exist, why they are popular and what they do.

In order to predicate this argument we must first revisit

the history of European Imperialism and the peak of the

mission civilisatrice in the second half of the nineteenth

century "Europeans embarked on a historic drive to occupy

the lands of, and to impose their rule on, the weaker and

less developed societies of the world, under the guise of

extending the frontiers of civilization" (Adeleke 1998,

13). What Adeleke calls a "holier-than-thou" ideology

motivated the mission to bring modernity and "civilised

behaviour" to the "inferior" non-European Others. The

ideology, accompanied by domination yet incongruent

historical recollections, narrates missions as simply

humanistic attempts to uplift the colonised Other which

Adas identifies as a “camouflage for brutal exploitation”

(1989, 200).

1 www.opus118.org

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Masquerading as a humanitarian effort, the colonial

mission served as the backdrop for Europeans to assert

their self proclaimed "superior" values and morals onto

non-Europeans. The Self and Other binary was reinforced

by separating the “civilised” from the “uncivilised”, thus

effectively legitimising methods of forced enlightenment

and modernity onto the Other. The latter were described

as those with "primitivism" and "absences" marked by the

lack of European "superior values" (Adeleke 1998, 14).

With this world view in hand, not only was the civilising

mission justified but could be further designated as both

a charitable and altruistic—a narrative of selfless

concern for the "primitive" Other. 

What accompanies the civilising mission is a continuous

(re)construction of Otherness. The Other as what the Self

is not, the Other that is lost and helpless, the Other

must be rescued. Through this Othering comes a

reassertion of “whiteness.” White becomes synonymous with

the Self and non-whiteness with the Other—a process both

an exercise of power and a demarcation of a hierarchy

based on difference (Hall 2001). During the “Scramble for

Africa” race-thinking took hold as a discourse to legitimise

colonisation in Africa by identifying “race as the

substructural context for cognitive and epistemological

development” (Adeleke 1998, 18). Academics, politicians

and colonial citizens alike shared the ideology that

civilising the black African was a means to assert white

superiority.

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The White Man’s Burden, originally the title of a poem by

English poet Rudyard Kipling (1899), has become

synonymous with an obligation to rule over and “civilise”

the Other. The poem and the concept by the same name

together make the “linkage of whiteness and U.S. Empire

tangible and visible [and] declare whiteness as both an

explanation and a goal of the civilizing mission”

(Gretchen 1971, 56). Balibar (1991) identifies the “White

Man’s Burden” as a mission to transform the primitive

Other “incapable of governing themselves”. Herein lies a

script to be used more than 200 years later in the white

teacher saviour film that deems the white teacher responsible

for the Other’s salvation—a reiteration of the Self-

appointed responsibility to develop the Other until they

can fully adopt the dominant discourse and its white ways.

The ideology becomes an assimilationist doctrine that

narrates the colonial mission as “bringing peace and order to

societies plagued by constant warfare and internal strife” (Adas

1989, 203, emphasis added). One could transfer Adas’

words onto a movie poster or insert them into a

theatrical trailer. The tagline might read: “In a school

plagued by constant warfare and internal strife a brave and

benevolent young teacher brings peace and order”.

The iconic figure of the missionary is that of a

benevolent and altruistic humanitarian. Although the

missionary is central character in the empire mission,

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colonial history attempts to contrast the missionary with

that of the coloniser (Memmi 1974). The image of the

missionary is glorified as humane—one that cultivates the

physical, emotional and intellectual well being of the

racialised Other while the coloniser remains associated

with supercilious and callous domination. In white teacher

saviour films the teacher is the heir of the missionary

figure - glorified under the guise of compassion and self

sacrificing dedication to the plight of their students.

The trope of self-sacrifice is consistently woven

throughout the films LouAnne Johnson, recently divorced and

struggling to survive on her own, uses her meagre salary

to reward her students for learning poetry by taking them

to amusements parks and expensive restaurants. In Both

Music of The Heart and The Ron Clark Story, Roberta Guaspari and Ron

Clark move to the crime ridden streets of Harlem, New York

to be closer to their schools. Ron leaves a comfortable

home in the suburbs to move to a small and dirty motel

room with a view of a brick wall. Roberta, newly divorced,

moves her children into a cramped shared apartment. The

spaces are damp, dark and come with a soundtrack of car

alarms, police sirens, crying babies, fighting couples,

barking dogs and gun shots. Ron’s teacher position pays so

little that he keeps a second job as a server at a

restaurant2. Roberta offers free music lessons to her

2 Ron Clark works at a themed restaurant where he is required to weara Robin Hood costume. The costume is significant given the construction of a self –sacrificing savoir teacher.

