Breaking the Prejudices
Human Dignity in Green Book
By Zeynep Fulya Boyacıoğlu and Fatma Hazal Yahşi
Green Book is a biographical comedy-drama film directed by Peter Farrelly in 2018. The film is about racial discrimination towards black people in 60’s New York. Tony Vallelonga (nicknamed Tony Lip) is an Italian-American bouncer at a nightclub, but he loses his job for two months due to construction in his workplace. Since he is the father of a family with two children, his family begins to have economic problems because of his unemployment. He receives a job offer from a pianist named Dr Don Shirley to be his long-distance driver and bodyguard because Tony has physical strength, problem-solving ability, and an overbearing personality. Don Shirley is bullied a lot due to the extremely oppressive rules against black people at that time, so he needs a powerful chauffeur to accompany him. At first, Tony does not want to work with him because of his racist views on black people, so he is prejudiced against Don. However, he accepts this offer at his wife’s request and embarks on an adventurous journey with Don Shirley. However, Don Shirley has his own prejudices mostly related to classism; he thinks he belongs to the upper class, he even sits on a throne when he talks to Tony, and he insults Tony for being uneducated and he says that he does not like Tony’s accent. This journey will change both Tony’s opinions about racism and Don’s views about his classism; and at the end of the journey, Tony and Don will become very close friends.
In this film, ‘human dignity’ is explained by showing bad treatment and discrimination against Don Shirley because of his skin colour. Don Shirley is a very talented pianist. He tours the USA and plays the piano for wealthy people. He entertains people by playing the piano, but once he is done, people do not appreciate him and insult him for being black, so they only use him for their entertainment. They don’t allow him to eat in the dining room where everyone eats; they do not let him use the toilet everyone else uses, and instead, they show him a very dirty toilet; they do not even sell him the suit they sell to everyone. People at the bar beat him when he goes to a bar, and the cops beat him, throw him in jail, and keep him naked there just because he is black. It is inhuman and unlawful for the police to torture, insult, beat, and keep Don naked in a prison cell because of his skin colour. It disregards and violates human dignity, so this situation can be shown under the subtitle of ‘Prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’ No matter what anyone does, such behavior should not be done to anyone. Therefore, with the help of cinematography, we not only see how people can be cruel and racist to each other, but we also witness how this racism and cruelty cause violation of human dignity in Green Book.
