The Green Book

The controversy surrounding The Green Book (2018; dir. Peter Farrelly) mainly centers on how the film enacts a pattern often seen in films and fiction about race in the United States.  The typical scenario in these films concerns a black character (usually a man) who works for or with a white character (of either gender).  The white character is usually a person with more power and wealth than the black character. At first both characters are suspicious of each other, but over a period of time, they become friendly, and their friendship helps the white character escape his racism or solve other problems.  Sometimes such narratives are termed black redemption or black messiah narratives.  Examples include Intruder in the Dust (1949), The Defiant Ones (1958), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), The Secret Life of Bees (2008).  The Green Book has frequently been compared to Driving Miss Daisy, in which an elderly racist Southern woman gradually becomes friends with the black man whom her son has hired as her driver. In the final scene of the film, Daisy, senile and living in an extended care facility, tells Hoke that he is “my best friend.” (The scene uncomfortably anticipates an extended scene in Spike Lee’s Four Little Girls (1997) in which a feeble and elderly George Wallace describes his affection for the black man who has been hired as his caregiver.) These black redemption narratives are supposed to make white viewers feel better about their racist past.  Critics argue that they don’t reflect the reality of racism in America and that they tend to focus on the white characters rather than the black ones.

The Green Book reflects this pattern.  But there are also significant differences.  The driver is a white working-class New Yorker (Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga, played by Viggo Mortensen) and the man whom he is hired to work for (both as driver and body guard) is an accomplished black classical pianist, Don Shirley (played by Mahershala Ali).  Shirley is the person in power.  He looks down on Tony as uneducated and crude.  Tony, in turn, doesn’t know much about black people and is as a result a casual racist.  In the film, the pianist helps his driver learn about black men as human beings, introduces him to racism in the South, and helps him appreciate classical music and friendship.  In turn, the driver helps introduce the pianist to black culture in terms of soul food and the blues (why a New York Italian would know much about the blues and soul food isn’t explained). The scene in which he changes his mind and visit’s Tony’s apartment, where he is welcomed by family and friends, seals the deal between these two different men.  It is also one of the most questionable scenes in the film. This scene is certainly possible, but it’s difficult to imagine that it would happen.

There’s another issue.  Neither Tony nor Shirley is characteristic of the group he represents.  Tony has little knowledge of African Americans.  His racism is evident but not especially strong.  He’s an Italian New Yorker: not a Southerner. Shirley is a talented, highly accomplished pianist—wealthy and privileged. Although he lives in a racist time, his money and talents insulate him from a lot of it (though not all).  He’s also gay, and he suffers for that when he is caught in a public restroom with another man.  (Tony convinces the police not to arrest him, explaining to Shirley that he’s seen a lot in the bars he’s worked, and he doesn’t seem especially surprised or shocked). My point: both characters are more complicated that it might first seem, and they fit as a result uneasily into the identities many critics assign them.

Despite these shortcomings, especially the simplistic reflection of race relations in America, the film offers an entertaining and warm comedy about friendship. It gives a broad view of racism in the American south during the late 1950s. It doesn’t advance the examination of race and racism in American films.

The acting by Mortensen and Ali is excellent. Mortensen was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his role, while Ali was nominated for Best Supporting actor (he won).  Their roles are of equal importance in the film, and they share relatively equal screen time.  Why wasn’t Ali nominated for Best Actor rather than Best Supporting Actor?