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students and works overtime in an effort to save the

music program. Erin Gruwell works two extra jobs in order to

pay for fieldtrips, books and school supplies. She

frequently bursts into her house late at night

apologising to her husband for her tardiness, while

searching for food (she rarely has time to eat during the

day, arriving famished each night). Her husband, unable

to match her munificence, divorces Erin for her extreme

dedication to her students. Erin sacrifices her marriage,

her health and personal freedom in order to “save” her

students. A synopsis for Music of the Heart describes Roberta

Guaspari’s labour and loss: “in her struggle she loses

everything as the system comes down on her with all their

might but her determination for the kids’ happiness helps

her to battle back with wonderfully inspirational

results”.3

In addition to sacrificial martyrdom, theses films use

positive self-presentation, a linguistic strategy explored by

Critical Discourse Analysis (Riggins 1997), to exalt the

white teacher into a sanctimonious position of authority.

Positive self-presentation secures the superiority of the white

teacher’s values and legitimises their conduct. The movie

trailer for The Ron Clark Story exemplifies this technique.

3 Internet Movie Database, IMDb. Music of the Heart (1999) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166943/

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Inside one of New York City’s worst classrooms,4 one man has come to make a difference.5 They said he couldn’t teach them. They said he couldn’t control them. But when none else wanted them, Ron Clark gavethem the hope and the courage to accomplish the impossible. The inspiring true story of one man’s passion to change the rules and inspire the children.6

Freedom Writers applies positive self-presentation when Erin Gruwell’s

rebellion against her father exalts her into a near pious

state. Her father, a self-proclaimed anti-racist who was

active in the civil rights movement, disapproves of her

commitment to her students. He refers to her students as

“gangs” as he contemptuously laments, “these gangs are

criminals…a waste of your talent” and encourages her to

seek other employment. Erin takes his advice. However

instead of quitting her teaching job she gets a part time

job so that she can afford to buy books and supplies for

her students. This rebellion against her “anti-racist”

father solidifies for the viewer just how benevolent she

must be. There is now little justification in contesting

her motives.

4 The students Ron Clark taught were 5th graders at PS 83, an elementary school. They ranged from age 11 to 13. It is unlikely thatthis small class of pre-adolescents represented “one of New York City’s worst classrooms”. Indeed it may have been a difficult class but this suggestion is a problematic and likely a distortion. 5 In his book The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child (2004), Ron Clark acknowledges the hard workand dedication shared by his fellow teachers. He does not indicate that he was the only man at the school working to “make a difference”. 6 View trailer at http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4213428/the_ron_clark_story_movie_trailer/

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The white teacher’s enthusiasm is consistently mocked by

tainted administrators, teachers, friends and loved ones.

Regardless of how naïve it may be, the white teacher’s

eagerness to help the poor deprived ethnic Other creates

an image of a gentle and generous soul who wants nothing

more than to make the world a better place. Of further

significance, as the film develops the white teacher

learns the harsh realities in which she was formerly

blind but this does not dissuade her. Instead her

eagerness persists; her gentle and innocent benevolence

is now driven by relentless determination and an

unyielding ambition despite any cynical disapproval she

may encounter along the way.

Each film furthers the positive image of the white

teacher by fabricating an adult racialised Other who does

not believe in the teacher’s cause, despises the students

and doubts their potential, or rejects the content and/or

educational tactics used by the white teacher.7 The

character is frequently a Black administrator and in some

cases a Black parent or guardian. In The Ron Clark Story,

Principal Turner describes the students as “bottom of the

barrel” plagued with “learning, discipline and social

skills” problems. He does not believe they are capable of

passing standardised tests at the end of the year. Clark

7 Upon further invstigation surrounding the historical accuracy of these racialised figures, there was no evidence to suggest that they existed in the way they are portrayed on screen, or even existed at all.

