3-4 pages, you will examine how a seemingly benign trope in cinema becomes racist even if the director/actors does/do not realize it. You will examine one film (from the approved list of films below) and explore how the trope that doesnt appear racist on the surface (to many average viewers) transforms an otherwise non-racist film into a racist one.

How does this trope work in the film to maintain the status quo even if the film has been seen as revolutionary in terms of race and/or showered with awards? To this end, you will look at how either the magical negro/minority trope or the white savior trope is used in a film, but make sure that the trope you pick actually appears in the film about which you are writing. Think of this as a way to challenge the dominant reading of a film while exploring the ways in which race, language, and narrative intersect to undercut the message that a film seems to say on the surface.

You also need to use at least two quotes that come from outside, ACADEMIC sources that pertain to either the film or the narrative trope about which you are writing. That is, the quotes you include should come from peer reviewed journal articles or books published by an academic press.

Below is the approved list of films you can use for your second essay.
Crooked Arrows
Avatar
The Green Mile
American History X
Dances with Wolves
The Help
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
The Last Samurai
Django Unchained
Half-Nelson
The Last of the Mohicans
Monsters Ball
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Babel
Cloud Atlas
12 Years a Slave
42
District 9
Song of the South
Ghost
Freedom Writers
Gran Torino
The Matrix
The Darjeeling Unlimited
Hitch

The Shawshank Redemption