Text Review – Wentao Liu | COMPSTD 1100 AU20 Class Blog

Today what I want to discuss is the movie called Green Book. In this movie, it tells a great and warm story between people in the background of racial discrimination in the United States in the 1960s. One of the main reasons that “Green Book” caused such a stir was its authenticity, with everything from the story to the names of people including the characters Dr. Shirley and Tony. Before Martin Luther King’s declaration, racial discrimination in the United States was spreading like a virus, and all black people suffered discrimination regardless of their status. At that time, the white people were treated as the “One” who can enjoy the privilege and the black people were treated as “Others” which is very unreasonable and inequality. In this movie, there was a line said by Shirley that got me thinking “So if I am not black enough, and I am not white enough, and if I am not man enough, then tell me, Tony, what am I?” In my opinion, at that time, Shirley is sympathetic. He has a lot of money and status, but because of his race, he is lonely. The color of his skin made him cautious in every way. For white people, Shirley was just a tool that can play the piano very well. For black people, all he has done is to please the white people. This feeling of loneliness is just what we have learned in the novel “Persepolis”. Shirley does not please either. Under misunderstood from both races, Shirley is a pioneer in pursuing justice for the black people but bears all the pain by himself. In contrast, Tony, who has nothing, is truly spiritually rich. These injustices mentioned in the film are exactly the problems that our society should deal with. After this semester’s study, I have more in-depth thinking on the issue of discrimination. Discrimination results from disapproval of the “Others”. However, when we face differences, we should adopt an attitude of tolerance and understanding, rather than rejection and attack.