“When they see Black people living without pain and suffering it is shocking” Michael Harriot analyzes why society is so infatuated with watching trauma in entertainment especially when it comes to stories about Black people.
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Michael Harriot [00:00:05] So there’s this new movie that’s out called TILL, and it’s based on the story of Mamie Till, the mother of Emmett Till, who was lynched by white supremacists in Mississippi in 1955. And a lot of Black people are saying that they won’t see this movie and they are tired of Black people making trauma porn, slave movies. Why a movie got to be about slaves or Black people suffering trauma? And while I understand that sentiment, it’s not exactly correct. So that’s why I want to welcome you to theGrio Daily, the only podcast that’s going to explain the difference between trauma porn and entertainment. I’m Michael Harriot, world famous wypipologist and this is theGrio Daily.
Michael Harriot [00:01:08] So I understand. The reason why people object to slave movies, why I like I really don’t watch a lot of those movies. Not because I’m not interested in seeing Black people on a screen, you know, Black people or like any other people, we like to see people who look like us, who whose stories we can relate to. We like to see entertainment based on that. But the reason I don’t watch them is because, like, I really don’t want to watch a story that I already know to end off. That’s why I didn’t watch the movie Dahmer, too, right? Is not because I think a story about a serial killer is bad or it makes me feel bad. It’s just like, I know. I remember Dahmer, I’m old enough to remember Jeffrey Dahmer. I kind of know the story. Even if there are some things that I don’t know, like I know how it is. Like they gone catch him. He gonna go to jail, right? Like I know the basics of the story, so I’m not interested in the movie. Like, I don’t want to watch a movie about the 1993 Olympic team because I know how it is, why they win. Right. So. So most movies about historical events, I don’t watch simply because like, it’s not interesting to me.
Michael Harriot [00:02:37] The conclusion of the movie I already know and when I go into the movie already knowing how it will end, I’m just really not interested in just learning the specific details. But there are some people who think that, like who don’t like to see Black people participate, like as the victims of slavery or the trauma of slavery. And I understand that. But there are a few things that we need to understand about how this works. First of all. Like most Black movie writers, script writers, producers, directors and creators in all genres weren’t out there pitching slave movies. Right. Like, you have to differentiate between what Black people are creating and what white people who control 94% of the film industry, 95% of the TV industry will allow to reach the screen. Like we know network TVs, we know the streaming services are controlled by white people. So what we’re seeing is not what Black people are making. It’s what white people are allowing us to see for the most part. There are some independent outlets that and independent filmmakers, but most of what you watch on TV and in movie theaters, especially in movie theaters, is something that a white person had to greenlight. And so what the movie and the TV industry will greenlight is often either stories they know or something that they think they can sympathize with. And what I mean by they is white people.
Michael Harriot [00:04:28] And so we’ve talked about this before, but there’s a study by the University of Toronto that shows that white people don’t really empathize with Black characters when they see them on the screen. As a matter of fact, you know, in the study, they showed Black people simply performing tasks and, you know, hooked some technology, I guess, up to their brains and found that like the white people’s brain activity, when a Black person is on the screen, is the same as it is when the screen is literally blank. So when the people in the movie industry see a script or hear a pitch, they know this, right? And they say, well, because it’s not like they don’t read those same studies, too. As a matter of fact, one of the interesting studies that showed that more diverse movies actually make more money was created because of the leak of, like, all of Sony’s digital information. Somebody leaked that. Remember that whole thing when they leaked Sony’s information? And then there was some like some iCloud stuff in there, too, and screenshots of of people sending, you know, selfies. That was a data leak from Sony.
Michael Harriot [00:05:55] And what someone did with that data leak is they just took the specific numbers from Sony’s movies because they don’t have to tell us how much a movie really makes. And then they just, like, categorized the cast members and found that more diverse movies actually make more money. But aside from that, the people I’m just saying that because I want to show you that the people who greenlight movies, who make these decisions, they see this same research, they know this data. Right. So when they get a pitch or they see a script, they have to determine who’s going to watch it. And they know if it’s got Black characters, how are we going to make people feel something? It’s called the empathy gap. Right. And so they know they have to close that empathy gap. Well, how can you do that? Well. The first thing you have to do is give them something to feel and, you know, love ain’t really nothing that people feel cross across racial lines. Right.
Michael Harriot [00:07:04] So a love story, a regular story about regular Black people doesn’t really get the green light like something that either they can relate to a story that they already know, like Emmett Till or trauma. Right. And trauma is not just like pain and psychological abuse. Right. Like the reason every action movie has to have a fight scene at the end, you know, when they have that fight scene with, inside, always inside. I don’t know why, but it’s always inside a factory where they’re making sparks. Like that’s the only thing that you see in factory just a bunch of sparks and chains with hooks at the end. Right. Because we know that’s how the villain is going to die. He’s going to either fall when that chain with the hook at the end or he’s going to get thrown into the thing that makes the sparks. But that’s trauma. A fight is trauma. Action movies, right. Like that’s why the action hero always before he goes into the fire to save the people, he pulls that picture of his wife and his kids who died right before the movie started and looks at it. Like, who carries an actual physical picture in that front waist pocket, especially when they doing karate it seem like it would fallout. But they always have it, never falls out, because they are inspired by what? By trauma.
