The Philanthropist and Neocolonialism
Tonight's the premier of NBC's The Philanthropist. Longtime readers of this site know how I react to do-gooder shots such as the one above--my mind whirls back through the 1960s into the late nineteenth century like some an imperialist version of Time Tunnel, swarming with images of white people bringing civilization and Pampers to the uncivilized primitives who desperately look to us to raise them from the depths of their corruption and incompetence.
Sure, as the New York Times reports the show reportedly includes the obligatory scene where The Philanthropist is chided for
playing the role of the charming rich businessman who travels the world, getting his hands just dirty enough to go back home and tell his American friends how meaningful his life is compared to theirs.
But that's an old rhetorical ruse, at once allowing viewers to assure themselves that they are not That Guy while reinforcing the more systemic problem. See, the show tells us, you're not just a dilettante. You really are leading them out of darkness, you really are their savior--in short, you are the master on whom they depend.
It's empire. It's racial supremacy. And it's something we should not indulge.
I know the show hasn't aired yet, but you could write enough to get tenure at Duke based on just the scenes described in the reviews and the obligatory white-guy-gives-hope-to-black-children photos released to promote the show.
Unless, of course, the scene depicted in the above PR photo ends with The Philanthropist blown up by an old British landmine.
Hopefully by now you did watch the show because the scene from which the image above was taken might make more sense. It is not one of the "obligatory white-guy-gives-hope-to-black-children photos" (although I have to admit it does look like one).
The scene from which the photo was taken is actually a scene in which Teddy Rist is completely lost emotionally and spiritually. He has lost is son and his desire to continue his current course in life. As he walks down the road in Abuja, the children run up to him for whatever reason (the audience is left to draw their own conclusions).
I choose to believe that those kids see that he needs some happiness in his life right now and they want to give him some. So they lead him to a coming-of-age ceremony happening just a few yards away. As it turns out, that ceremony is just as much for him as is it is for the boy it was planned for.
So long story short, that photo wasn't one of the "obligatory white-guy-gives-hope-to-black-children photos"; it was actually a "black-children-give-hope-to-white-guy photo".