White People Won't Save You

White People Won't Save You

A podcast that deconstructs the white savior trope in film, and recenters the Black and PoC chaaracters and actors in them.

Episodes

September 3, 2025 129 mins

We finally did it! Sorry for the delay but welcome to the first of four mini (for us) episodes where we count down what we think are the 20 worst white savior offenders. Our criteria is 1. Critical acclaim (box office, reviews at release, awards), 2. Lasting impact, 3. Caucacity, 4. How strongly do white people still stand by this movie. 

With that said, feel free to write in and let us know your thoughts and what your top 20 white...

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Apologies for the late episode, but we think the content of the movie will make up for it because...phew, what the hell was this. Cameron asked for something unhinged and he got that and more in 1989's Deadly Breed. Look, the tagline for the movie is "If you're not a white American, relocate or die." Enough said. We also get into a debate about the constant refrain of "seeing both sides" and some of the craziest caucacity to date. 

...

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August 1, 2025 112 mins

Sorry for the delay, Jordan was at Comic-Con (Ancestral Recall in stores next week) but we back! And we're so happy to have special guest Shakira Ja'nai Paye of the upcoming Demascus (on Tubi) and her amazing podcast I'm kind of that witch! So of course we're talking about the 90's cult hit, The Craft. 

While not a white savior movie per say, there's still lots to discuss. We talk about how Rochelle's story was changed after Rachel...

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July 4, 2025 129 mins

I mean....you already know what time it is. As we take the day to boo America and its continued shortcomings and intentional cruelties, we hope we can also provide a few laughs for you here. Staring Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum, 2013's White House Down was the first presidential movie of the Obama era. We talk about our favorite Black presidents on film, the out of control plot, and if 50 Cent would be a good fill in for Jamie's s...

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June 19, 2025 129 mins

Happy Juneteenth and Happy Pride! We have another WPWSY investigation for you today as we try to decode the confusing but also outrageous Judgement Day starring Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles and a brief cameo by Coolio.

The plot: Black Israelites(?) have kidnapped Johnny Cage from the Mortal Kombat movies in order to bring about the destruction of earth from a series of asteroids. It's wild. We break down whatever the hell Mario Van Pee...

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May 23, 2025 113 mins

“See, even in chains we can defeat them. Turn your minds back my people. Remember yourself a thousand, thousand moons ago. Bring your bows!” All of this dialogue was spoken by a white woman in chains standing over an African tribe and that's really all you need to know about 1984's Sheena.

Based on the comic book series of the same name, Sheena is a wild ride that made us ask why is the villain an African prince/celebrity/NFL kicke...

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May 1, 2025 137 mins

Finally! Sorry for the delay, but we know people have been asking, so here are our thoughts on Ryan Coogler's new film Sinners! 

You know we loved it and we share our thoughts on this incredible film. We also will have a follow up coming soon with all of the additional conversation about box office and cultural impact as well as a few roundtables!

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April 17, 2025 93 mins

Is it only April? We hope everyone has been doing well and hanging in there. Hopefully today's episode will help up lift some spirits because we've got a fun one with 1995's Die Hard With a Vengeance. Not only was Jordan surprised to learn this is actually the third film in the series, but also that it could have also co-starred Laurence Fishburne instead of Sam Jackson. 

It also lets us ask a lot of important questions like who wa...

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March 27, 2025 132 mins

Oscar season might be over but that doesn't mean we still can't cover some Oscar bait. 2009's The Soloist that has all the makings of an awards season darling: two stars at the height of their power with Robert Downey Jr. an Jamie Foxx, an award winning director and screen writer and a sappy true story. And yet, it feels like a parody. 

We discuss how cruelly this movie treats the unhoused community it seemingly wants to uplift, Ja...

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March 5, 2025 111 mins

Never in the history of this show has a movie caught Jordan and Cameron so off guard. 1994's Just Cause isn't just a wildly racist movie, it actually thinks it's doing the work...until it decides the work is too hard and creates a cartoonishly villainous Black character with the craziest plan we've ever seen in a movie. 

Starring Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, Blair Underwood, Ruby Dee, Scarlett Johansson, Ed Wood and somehow mo...

