“The White Man's Burden” The movie we watched in class was called “The White Man's Burden”. According to some sociologists, the white man's burden is an unwanted burden that white men, who belong to the upper part of society, have to elevate the minority classes to their status. For example, if this were applied today, white people would have to help black people move up to a higher class. Although this theory was used many years ago, it is still under study today. This film took a very unique approach. It separated two classes of people, whites and blacks. They were separated by what I believe is the greatest degree of separation today: money. In the film, the only upper class people were black and the main family in the film was white. In today's society, which is different, one might expect white people to have money and black people to be lower class. Although this is not always the case, this is what is perceived in today's society. The film depicts inner-city life as we are conditioned to see it. Everyone in the city center was the same race. Everyone was poor and life was hard. There was some violence in the city center, but it only concerned both classes. Also, not everyone in the city center spoke English properly. The movie almost implied that it was these people's fault that they were poor and bad people. It didn't show that these inner city residents could have been dealt a bad hand. This point is illustrated when John Travolta is kicked out of his house. When this happens, his mother-in-law comes to pick up his wife and children. While she's there, she yells at him and asks him what kind of husband he is that he can't keep a job, raise his own children, and provide for his daughter. The fact that he may have been dealt a bad hand was ignored. John Travolta is still a good person. Some stereotypes are portrayed in the film. This can be witnessed when John Travolta was beaten by cops. He was beaten by police officers because he “fit” the description of a criminal. The stereotype here is that all people belonging to the lower classes are criminals. John Travolta wasn't arrested or asked for ID, it was just assumed that since he was lower class he was the criminal they were looking for..