Hardly Heartwarming: Constructing and Depicting Womanhood and the White Savior Trope in Contemporary Film

Abstract

This thesis looks at the white savior trope in two post-2000 popular films, The Blind Side (2009) and Precious (2009). More specifically, the thesis examines the role of the mother, mothering figure, or maternal caretaker within these films. Through contextualizing these films as deeply embedded and coming out of a society where white supremacy both historically and presently impacts opportunity, treatment, perception, and the way someone is gazed upon, this thesis turns to disparate constructions of black and white womanhood and motherhood within these films. I examine how maternal figures in these films, despite the way these films are marketed as “heartwarming” or progressive, are used to propagate white supremacist and racist ideas and reinforce rather than question the racial hierarchies. Ultimately, this thesis attempts to disrupt mainstream white feminist readings of these films and through demonstrating the ways in which these films foreclose the possibility of black motherhood.