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February 20, 2025 100 mins

We're back with one from the vaults! Audio on Jordan's end wasn't the best (computer was on deaths door) but the episode itself is a banger...or should we say a Dead Bang...

Anyways, this movie almost feels like a spiritual prequel to another movie we've done, Rebel Ridge, as this time it's Don Johnson going after white supremacist. You can almost imagine his character retiring to the south and becoming a small time racist sheriff ...

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January 30, 2025 59 mins

Finally we get to sit down and talk about one of the most acclaimed movies of 2024, Nickel Boys. Directed by RaMell Ross and based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Colson Whitehead, it's a stunning portrait of Black life and incredible piece of filmmaking. 

We discuss the use of POV and how it forces empathy, our theater experiences, and the dreamlike qualities of the film. 

Things are crazy and we hope you're doing okay. We h...

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January 9, 2025 117 mins

We're kicking off the New Year with some absolute foolishness as we discuss the movie where Harry Potter goes undercover as a white supremacist. That's right, we're talking about 2016's Imperium and we're joined by the wonderful Brandon Collins of Medium Popcorn and Drunk Black History. 

We ask why Daniel Radcliffe looks like he's  about to cry in every scene, if the movie understands the difference between all these white supremac...

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December 5, 2024 162 mins

Did you ever think you were watching one movie and ended up seeing another? That's the horror our wonderful guest comedian and comic writer Kristal Adams faced, thinking she was going to watch Rescuers Down Under and instead having to sit through Quigley Down Under. 

Kristal joins us to tell her harrowing tale as we break down Tom Selleck's last desperate attempt to make his Indiana Jones dreams come true. We discuss the inherit pr...

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December 4, 2024 136 mins

Hello friends! We hope everyone has been hanging in. We ourselves had to take a little break following the election as well as for the Holidays, but we're back to finish the year out strong. 

This particular episode was recorded the week of the election but we thought it might be best to let it sit for a bit, since we're sure many of you are also still getting your heads around everything. We give our thoughts as well as suggest wa...

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October 30, 2024 98 mins

Happy Halloween! As scary as the real world is, we figured everyone could use a break and a really dumb movie, so here's 1993's Ghost Brigade. Also known as Grey Knight, Killing Box, and The Lost Brigade this civil war zombie can't even get the "zombie" or "civil war" part right. 

Joined by the one and only Justina Ireland (Amazing Spider-Man, Star Wars: The High Republic, Dread Nation) joins us to discuss Ray Wise's questionable r...

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Ride with us down the Mississippi as we speak with the award winning duo of David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson about 1993's The Adventure of Huck Finn and more importantly their new graphic novel reimagining of Mark Twain's classic, Big Jim and The White Boy. 

That's right, their new book shifts the perspective to Jim and gives more context to his life and story, literally what we talk about on the podcast each episode. We d...

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October 2, 2024 170 mins

Special episode alert! Today we discuss the new Netflix film Rebel Ridge, very much the kind of movie that inverts our usual films. A movie about civil asset forfeiture doesn't sound too exciting, but there's a lot of good things to be found in this one. 

All that said, we do have a few issues which leads to an interesting discussion about white filmmakers tackling Black stories, choices Black actors make in those roles, and more! 

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September 18, 2024 142 mins

Bzzz bzz that's the sound of the... Beekepers? Joined by WPWSY All Star Julian Lyltle, we discuss the 2024 breakout hit The Beekeeper. 

Jason Statham kicking ass in all his glory, but our real interest here is one Phlyicia Rashad. We wonder what makes this a lowkey savior film, if Jason Statham has ever made a truly bad movie, and much more. 

Find Julian wherever you do your social media at @julianlytle and find us on the socials @...

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September 4, 2024 131 mins

And now, starting at white savior, from the university of "who the hell thought this was a good idea", 2014's Thunderstruck!

Truly one of the most puzzling films of the 2010's, Thunderstruck is at once a movie that thought it would make sense to star the notoriously anti-social Kevin Durant but also decided that would be enough (it wasn't, it didn't even make a million at the box office). 

We discuss why this kid didn't immediately...

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