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defends the students and accuses Principal Turner of

incredulous judgment.

The problem isn’t with the kids; it’s not even what they can achieve. The problem is what you expect them to achieve. You are setting the bar here. Why? Set it up here. They can make it. In May they’ll alltest at grade level (Ron Clark, 2006).

Principal Grandey in Dangerous Minds fails to acknowledge Amelio

because the student barged into the office without

knocking. Grandey explains to LouAnne, with jaded apathy

that he is “trying to teach these children how to live in

the world and in the world you don’t just burst into

someone’s office”. Grandey’s failure to understand Amelio (as

LouAnne does), results in Amelio’s murder8.

These adult Others often become the figure of obstacle

for the white teacher to overcome. When the administrator

attempts to restrict unconventional teaching methods, the

white teacher must fight for their freedom to be

innovative; only the white teacher knows what the

students really need. Ron paints his classroom a soothing

blue in an attempt to change the energy in the room but

Principal Turner disapproves. “My school, my rules, my way”,

he warns. When LouAnne Johnson uses alternative reward

strategies Principal Grandey threatens that her behaviour “is

grounds for dismissal from the school board”. As 8 Amelio was threatened by a local gang member and fatal confrontation was inevitable. LouAnne dissuaded Amelio from killing the gang member and instead to seek Mr. Grandey’s help. After being dismissed by Mr. Grandey, Amelio left the school and was shot and killed a few blocks away.

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mentioned above, the Black principal’s insistence on

following the rules cost one student his life but as the

Dangerous Minds movie poster asserts of LouAnne, “she broke

the rules and changed their lives”. LouAnne persevered

over the unreasonable restrictions imposed by the adult

Other to save the day.

The Black parent or guardian is also strategically placed

as another object of obstacle. In Dangerous Minds, Durrell

and Lionel’s grandmother withdrew the boys from school

calling LouAnne a “white-bread bitch messing with my

babies' minds” and dismisses the curriculum as “shit” and

a “waste of time”. The grandmother continues, “They got

more important things to worry about. [High school] is

not in their future. I ain't raising no doctors and

lawyers here”. The grandmother is portrayed as holding

her grandsons back from achieving their full potential –

a feat LouAnne is capable of but denied the chance to

accomplish.

In Music of the Heart, Naeem’s mother Mrs. Adisa withdrew her son

from Roberts’s violin class asserting, “My son's got more

important things to do than learn dead white men's

music”. Shameika’s mother, Doretha Wallace, accuses Ron Clark of

setting Shameika up for failure in life. “You give her

grand ideas and this world is just going to crush her”,

Doretha charges. When Clark protests and insists that

Shameika is “a born leader, creative and intelligent”, her

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mother responds confused. “Shameika? My Shameika?”, she

questions. These exchanges reveal the narrative that the

white teacher, compared to the parents, knows more about

the student and their potential. The Black parent does

not understand the needs of their children or how to save

them. Only the middle class, white teacher from the

suburbs (often a first time teacher) is capable of

reaching and rescuing these young people.

The racialisation of these adult Others is significant.

By constructing the obstacle as a racialised adult, the

film can signal that these characters are the impediments

standing in the way of achieving a post-racial society.

They must “let go” of race and allow the colour-blind

white teacher to do their job. The adult Other becomes

the problem obstructing progress. These characters could

be compared to the image Sara Ahmed describes as the

“melancholic migrant”. A figure “stubbornly attached to

difference, but who insists on speaking about racism,

where such speech is heard as labouring over sore points…

The migrants fixation with injury [is read as] an

obstacle to their own happiness” (Ahmed 2008, 133).

Durrell and Lionel’s grandmother is fixed on race as she

dismisses LouAnne. “Why don't you just get on outta here.

Go find yourself some other poor Black boys to save”.

Naeem’s mother rants "I’ve seen this before. You white women

come up here and think you can rescue our poor inner city

children who never asked to be rescued in the first

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place. No thank you”. What, at first, looks like an

attempt from filmmakers to acknowledge the problem with

the white teacher saviour film turns into a technique to further

the message that if these adults fail let go of race

their children will suffer. The implicit message in the

white teacher saviour film reads that the racialised adult

characters’ obdurate grip on race and racism is partly

responsible for the student’s failure.

