Damonsplaining - The plight of the White Liberal
Where they are so liberal and open to the problems minorities face that they say some really stupid shit. The only reason I find it relevant here is because I have seen this in some posts when it comes to the #blacklivesmatter movement.
So this is not so much liberal in the sense of politics, but liberal in the sense of being so open to culture, that one thinks they know all there is to know about what life is like for all minorities.
I don't watch the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck show, but my twitter lit up today with posts hastagged #whitemansplaining #mattdamon & #damonsplaining. Admittedly, the hastag #damonsplaining is hilarious, it's highly sarcastic. Basically on his show I believe there is a contest for new film makers. The only minority person on the show, both minority in the form or race and gender, is Effie Brown. She talks about the concerns she has in regards to diversity amongst the contestants and Matt Damon interrupts her several times to talk out of his ass.
Below is an excerpt of the article and you can watch the video at the link. It left me utterly disgusted. This is not to say that White people can't talk about diversity and the issues facing it. Hardly, it's the almost blatant condescending tone in which he does it and especially when Ms Brown is far from wrong. It's over the top, rude and reeks of White privilege.
As the only person of color in the group, Effie clearly understands that any attempt at diversity will be on her shoulders. She recalls growing up in the 1970s where most of the time when she saw black people in films, they were playing gangsters, criminals and prostitutes. She also explains that she is passionate about making films where marginalized people are recognized. Basically, she is their only line of defense against making yet another all-white dude project, something at best incredibly tone deaf or, at worst, a racist shitshow.
During a discussion about one of the films, Brown helpfully points out that she’s worried that the only black person in the entire movie is a prostitute who is slapped by her white pimp. All she’s saying is that perhaps this roomful of white people should be cognizant of who they hire to direct a character like that—AKA hire some people of color so they can treat the role with some dignity and prevent it from descending into a racist trope.
“You’re looking at this group right here and who you’re picking and the story that you’re doing,” she says calmly. Luckily, Matt Damon is there to swoop in with this Smart White Man cape and interrupts Brown in order to explain diversity to her and this room full of white people. He argues that actually, the less diverse directing teams brought up the same issue about the prostitute character that Effie is raising.
Effie counters by saying that his summation is “not necessarily true,” and Matt Damon interrupts her again, this time by laying out what exactly diversity is.