Killers of the Flower Moon’s Biggest Question is Never Asked
I finally got to see Scorsese’ epic Killers of the Flower Moon and from a technical standpoint it is phenomenal: The writing is crisp, with dialogue that hints at larger issues as well as cutting to the core of the characters. The cinematography is gorgeous and painterly. The editing is kinetic and kept me glued to my seat for the 209 minute runtime. The acting is impeccable and as many people have pointed out, Lily Gladstone is a standout in a veteran cast, though I’d also add Cara Jade Myers as the fiery and rebellious Anna as a breakthrough performance I couldn’t take my eyes off of.
As good as the movie is, and as tragic as the story is, there is one question that reviewers and commentators have avoided, as they have avoided it ever since the summer of George Floyd: Why do people of color keep trusting white people?
In the movie, Lily Gladstone’s mom questions why her daughters are marrying white men when they all know that its solely for their oil money, and that white people are the reason for all of their troubles. Yet while the question is asked, the characters ignore it, with her daughters changing the subject and dismissing it seemingly as generational, yet it is the most puzzling part of the real-life story and limits my sympathy for the native women who fell victim to this scheme.
The Osage people, once they come into the oil money, see whiteness as an entryway to the world of high society, and the marriages seem as much about social mobility as love and affection. The Osage seem to be making a conscious bargain with the devil, and then we are asked to feel sorry for them. Yet it would have been at the forefront of all of their minds what white people had done in the recent past (many elders at the time remembered being displaced to Oklahoma). White people had not done anything to show their trustworthiness, in fact, they even limited the Osage Nation’s accessibility to their own money. So why trust them enough to marry them? All of the native characters, even Lily Gladstone’s Molly, openly express their skepticism at the attention white men show them, so why have families with them? Did they think they would be safer if they gave in to being white men’s sex slaves? If that were the case, that illusion would have been broken pretty quickly, yet at no point do any of the Native women question the logic of marrying their explicit enemies. Were the Osage people naive? Stupid? So deep in denial at how evil white people are that they’d take the risk of marrying into families who solely wanted their money, a fact they were aware of?
I actually think the reason this is never questioned extensively is that it is too difficult for white audiences to confront, in a movie that is difficult enough as it is. I also think that the self-hatred people of color are raised under in this country is so deeply ingrained that we struggle dealing with it ourselves. Marrying a white person has a social status tied to it that even the most progressive people of color are not immune to. In fact, the people of color I have met who are most likely to marry a white person are progressives — the same ones who decry colonialism and white supremacy. In fact, the more they decry those things, the more likely their partner is white. I wonder if white audiences would actually be more comfortable asking this question — like “damn, if we’re this terrible, why deal with us at all?”
This is the crisis of consciousness at the heart of post George Floyd liberalism in the United States. If white people are unrepentant monsters, why tolerate them at all? Shouldn’t anti-colonial and anti-racist activists be preaching for the annihilation of white people? It is easy, through the lens of the 1619 Project, to view white people as irredeemably evil, so why not take that logical step?
My conclusion, from talking to activists, is that the reason why seemingly radical activists don’t call for radical action against white people is not because it would be too difficult, or alienating, but rather it’s because the anti-white rhetoric of modern liberalism is insincere. The complaint doesn’t come from hatred of white people but rather from envy at the power white people have in this society. Much like the Osage married the people most likely to kill them in spite of the obvious risk, today’s BLM and anti-colonial activists want what white people have. They are expressing grievance to mask the fact that they continue to beg to be accepted by white society in order to enjoy the benefits of white society.
The story of the Osage in the 1920s is a warning to today’s Left — seek acceptance by white people at your own peril. Even when they seem like your friend, even when they seem sympathetic to your plight, if you have something white people want, they will throw you under a bus, literally and figuratively, but also, don’t be surprised, and don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.