As the success of the white teacher becomes more apparent

throughout the film, some of the racialised adult

characters will apologise and admit their flawed

thinking. The most disturbing example of this is captured

in Music of the Heart. Naeem’s mother, Mrs. Adisa, brings Naeem to

Roberta’s class and grovels to get Naeem re-enrolled. Roberta

agrees to let Naeem back in the class on the condition

that he take private lessons with her in order to catch

up on missed practices. To this Mrs. Adisa laments with her

head hung low that she cannot afford lessons. Roberta,

beaming with pride, graciously agrees to give Naeem free

lessons at her apartment. Mrs. Adisa’s accepts with her eyes

fixed on the floor in ignominy. While seemingly

problematic as a dehumanisation of Mrs. Adisa, I think

instead this scene is offensive precisely because of the

way it accepts her humanity; that is, she is allowed to

join the white culture, but only on the bottom.

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Positive self-presentation can also serve to distinguish between

the Self and Other and lead into a description of the

Other as negative (i.e. negative other-presentation). This

technique becomes a way of legitimising the denigrating

speech acts that follow (Riggins 1997). The Self becomes

a martyr for all that is “good” in the world. The Self

must defend its values. The teacher is a champion - the

agent of goodness - and the Other the threat. The

language of combat and warfare is evoked in a synopsis of

The Ron Clark Story, were Ron’s mission is “a battle of wits

between himself and his disruptive students to see who

can outlast the other”. 9

In agreement with linguistic Self/Other distinctions,

Adeleke describes an Insider/Outsider phenomenon in the

mission civilisatrice where the distinction between the two

“legitimized self-exaltation and self-glorification at

the expense of the diminished and devalued outsider”

(1998, 14). This trend is easily translated to the

narrative of the white teacher saviour film. A narrative

cleverly concocted to appear sympathetic to the

racialised Other is actually one designed to illuminate

the Self/Insider and boost the Self’s image. The mission

becomes the “legitimizing factor of imperialism” (ibid.

14). In addition, not only is the white teacher saviour film

narrated through the perspective of the Self (i.e. the

white teacher) but they define, from that inside view,

9 Internet Movie Database, IMDb. The Ron Clark Story (2006) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473389/

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the object of the Other. We can see, through this

historical reflection, the white teacher as the saviour

protagonist is afforded the privilege of defining both

the Self and the Other.

The images in the film trailers frequently serve as the

punctuation for the voice over that venerate the Self

(white teacher) and deride the Other (racialised

student). The students in the above films range in age

from 8 to16 yet the negative other-presentation consistently

utilises images of violence to personify the Other. In The

Ron Clark Story trailer10, students throw things, vandalise

the classroom, and attack one another. In the Dangerous

Minds trailer11, set to the chilling song Gangsta’s Paradise

where lyrics describe the desolation of the inner city,

students are pictured with intimidating and aggressive

expressions as they fight with each other and threaten

LouAnne Johnson. The students in Freedom Writers12 sport

handguns in school, engage in gang activity, brawl in

class, and jump each other on the street. In Music of the

Heart13, although they do not engage in violent activities,

in the trailer the young students are depicted using

their imagination to be violent. Their violin cases

become guns and their bows become swords. In all of these10 View trailer at http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/the-ron-clark-story-trailer/636990 11 View trailer at http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/dangerous-minds-trailer/148019 12 View trailer at http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/freedom-writers-trailer/493206 13 View trailer at http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/music-of-the-heart-trailer/360679

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films, the images of the violent student are employed

within the first few seconds of the trailer. They become

an introduction into the character of the Other. Despite

the fact that the students transform by the end of the

trailer says less about their character and more about

the white teacher.

