This book considers the ways in which Black directors, screenwriters, and showrunners contend with the figure of the would-be White ally in contemporary film and television.
White Lies and Allies in Contemporary Black Media examines the ways in which prominent figures such as Issa Rae, Spike Lee, Justin Simien, Jordan Peele, and Donald Glover centralize complex Black protagonists in their work while also training a Black gaze on would-be White allies. Emily R. Rutter highlights how these Black creators represent both performative White allyship and the potential for true White antiracist allyship, while also examining the reasons why Black creators utilize the white ally trope in the wider context of the film and television industries. During an era in which concerns with White liberal complicity in anti-Black racism are of paramount importance, Rutter explores how these films and televisions shows, and their creators, contribute to the wider project of dismantling internal, interpersonal, ideological, and institutional White hegemony.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars of Film and Media Studies, Television Studies, American Studies, African American Studies, and Popular Culture.
1. Ally Betrayal: The Performance of White Wokeness in Jordan Peele’s Get Out 2. ‘Skin in the Game’: Black Empowerment and White Antiracist Identity Development in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman 3. Black Gazes and White Women: Reconfiguring the Female Foursome Formula in Issa Rae’s Insecure and Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It 4. Ally Satire and Accountability in Justin Simien’s Dear White People
Biography
Emily Ruth Rutter is Associate Dean of the Honors College and Associate Professor of English at Ball State University. She is author of Invisible Ball of Dreams: Literary Representations of Baseball behind the Color Line, The Blues Muse: Race, Gender, and Musical Celebrity in American Poetry, and Black Celebrity: Contemporary Representations of Postbellum Athletes and Artists. She is co-editor of Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era. Her scholarship appears in African American Review, MELUS, and Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature, among other journals and edited collections.
“High praise for Emily Rutter’s White Lies and Allies in Contemporary Black Media. Skillfully showcasing the innovative work of Jordan Peele, Issa Rae, Spike Lee, and others, Rutter astutely illuminates what happens when Black media producers train a “Black gaze” on the “White ally figure” in film and television. Featuring diverse iterations of this figure—ranging from the performative to the progressive—Rutter examines how Black screenwriters, directors, and showrunners explore white privilege and possibilities for racial solidarity. Expertly addressing a critical gap on this topic during turbulent political times, this book offers fresh insights for scholars and activists, alike.”
Kathy Glass, Associate Professor of English, Duquesne University, USA
