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QUESTIONCan I make up a co-writer with a black-sounding name to avoid accusations of "whitesplaining"? (self.Screenwriting)

bannedscreenwriter が 投稿

The script I'm currently working on is a horror film that deals with racism within the black community. The problem is...I'm a white Irish-American dude.

It's not like the script is some kind of scathing condemnation or anything, just like how "Moonlight" wasn't a condemnation of black culture. My story just brings attention to the often-ignored reality of internalized prejudice.

However, it has come to my attention that many people, regardless of ethnic background, take offense to an action known as whitesplaining, which is defined by the totally reputable Urban Dictionary as "The paternalistic lecture given by Whites toward a person of color defining what should and shouldn't be considered racist, while obliviously exhibiting their own racism." This, according to friends I've pitched my idea to, is apparently what I am doing.

I really want to finish my script because I believe that it's a great story with an important message. On the other hand, I don't want to be accused of racism (more of a career-thing than an ego-thing; I really don't give a shit if people think I'm a racist).

Therefore, I'm seriously considering the idea of completely making up a co-writer (à la Charlie Kaufman) with a black-sounding name to kind of imply that it wasn't all my privileged white idea.

Is it doable?

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[–]Tendernights 35 ポイント36 ポイント  (3子コメント)

Apparently you don't care if people think you're a racist or an asshole.

[–]jordan_bar 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (2子コメント)

I mean, he did say that in the post. If he wants to try this he can knock himself out and learn the hard way.

[–]Tendernights 7 ポイント8 ポイント  (1子コメント)

I'm tacking asshole on to what he already said.

[–]beardsayswhat2013 Black List Screenwriter 50 ポイント51 ポイント  (0子コメント)

If your friends are telling you your script is racist, on what planet is making up a fictional black person the right response?

I hope for your sake your script has more racial awareness than this post.

[–]ughh02Drama 23 ポイント24 ポイント  (1子コメント)

No what the f... "black sounding name" you're an idiot.

[–]doaser -3 ポイント-2 ポイント  (0子コメント)

In his defense, there are absolutely names that carry racial associations. It seems willfully blind to pretend otherwise. Plus, the subject matter of his script would probably add to the idea. Tbf I do think that this was a crude aspect of his idea to mention lol.

[–]doaser 12 ポイント13 ポイント  (1子コメント)

I feel like this idea can only backfire on you. I personally think anyone can write about anything, since art is NEVER literally what it seems to be. Anyone is allowed to have a take on anything- even as a white irish-american, you naturally have your own viewpoint on how it must be to be black. And I think it's ok to express that via art.

That said, the idea of making up a black writer so you don't get any heat for your screenplay makes me feel like maybe your script isn't too deft at exploring its themes. But to be fair, I haven't read it.

My point is, no, you should not do this. It can only hurt you.

[–]screenwriterjohn 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

This feels like a screenplay within itself.

If it were to be optioned...it wouldn't be worth it. There would be controversy.

[–]Mac_H 9 ポイント10 ポイント  (1子コメント)

Congratulations!

People here can't agree on anything - we've even seen posts saying that Courier is optional. Heck - even Jar Jar Binks has been defended.

But you have united us. For once, every single person here is convinced that this is a really, REALLY bad idea. Not as in 'brave choice' or ''that will be tricky to do well' ... but as in 'this reaches new depths of bad idea-ness'.

You have achieved what even the great Jar-Jar himself could not.

For that, the community thanks you. But seriously .... don't do this.

-- Mac

[–]MysteryArab 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Courier... optional? I am befuddled.

[–]Roblito90 7 ポイント8 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I really hope this is a joke.

[–]Jemaclus 5 ポイント6 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I... think this sounds like a terrible idea that will blow up in your face. I'd recommend just putting your name on it and ignoring the haters.

[–]jordan_bar 6 ポイント7 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Regardless of whether or not you believe in whitesplaining, lots of people do, and the industry is no exception. What you're asking us is if you can get away with cheating your way out of a potentially racist act by pretending like you wrote your story with someone black, making you and your story seem fair and without bias.

Either write your story with someone black (especially someone with an open mind and not just a dark-skinned person with the same mindsets as you) so your story actually may have some merit, as opposed to you faking it...

Or put it out there with your name on it, and your name only. If you believe that it's a great story with an important message then wouldn't you like to be proud as the sole creator and writer?

If you're that worried about your career then your smartest move is to dump the story, or at least make the effort to make your script appeal further towards the group you're afraid of.

[–]MatteoPalacios 5 ポイント6 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I must admit this is one of the more interesting posts I've ever read.

 

And for reddit the bar is quite low anyway.

 

I think I must agree with the other post.

 

The fact you think it's possibly okay to do this in the first place shows your INSENSITIVITY and that, in fact, you are a racist.

 

And I don't apply that label loosely in a flippant way.

 

"Do tell--What is a black sounding name?"

 

The very notion that you are the arbiter of that is, in of itself, a racist and over privileged attitude.

 

Listen, mate, I wouldn't worry about your script:

 

I THINK you have some serious soul-searching to do.

