Brie Larson, what are you doing..?
The latest movie from the 2015 Best Actress Oscar winner (for Lenny Abrahamson’s Room) is a huge misstep judging from its trailer, which is currently trending online.
The India-set movie is called Basmati Blues and has been criticised for sequences which include Larson’s character finding the food too spicy, her learning about the country’s ‘strange customs’ only to misuse them, cringey character stereotypes and the godawful ‘white person coming to save all the natives’ narrative.
The trailer and reactions can be seen below:
People Are Cringing Hard At Brie Larson's New Movie "Basmati Blues" And Its Tacky Portrayal Of India https://t.co/q86NQrtdnr pic.twitter.com/6LC52ivCoR
— BuzzFeed India (@BuzzFeedIndia) November 9, 2017
For starters, it's called "Basmati Blues." That's already strike 1. https://t.co/NQalukahKd
— Kimberly Yam (@kimmythepooh) November 14, 2017
uh oh i am so pumped to watch basmati blues
not out of stockholm syndrome, but bc it's great to see white hollywood out-of-touchness so blazingly on DISPLAY
— Mallika Padma Rao (@mallika_rao) November 14, 2017
Wow. So I am more than a month late to this Brie Larson "Basmati Blues" trailer. And WOO boy the White Saviorism is ***strong*** in this one. Goodness. https://t.co/PAq751lp9A
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) November 10, 2017
i just saw the trailer of basmati blues and almost threw up .... why brie larson whyyyyyyy
— Tasneem N (@TasneemN) November 10, 2017
It’s 2017 and we are still not past the genre of “mystical Indian savages get saved by a white person” films #BasmatiBlues ðŸ˜'🙄😫 https://t.co/oaVXF2wMjc
— Purnima (@pkompella) November 10, 2017
also it's 2017, most of our trains run on electricity which means you can't ride on the roof. and pls retire that trope of spicy food already. we know you can't handle anything of colour. #BasmatiBlues
— Nia C (@sleepyhollowkid) November 10, 2017
This is ridiculous, they've completely ignored the culture of the country. Typical to portray India as about rice, spicy food, poverty, poor English and cringy music. India don't need a White saviour. We're good without them.https://t.co/ZxdCLmyn8n
— Rahul W (@rahulw_) November 9, 2017