Paulo Freire identifies that inherent in the

teacher/student relationship is a Subject/Object

distinction. The teacher is the “narrating Subject and

the [students] patient listening Objects” (1970, 71). In

film, the teacher Subject becomes the Protagonist - the

central figure, the hero, around whom the plot revolves

and with whom the audience is expected to share the most

empathy. Deriving from the Greek word, protagonistes, where

protos is “first” and agon “contest”, the word describes

the leader in the contest—the winner, so to speak. 14 By

contrast, Antagonist, derived from the Greek word,

antagonisma which translates to competitor or rival. It

carries the root anti to signal against and shares agon to

indicate the Antagonist as the opponent in the conflict.15

Despite the fact that the teacher Subject would have you

believe otherwise, the very distinction between

Protagonist and Antagonists makes solidarity impossible.

The student Objects are characters to “overcome”. The

essence of the film is still an agon between contenders

14 Online Etymology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=protagonist&searchmode=none 15 Online Etymology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=antagonist&searchmode=none

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where, as the final scenes consistently illustrate, the

white teacher always wins—a resolution with insidious

racism cloaked in a white victory.

Freedom & Easley (2004) explore the positions of

inclusion and exclusion in popular culture teacher

saviour television shows. The dichotomous power

relationship set up between teachers and students

engender “my way or the highway” directive. If you pair

these findings with the power imbalances set up through

the racialisation and Othering of the inner city student

characters, we find a strong Us/Them or Self/Other

distinction between teacher and student. The directive

mimics the tenet “you’re either with us or against us”.

“To be ‘in’ students are expected to acquiesce, to pass

tests, to follow the rules – whether through

normalisation to dominant codes or control through being

silenced” (ibid, 78). This authoritative control tactic

is employed repeatedly by Ron Clark. He yells, demands, and

physically forces students to turn around and look him in

the eye. Each scene scripted as “tough discipline”16 as

the hero whips these kids into shape. The degradation is

glaring.

Resisting the patronising authority of the heroic white

teacher is risky. In all the films there is always at

16 Later published in a book as effective strategies for dealing with“tough” students. The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child by Ron Clark (2003).

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least one non-white Other student who rebels. “The

narrative [then] positions them as menacing, ungrateful,

and disruptive…blamed for their behaviour and choices”

(Freedom & Easley 2004, 78). The scenes of rebellion

evoke images of a colonised ‘them’ and coloniser ‘us’.

The historical accounts of the colonised Other uncovered

by many postcolonial scholars eerily echo these

narratives (Adas1989; Adeleke 1998; Gains 1993; Memmi

1974; Said 1993) whereby true redemption can only come

through submission to the rules and regulations of the

white teacher.

It could be argued that both white teacher saviour films and the

more general genre, white saviour films characterise a

colonial discourse in similar ways. However, the white

teacher saviour film has a more problematic narrative. Many

popular white saviour films tend to highlight the fallibility

of the white coloniser. The films mock the white man’s

violent tendencies in contrast with the racialised

Other’s reverence for humanity. As the film concludes the

white saviour will often choose to stay among the

radicalised Others and is accepted into their communities

as an honorary member. The white saviour teacher film does not

share this colonial mockery in the same way. Indeed, Ron

Clark’s rap about United States presidents makes him look

foolish as he tries to engage with his students. Indeed,

students highlight Erin’s and LouAnne’s naivety of what the

students endure. There is no indication, however, that

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the radicalised students’ way is better—no admiration or

wonder for their culture. Ron Clark does not live the

rest of his life in Harlem as Naeem’s neighbour. Erin

Gruwell does not stay in East Los Angeles more than 3

years before she begins teaching at a University. The

white teachers stay within the comfort of their white

lives and continue to work with other students to bring

them toward the light, teach them the White Way.

“She gave them a gift they could never imagine”, boasts

the promotional poster for Music of The Heart. Memmi (1974)

sees the colonial “gift” of benevolence as proof that the

colonised are not afforded rights. Should the “gift” be

replaced with a sense of duty, the coloniser would have

to admit that the colonised have rights. Memmi describes

this phenomenon as “charitable racism”. The coloniser

“has no duty and the colonized have no rights” (ibid,

120). The white teacher comes to the classroom with their

gift: the gift of time, self-sacrificing dedication,

sympathy and, let us not forget, white guilt. The white

teacher, regretful about the state in which the poor

racialised Other finds themselves, bestows their wisdom.

The white teacher remains an innocent master – a walking

contradiction with moral authority to remain

unquestioned.