 

That is, if you have a soul.

 

Cheers.

[–]CraigThomas1984 4 ポイント5 ポイント  (0子コメント)

No.

[–]Speedwagonbestwaifu 5 ポイント6 ポイント  (0子コメント)

if you need to make up a black screenwriter, isnt that enough for to realise the problem?

[–]TotesMessenger 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:

If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / Contact)

[–]MysteryArab 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Uh... Uhhhhh....uhhhhhhhh [cue Nick Cage circa Matchstick Men]

No? I think there's a very reasonable and practical answer here but it's nigh impossible to come up with due to your framing.

1) It's okay for white writers to make stories about non-white people. Hell, that's still primarily how minorities end up on screen. I don't see how that fact alone would inherently rile anyone up, without aggravating factors like the nature of the depiction itself.

2) The notion that minorities are just out to get ya for accidentally being racist but you're really a nice guy. Lose that attitude.

3) Internalized racism is a genuinely difficult concept to tackle, not in depiction but in understanding. This is speaking as someone who's experienced it. I don't think that makes you unqualified to write a story on it, but ask yourself this, and don't answer to me here: why are you doing this? What do you hope to derive from writing this? Are you trying to piss someone off? To subvert some cultural notion you're angry with? If this screenplay we're a letter, who do you hope its recipient is, what are you telling them, and why? Be honest, it's why I said don't answer to me, but yourself. Cui bono?

4) Other than friends, who've you discussed this with? What has your research been like? Have you looked into adjacent states of mind, whether depression or anxiety? Have you spoken to any professors, authors, or armchair experts on the topic? Hell, any POC?

You're welcome to PM me with questions/concerns. I don't want to dissuade anyone from creative expression because of any surface assessments of the morality of their story. If you think you have any insight or truth or just an interesting question you'd like to flesh out, then go with God.

But you have to know why you're doing it.

[–]simon2it 1 ポイント2 ポイント  (0子コメント)

I think people saying on here that you're racist because you want to do this are wrong. You might be opportunistic, but racism is defined as prejudice or hate against other races, and I don't see any evidence of that here.

It is however as moronic and insulting as everyone is saying it is, and you shouldn't do it.

If you believe in what you have to say, stand up for it. Put it out there. Storytelling is risky, and it should be.

If you're trying to say something that might be controversial, you have to stand that much taller.

Lars von Trier and Todd Solondz didn't write under pen names when they tried to humanise paedophiles.

If you have something to say, say it. Don't be a coward.

[–]listyraesder 2 ポイント3 ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah, that's a hard no.

Also Selma was written by a white British guy, and they gave that film an Oscar. So I'll go out on a limb and say this isn't a thing.

[–]potatolulz 1 ポイント2 ポイント  (6子コメント)

There is no such thing as "whitesplaining" lol. That's just a new madeup fictional word for people who feel the urge to be "offended" and if there's nothing to be offended with then they have to make up something.

Yes, a white person can write about a black person and vice versa. And these days, definitely yes there's gonna be at least one idiot "offended" by it, no matter what do you actually write. So there's no need to dwell on it too much.

If you make a racist story, then it's only you to blame. If your story is not racist and a "friend" comes up with "whitesplaining" because according to said "friend" it's unthinkable that a white dude could write about a black dude, then your supposed friend is an idiot.

Either way, making up a "black sounding name" (Like what is that?) is a stupid idea.

[–]Mac_H 4 ポイント5 ポイント  (5子コメント)

'Whitesplaining' isn't quite what you think it is.

It doesn't mean 'Something that whites always do when describing things other cultures'. Nor does 'Mansplaining' mean 'Something men always do when explaining something to women'.

It's just describing a common trap that is seen in those cases. Does it always happen? Nope.

But like 'Flanderisation' and 'Mary-Sue-ism' it happens often enough that people come up with bizarre word combinations for it.

Stupid word combinations, admittedly, but they are very visual!

-- Mac

(Who is desperately hoping that you happen to be female so that this will be a perfect example of man-splaining. The irony!)

[–]potatolulz 1 ポイント2 ポイント  (4子コメント)

The thing is, "whitesplaining" is not anything. it's a made up "term" that doesn't have any actual meaning other than being a buzzword used by dumb people.

When a man talks to a woman and she doesn't like him, she'd call him an asshole about 3 years ago. Now, she calls his speech "mansplaining", even though the information given and the mannerism of that man is the same. And if she did like that man, there would be no "mansplaining" complaints even if the information and mannerims was the exact same.

The whole purpose of these made up words is so that their user appears all hip and cool, and most importantly smart and polite because "mansplaining", "whitesplaining" and other kinds of "-splaining" seemingly appears as a more "high brow" term than calling someone a prick.

Anyway, the last time this crap popped up I was kinda wondering what you call an annoying boy telling you about something. Is it "mansplaining", "boysplaining" or a "childsplaining"? And if it's a "boysplaining" and not "mansplaining", is the difference in what? More facial hair? Because a kid can learn knowledge of a grown man, and also the kid can emulate adult behaviour and mannerisms even if the kid doesn't actually understand it fully.

