Movie Babel

http://paramountvantage.com/babel/ - trailer and videos of movie can be seen here

The movie Babel that was produced by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu in 2006 and stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett focuses on common racial issues that are currently going on in the world today. The area of the movie that I would analyze is when Richard, Brad Pitt, is in a Middle Eastern country and his wife Susan, Cate Blanchett. While they are there, two middle-eastern kids who were playing with a rifle shot Susan who was on a tour bus. In order to get the necessary help and attention, Richard yells at everyone to call the United States Embassy and get a helicopter sent there stat. He also wanted everyone to stop what he or she was doing and take them to a hospital. The event is broadcast across the media and it is stated that a terrorist shot an American tourist.

This part of the movie directly relates to the idea of white privilege introduced in chapter 2 Capitalism, Class and the Matrix of Domination from the book Power, Privilege and Difference by Allan G Johnson. Richard feels that he has a right to the best hospital and help as he would in America. He it is hard for him to realize that he does not have the same privilege as he would if him and his wife were in the same situation in America. In the country that he is in, he is seen as the foreigner and his white status does not help him.

Also, Johnson talks about how money gives someone power and privilege, which are all stereotyped towards white men. In the movie, Richard tried using money as a way to get things accomplished. He tried to use his money as another way to increase the likelihood of getting medical help for his wife.

Another example of white privilege in the movie can be seen through another white couple on the tour bus. Like most middle-eastern countries, it was extremely hot and dry. They were starting to run out of clean bottled water and a middle-aged white man in particular was becoming dehydrated, which made his wife extremely worried. It seemed that since he was white also, he also felt like he had the power to control the situation and to leave Richard and Susan in the village if he wanted to. He did end up giving Richard a certain amount of time before he said they were leaving. The middle-aged man took control, and did not leave the decision up to the bus driver. By doing this, the middle-eastern bus driver was being noted as inferior to the wants and needs of the white man.

The movie as a whole shocked and disgusted me. There were so many racial stereotypes played out that ended up hurting the characters in the movie. I didn’t like how the middle-aged white man took control of the situation and left Richard and Susan behind. I feel like he wanted to keep going more because he was uncomfortable with the new and unfamiliar surroundings than he was with lack of water and the amount of heat. If I had been him, I would not have left them there by themselves.