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The voice over in the theatrical trailer for Music of the

Heart, uses the rhetoric of the gift as a mission—no

subtleties employed.

When Roberta’s husband ran off with her friend, she did something even more unexpected. She moves to oneof America’s toughest neighbourhoods. Her mission was to give kids who were struggling, the hope, the pride and the power to make something of themselves.17

The voiceover is interspersed with images of struggling

youth, a patient generous white teacher and lyrics from

the musical track Music of My Heart by songwriter Diane

Warren18. Viewers are introduced to the upcoming film as

an inspirational story of “the gift” while ‘N Sync and

Gloria Estefan harmonise in the background:

You taught me to runYou taught me to flyHelped me to free the me insideHelp me hear the music of my heartHelp me hear the music of my heartYou've opened my eyesYou've opened the door To something I've never known before...And your love... Is the music of my heart

The gift also positions the student as indebted to the

goodwill and generosity of the white teacher. Any student

who does not accept the white teacher’s charity positions

17 View trailer at http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/music-of-the-heart-trailer/360679 18 Musical soundtrack accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_the_Heart

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themselves as ungrateful, ill-mannered and rude. The

narrative insists that should this student continue to

refuse “the gift” they will undoubtedly fail.

Albert Memmi uses light as a metaphor for the colonial

gift. “Custodian of the values of civilization and

history, he accomplishes a mission; he has the immense

merit of bringing light to the colonized ignominious

darkness. The fact that this role brings him privileges

and respect is only justice; colonization is legitimate

in every sense and with all its consequences” (1974,

119). In Dangerous Minds, the script cleverly articulates

this rhetoric as the students beg LouAnne not to quit her

teaching job. “We see you as being our light” Raul says,

as the inspiring music fades in from the background. The

movie is drawing to a close and needs to solidify the

message of the heroic white teacher. How better than to

position the class at the feet of the white teacher

begging her to stay and save them.

Light imagery is a reoccurring theme in the white teacher

saviour film. Light and dark contrasts are used consistently

on promotional posters. The white teacher, the focal

point of the poster, is routinely flushed in light while

the students loom in the darkness below or behind the

white figure. The students, in an amorphous cluster,

become the set or backdrop to which the white teacher’s

story unfolds.

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Colonial missionaries become the eyes and ears of the

dominant group that remains in the “home country”. Their

accounts are widely publicised and their experiences

achieve authority. The missionary reveals the “truths”

about the “primitive” Other. Armed with the insight of

the missionary, the dominant group becomes energised

around the civilising mission in the name of humanitarian

work (Adeleke 1999). In comparison the white teacher

missionary maintains the authority to tell the Other’s

story – to share with the dominant group what the Other

both lacks and needs. The white teacher saviour film replaces

the 19th century missionary memoir.

Herein lies the significance of the white teacher saviour film

marketed as a “true story”. To further legitimise the

messages asserted in these films, they are scripted as

historical representations that accurately describe

“real” events and people. Dangerous Minds, Music of the Heart, The

Ron Clark Story and Freedom Writers are all based on actual

events, as is the case in the majority of white teacher

saviour films. As a collective, these films become a part of

a larger historical narrative, or as Madison (1999)

states a “collective memory”. They contribute to common-

sense assumptions about the Other and the Self. The

films’ images and narratives, although exaggerated and

littered with racist stereotypes, cannot be disputed or

questioned in the face of a “remarkable true story”

22

(Freedom Writers trailer), an “inspiring true story” (The Ron

Clark Story trailer) or an “extraordinary true story” (Music

of the Heart trailer).

The narrative of the troubled and racialised youth and

the benevolent white teacher plays on the target viewers’

presupposition of the urban school environment – plagued

by violence, “at risk” students, “ethnic minority”

students, gangs, apathy and sadness (Freedom & Easley

2004). Dangerous Minds was based on the experiences of

first time teacher and ex-marine LouAnne Johnson and

chronicled four years of her teaching. The screenplay

lumped several of her “snapshots” together and grossly

exaggerated the narrative in the book. Several of the

scenes were complete fabrications. “Generally, students

are seen only in terms of race, behaviour, and

socioeconomic condition while usually teachers remain

invisible in popular understandings of urban schooling

except when taken up as the altruistic hero” (ibid. 76).