And are there levels of "whitesplaining"? Or does that apply only on a specific group of people among the white people? Because genetically arabian people or indian romas are white, for example. So is "whitesplaining" a thing among these guys when they're being annoying? If not and it's a thing mainly with white american males of like irish descent aged 20-55, how is it a "whitesplaining" then and not like "americanwhiteadultmalesplaining" or something?

My personal opinion is, that it's a meaningless buzzword.

[–]lingolingolingo 3 ポイント4 ポイント  (3子コメント)

That's disingenuous, it would mean when a person speaks to a person of color in a condescending tone and with a paternalistic assumption that a person of color doesn’t know enough to accurately articulate their own experience.

The term doesn’t apply to every instance when a white person talks about racism, just like mansplaining doesn’t apply to every instance when a man talks about gender oppression, or as you say, when someone 'annoys' them. If they're using it in that sense, then they're wrong.

Like with other forms of privileged explaining, including 'mansplaining', people who 'whitesplain' have been conditioned to believe that they’re somehow more qualified to speak about a marginalized group than a person who belongs to that group, which is exactly what this 'white Irish-American' guy is trying to do.

One of the most irritating forms of whitesplaining – assuming a person of color just doesn’t understand what’s going on. I’ve experienced this too many times when people believe they know more about what I’ve been through than I do – through secondhand information or just their own wild guesses. Talking with me about issues that affect my community means you have limits – you don’t have a lifetime of firsthand experience.

For instance, when I tell someone that saying, “I don’t see color” erases my identity, they often dismiss my complaint with any of number of reasons they didn’t mean to hurt me. Believe me, I’ve heard them all: “Actually, I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just trying to say we’re all human. I’m trying to say I don’t see you as different. I’m trying to treat everyone equally.”

Try as they might, they’re not going to achieve equality by taking a “colorblind” approach. Explaining that you have good intentions doesn’t erase the impact of invalidating my racial identity and implying that seeing my Blackness is a bad thing. So it’s simply a sign of respect to give me the benefit of the doubt and trust that I can find the words for my own experience.

This is just one angle of it. There's things like

  • You Want Me to Stop Talking About Racism (‘You’re Being So Divisive’)

  • You Think My Feelings Are Wrong (‘Be Objective, It’s Not That Bad…’)

etc.

[–]potatolulz 1 ポイント2 ポイント  (2子コメント)

So this nonsensical word came to be because some people just didn't know the words "ignorance", "bigotry", "being an asshole", "illusion of superiority", "lack of education" etc. so they felt the need to come up with a new word that has some sort of a fluid "meaning" so it can be applied to pretty much everything at will and that's how "-splainings" came to be?

have been conditioned to believe that they’re somehow more qualified to speak about (something)

that is "ignorance" + "bigotry" / "feeling of superiority"

assuming a person of color just doesn’t understand what’s going on

that is either straightforward "racism" or again "bigotry" / "illusionary superiority", depends on the context of how much does the bigoted speaker deem the person of color a human.

through secondhand information or just their own wild guesses

"ignorance"

discussing racial identity or whatever

nothing to do with any kind of "-splaining". Or does it mean there's various levels of "whitesplaining" depending on where does the black guy come from? Is it a different form of "splaining" when someone is being a dick to a french black guy, or a black guy from any african state? What if an asian guy behaves like an asshole towards a black guy, is it "asiansplaining"? Does "blacksplaining" exists? If so, is it the case when a mixed raced guy is being dissed by black guys for not being black enough, and by white guys for being black?

Or maybe can a woman "mansplain"? I mean if she presented the same information in the same mannerism and generally behaved the same during a conversation like a "mansplaining" man, would she be "mansplaining?" If not, does that mean that "mansplaining" is not a question of behaviour rather than of having a penis?

The point still stands that any kind of "splaining" is a made up buzzword with no meaning. When someone is being a dick, racist, bigot, ignorant and loudmouthed, then why exactly don't people on the internet use actual words with meaning for it? "Splaining" is not cool, it's not clever, it's not more polite, and most importantly, it means nothing.

[–]lingolingolingo 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (1子コメント)

There's many words that are made to apply to specific situations. Yes, it is still a show of ignorance and bigotry. You could magic away many common terms in the English language if we applied your logic.

I don't see how it's made to 'apply to anything at will'. It's quite clearly certain specific situations.

[–]potatolulz 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

"Splaining" doesn't apply to any situation since it's clearly applicable to anything and the supposed "meaning" changes from user to user. So unlike this garbage buzzword, many common terms in the English language actually do have meaning, and therefore we could not magic them away if we applied any kind of logic, because me or "my logic" don't really affect that.

[–]DeeperStateDaddy 0 ポイント1 ポイント  (0子コメント)

ah yes no one better than some middle class white dude to tell black people why they're WRONG. How much did Get Out hurt your precious little feelings?

lmfao

more of a career-thing than an ego-thing; I really don't give a shit if people think I'm a racist

I know you're too dumb to realize it, but this says A LOT about you