Michael Harriot [00:08:32] Well, the same holds true with Black movies. They have to tap in to that trauma. Some people call it trauma porn, but it is one of the few things that white people can relate to across racial lines. Right. Like they can see a movie like, oh, no, you know, you pick one of those white movies that you never watched before, like white people can make movies about, like going home to visit the family on Christmas. And that’s like the premise of a whole movie that greenlight. Like, it’s always going to star Meryl Streep, by the way. Like nearly half of Meryl Streep’s filmography is like movies about people going back to their hometown. But they’re movies like that, like all of the movies that win white Oscars are movies about just regular white people in regular situations. And then all of the Black people who win Oscars think about it now have to have suffered some kind of trauma. You got Moonlight, like the trauma of discrimination, sexual discrimination. You have stuff like Halle Berry who. Whose husband was killed by the electric chair. You have Oscar winner, like Denzel Washington. He was up for best supporting actor in glory. But he didn’t win it. But he finally won. For what? For playing a villain in a movie.
Michael Harriot [00:10:14] So if you’re going to be successful in Hollywood, you have to have some kind of trauma inflicted upon you or you have to inflicted upon somebody else. You have to do that to close the white empathy gap. And that’s why these trauma films are made. But again, they are not the only thing that Black people create. Whenever Black people create something that doesn’t have a bunch of trauma and is successful, like white people are always shocked, like Insecure the whole series of Insecure. Like it really wasn’t about trauma. It was just about four friends kicking it and like living regular lives and it is called a unexpected hit, right? Like when, you know, Abbott Elementary, for instance, right? Like the idea that you can make a show about a Black school that doesn’t rest on trauma is groundbreaking. Like we’re going to do a show about a poor Black school, what is Julia Roberts going to be in? And she’s going to teach them how to read? Nah, Nah, Nah. What they’re going to have a big dance battle? And, you know, the people on the dance team are going to have to overcome and pass the big? No, no, no, no. It’s just going to be. Hold on, so Edward James Olmos is going to come in there and he’s going to teach all the people how to survive, you know, the gangsters. No, no, no. Right. Like, that’s literally what every Black movie about a school is until Abbot Elementary, which is why white people are so shocked by it being a hit just because it’s funny. Like, Quinta Brunson was like the funniest women, woman, one of the funniest women on TV for a half a decade and then she made a funny show and people are surprised because it don’t have trauma right.
Michael Harriot [00:12:16] And that’s because of that empathy gap. When they see Black people living without pain and suffering and other people relating to it, it is shocking because it’s something that is so rare. One of my my biggest theories about why Black people don’t win awards is because white people see white people on screen and they say, Oh, man, he’s playing a character that’s totally different from the way he is. Like Brad Pitt is playing cowboy. He should win Oscar for that. And when they see Black people on TV, they can’t disassociate the Black person skin from the Black character skin. So every Black person is just playing a Black person. So it’s really not a stretch. And that’s why they can’t win awards. And in a sense, that’s why trauma porn, slave movies, people with movies with Black people bleeding or getting fire hosed during the civil rights movement. That’s why they exist. That’s why Selma was up for so many awards. Not that it wasn’t a good film, but it had that requisite trauma that elevated it, in the eyes of white people, to a great film. Right.
Michael Harriot [00:13:49] That’s why great Black movies, like like Friday was one of the greatest comedies of all time. But if you notice Ice Cube’s entire career, he always makes the same kind of film. And I want you to think about this. He always makes a film about Black people surrounded by other Black people, using situations that Black people are accustomed to. There is no trauma. They have self-determination. Right. Like Craig found the money for Big Worm on his own right. Like in Barbershop, they were trying to get the money to build a business for a business in a Black neighborhood like this. Like all of his movies are basically about Black people doing Black things and dare not elevated to the status of greatness. Like, for instance, a Will Ferrell movie who is always about thats always about like white people falling down. Those movies are seen as great comedies. Ice Cube movies are seen as, you know, cult Black movies. And it’s because they don’t contain trauma.
Michael Harriot [00:15:13] So the only way we can overcome these this gap is for us to create our own movies and to support our own movies. So if we support movies like Black Panther, Black Panther really isn’t about trauma, right? Like even even small Black movies. If they don’t have that requisite trauma, they must depend solely on Black support. And so it is up to us to support those movies. And once they start making money, white people, because white people ain’t just racists, they are interested in money, too. They will start making those movies. And that’s how we overcome the trauma porn industry. And that’s also why you got to download theGrio app. That’s also why you have to tell a friend about this podcast. That’s also why you got to subscribe on every platform that you can. And that’s also why we leave you every episode with the famous Black saying and today’s Black saying is “Break a leg. But if it’s a Black movie, break two.” If you like what you heard, please give us a five star review. Download theGrio app. Subscribe to the show and share it with everyone you know. Please email all questions, suggestions and compliments to podcasts at theGrio dot com.
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