This seems to mirror the limited terms in which the

missionary viewed the colonised and how their own story

was only revealed in an effort to glorify the mission.

The use of “unhappy” and “happy” moments in the films

serves as a justification for the mission narrative. The

racialised Other is sombre with a grave disposition in

the beginning of the films. Cinematographic use of a

prolonged gaze on the dejected faces induces a sympathy

23

for their desolate and unhappy lives. As the film

progresses their demeanour lightens and the viewer

breathes a sigh of relief as happiness seeps into the

students’ lives. In the final scenes there is laughter,

hugs, dancing and more than enough smiles to go around.

The viewer can now leave rest assured that everything

will be fine now because the characters are finally

happy. The viewer can feel good about the mission of

their teacher and happiness wins. Sara Ahmed relates the

social need for happiness as a “demand to return to

social ideals”. Should we fail in our pursuit of

happiness it is because of our inadequacy to comply with

these ideals (2008, 122). The threads of the happiness

narrative woven into white teacher saviour films indicate yet

another teaching of social norms; to civilise the

racialised Other is not only to enlighten, educate,

advance, and cultivate but to inject happiness into their

otherwise bleak lives. “Happiness is the reward” for

following the white teacher and learning her white way

(ibid., 122).

If the pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of what is

good then it becomes illogical to question or critique

these films when the outcomes are so positive. The

happiness objective in the civilising mission, therefore,

legitimises the motives of the white teacher and the film

narrative. Happiness will follow with the proximity to

the white teacher. This is no better exemplified than in

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the final scenes of these films. In Dangerous Minds

students beg LouAnne to stay by hugging, laughing, dancing

and calling her their “light”. Ron Clark stands in a huddle

of happy students as they hug him and give him high fives

while parents look on blissfully with tears of joy. Erin

Gruwell’s students cheer, clap, hug and give each other high

fives when Erin announces that the school board approved

their appeal to have Erin continue teaching them through

junior and senior year. Roberta Guaspari and her students

bow to a standing ovation from an audience in Carnegie

Hall. Cheers swell in the auditorium and the camera pans

over hundreds of happy and tearful faces. Even the most

critical viewer may struggle to avoid becoming

emotionally overwhelmed by the happy faces and inspiring

ending.

In the crescendo to the “happy ending” we see some of the

students transform. Callie returns to LouAnne’s class in

concession that her poetry class is more important than

learning parenting skills.19 Shameika gets the highest

standardised test scores in math and science and is

accepted into a local private middle school.20 Eva goes

19 Admittedly, my assertion makes a bit of a mockery of LouAnne’s insistence that a high school diploma is more important than a parenting program. A high school diploma is important in contemporary America but convincing Callie of this argument is a win for the white way. It devalues the importance of parenthood – something that Callie expressed as a value to her when she insisted “I gotta learn how to take care of us”. LouAnne convinced Callie to choose the white way with a disregard for Callie’s cultural values. Callie leaves the parenting program and returns to LouAnne’s class just in time for the happy ending. Dangerous Minds (1995). 20 The Ron Clark Story (2006).

25

against her cultural expectation to look out for your

family above all else and instead testifies against her

cousin.21 While these characters may have surprised the

viewer it is not an indication of agency. The changes

they experience are merely a reflection of their white

teacher. White victory alone isn’t a cloak for insidious

racism. This would be too obvious. It is the shared

victory that disguises the white victory—an insidious

victory.

These films are significant beyond their ostensibly non-

political feel-good nature. They apply to a real policy

agenda as some are used as models for effective education

techniques. In addition to writing three books that are

used to train educators, Ron Clark has opened schools

structured around his teaching strategies. Education

professionals can register for training at The Ron Clark

Academy or attend the annual Educators Conference to learn Ron

Clarks’ “successful methods for instilling passion for

learning” 22. Erin Gruwell started the Freedom Writers

Foundation to “change the educational system one classroom

at a time by providing educators with transformative

tools to engage, enlighten and empower at-risk

students”.23 The positions taken by the films can, and do,

achieve explicit social goals. Further analysis of the

impact of white teacher saviour films on the practices and

21 Freedom Writers (2007). 22 http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/conference.aspx 23 http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org

26

policies in the educational system is necessary to

further the discussion of what is at stake in this

debate.

