MovieChat Forums > White Man's Burden (1995) Discussion > Silly generalizations

Silly generalizations

posted 20 years ago by PotassiumMan
9 replies | jump to latest

Watching someone who has never been to America, you would think that all white people are well-to-do and sophisticated and all black people are unruly and with low socioeconomic prospects. Let's go through a few things.

First off, poverty is something that crosses racial lines. There are plenty of down-trodden and violent white people in this country. And, yes, they will beat you up if you cross their territory. These people ride Harleys and have more guns than you have fingers and toes.

And, then there are yuppie African-Americans. They have high-income jobs. They went to prestigious schools. They talk like educated people. There are more African-Americans in corporate America and in academia than ever before. The admissions officer who interviewed me for law school was black.

This move came out and flopped. Deservedly so.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lambo648 20 years ago

Man you so wrong, white people make up 67% of the people in poverty. but most of the black population is in poverty, be carefull with your wording. So, if we look at the real numbers. 9.5% of the white population is in poverty compared to the 30% of black population in poverty. In raw numbers there is more whites in poverty.

[–] redfox18 20 years ago

This movie does make some broad generalizations, but it's on purpose to make a point. People shouldn't take this film so literally, it's exagerated on purpose. I'm watching it right now, I'm only half way through, but so far I like it. You just have to keep in mind they are portraying the worst case scenarios on both sides.

[–] panzerschiff 19 years ago

In raw numbers there is more whites in poverty.

I know that's not bleeping true.

[–] ltb-2 19 years ago

Actually, lambo is right.

This is a common misperception (in my opinion largely related to media portrayal), but there are actually more whites in poverty in raw numbers than blacks. However, a higher percentage of the black population is living below the poverty level than whites. Many areas of the country are rife with poverty but do not have a substantial black population (think West Virginia).

Check out data on the Census Bureau website
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/poverty04/tables04.html

As of 2004, there were 16.9 million whites (non-Hispanic) in poverty, which was 10.8% of the white, non-Hispanic population. There were 9 million blacks living in poverty, which was 24.7% of the black population.

Regardless, it's sad that so many people of all races are struggling so much, but it's just good to keep the facts straight.

[–] PotassiumMan 19 years ago

OK, forget the state of poverty in America and who bears more of it. Let's look at specific situations in the movie to gague its accuracy.

The eviction scene: Louis and his family get thrown out of their house by the authorities. The main police officer is an over-bearing black cop. Is it just me or do we get those kind of cops in real life?

The factory management: Everyone on the office side of the industry is black- even the secretary. I've visited many business offices all over the country, and this just isn't an accurate template.

[–] diablo80mx 19 years ago

ok.....

this film is hypothetical.....that is to say....a "what if?"

they are just trying to prove a point in this film it doesn't mean it has to be accurate...it's just a conception. So no wonder is isn't an accurate template...

[–] johnk-32 13 years ago

I think the movie is not about reality, but about other movies, and their representations of reality.

[–] zeeboe82 13 years ago

Whenever I channel surf, I mostly see white faces. On the ad's on IMDB, I see white races. I also mostly see white cops, and I live in a big city. When I worked at factories, it was mostly black people there.

The film is not that far off.