Mighty Whitey/Quotes
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These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color - their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the "alien" cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become "race traitors," and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.
—Annalee Newitz, "When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like 'Avatar'?"
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When they put together this costume I said: imagine an African, white Christ from space. And this is what they came back with. An African white space Christ. Well, that's just the concept, you know, obviously and I'm not saying I'm African white space Christ, that's not for me to say, that's for other people to say. If they think I'm like Jesus...
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One of the ancient ploys of the film industry is to make a film about non-white people and find a way, however convoluted, to tell it from the point of view of a white character.
—Roger Ebert, reviewing Zhang Yimou's Flowers of War
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