White teacher saviour films are cultural texts where narratives

are delivered in a package that will be familiar to the

intended viewers and confirm dominant stereotypes. They

can discursively produce and secure the power and

“legitimize a rhetoric of white paternalism…that while

appearing sincere on the surface…is fundamentally racist

because it is based on the belief that whites must

control and direct the behaviour of minorities and “third

world” people because they cannot take care of

themselves” (Shome 1996, 504). The films have rhetorical

strategies that reconstruct and assert identities and

build on presuppositions. While they reflect dominant

culture and/or are dominant culture they also do culture.

They are active aesthetic objects that not only tell

narratives but they become agents of narrative and thus

agents of the colonial present. They engage with,

participate in and assert the hegemonic discourse as they

both retell and remake the mission civilisatrice. The

missionary: a benevolent, self-sacrificing and dedicated

white teacher. The mission: to save the young racialised

Other from intellectual destitute and teach the white way.

27

Word count: 5,791

Bibliography

Works Cited Adas, M., 1989. Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Adeleke, T., 1998. UnAfrican American: Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalists and the Civilizing Mission. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky.

Ahmed, S., 2008. Multiculturalism and the Promise of Happiness, New Formations, 63, 121-137.

Clark, R., 2003. The Essential 55: An Award-Winning Educator's Rules for Discovering the Successful Student in Every Child. Ney York, NY: Hyperion Books.

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Dangerous Minds, 1995. Film. Directed by John N. Smith. Burbank, CA: Hollywood Pictures.

Freedman, D., and Easley, J. 2004. It’s My Way or the Highway: Academic Success and Social Mobility in Dangerous Minds and Boston Public. Race Ethnicity and Education,7 (1), 73-83.

Freedom Writers, 2007. Film. Directed by Richard LaGravenese. Hollywood, CA: Paramount Pictures.

Freire, P., 1970. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 2007.

Gaines, K., 1993. Black Americans’ Racial Uplift Ideologyas “Civilizing Mission”: Pauline E. Hopkins on Race and Imperialism. In: Kaplan, A., and Pease, D., A., eds. Cultures of United States Imperialism. London: Duke University Press, 433-455.

Gretchen, M., 1971. Shadowing the White Man's Burden: U.S. Imperialism and the Problem of the Color Line. New York: New York University Press.

Gruwell, E., 1999. The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Students Used Writing to Change themselves and The World Around Them. New York, NY: Broadway Books.

Hall, S., 2001. The Spectacle of the Other. In: Wetherell, M., Taylor, S., and Yates, S., Y. eds. Discourse Theory and Practice. London: Sage Publications, 324-344.

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Johnson, L., 1992. My Posse Don’t Do Homework. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

Kipling, R., 1899. The White Man's Burden. McClure's Magazine, 12.

Madison, K., J., 1999. Legitimation Crisis and Containment: The “AntiincongruousRacist-White-Hero” Film.Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 16 (4), 399-416.

Memmi, A., 1974. The Colonizer and the Colonized. London: Souvenir Press.

Music of the Heart, 2000. Film. Directed by Wes Craven. New York, NY: Miramax Films.

Riggins, S., H., 1997. The Rhetoric of Othering. In: Riggins, S., H. ed. The Language and Politics of Exclusion: Others in Discourse. London: Sage Publications, 1-30.

Said, E., 1993. Culture and Imperialism. London: Random House.

Shome, R., 1996. Race and Popular Cinema: The Rhetorical Strategies of Whiteness in ‘City of Joy’. Communication Quarterly, 44 (4), 502-518.

The Ron Clark Story. 2006. Film. Directed by Randa Haines. Atlanta, GA: Turner Network Television.

Further Reading Bhabha, H., 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.

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Campbell, N., Davis, J., and McKay, G., 2004. Issues in Americanisation and Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Entman, R., M., and Rojecki, A., 2001. The Black Image in the White Mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Kaplan, A., 1993. “Left Alone with America”: The Absence of Empire in the Study of American Culture In: Kaplan, A., and Pease, D., A., eds. Cultures of United States Imperialism. London: Duke University Press, 3-21.

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