In 'The Whiteness of Oscar Night' (2015), Matthew Hughey describes the narrative structure of the subgenre:Ī White Savior film is often based on some supposedly true story. As such, white savior stories have been described as 'essentially grandiose, exhibitionistic, and narcissistic' fantasies of psychological compensation. This white savior is often portrayed as a man who is out of place within his own society, until he assumes the burden of racial leadership to rescue non-white minorities and foreigners from their suffering.

The narrative trope of the white savior is one way the mass communications medium of cinema represents the sociology of race and ethnic relations, by presenting abstract concepts such as morality as characteristics innate, racially and culturally, to white people, not to be found in non-white people. This recurs in an array of genres in American cinema, wherein a white protagonist is portrayed as a messianic figure who often learns something about themself in the course of rescuing non-white characters from their plight. The white savior is a cinematic trope in which a white central character rescues non-white (often less prominent) characters from unfortunate circumstances.

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