From Dusk Till Meta: We Don’t Want Your White Savior
Kate Fuller, like most in her situation, isn’t actually aware of this one, really vital fact about herself: She’s super fucking white.
It’s not her fault. She was born that way! But Kate Fuller is a white girl, and on a dumber show, she would easily fall into White Feminism as part of a White Savior Complex.
But this is not a stupid show. Kate might not be aware of her privilege, but the narrative is. And more importantly, the narrative is also hyper-aware of the lack of privilege that’s shared by characters like Rafa, Santanico, and Scott.
Upon meeting Rafa, Kate is immediately assessed as a missionary; Rafa mocks her intentions and his perception of her ‘good intentions,’ much to Kate’s chagrin. What makes this scene special, though, is that the narrative doesn’t punish Rafa for daring to speak against the white girl. Instead, it fully expects Kate to prove herself to Rafa, and to ask permission into his world.
And this is where the idea of Kate the White Savior really gets turned on its head. See, the culebras actually worship Santanico as a savior. And Kate, clutching her book to her chest, immediately dismisses this notion. “She’s not your savior,” Kate says, because Kate has only ever seen one version of Santanico. And Santanico is super important to this whole thing, even more important than Kate, but the deconstruction of Kate’s position is important to Santanico’s narrative as a whole so we’re just gonna hold up on that for a second.
Kate’s dismissal of Santanico is the perfect example of her proving Rafa’s point. Who is their savior, Kate? White Jesus? You? Neither come from a position of understanding where the culebras come from. And neither are capable of providing the salvation the culebras need, which is darker and dirtier than the idea of Christian salvation. Because the culebras are victims in a very specific way, and Santanico herself acts very much like an abuse victim who has just gotten out. Because, guess what; that’s exactly what she is. Santanico doesn’t have Kate’s privilege of coming from this situation from an above position. She’s punching up, and she’s getting in trouble for punching to begin with. But again, more on that in a second.
I want to take a second to discuss Scott Fuller, and the fact that he’s an Asian American, and that Kate is so singularly focused on ‘saving’ him. Just because Scott was adopted by a white family doesn’t mean that he’s gained their white privilege. Scott is literally prime White Savior fodder; not to say that adoption is in any way, shape, or form bad, but there have been a lot of studies done about White Missionaries adopting babies from foreign countries and the effects that has. I think the narrative is very, very aware of this, while Kate is not. This isn’t a subject I’m an expert in specifically, but I wanted to bring it up.
OKAY. Santanico Pandemonium. A girl forced into sex slavery by an abuser, who was forced to free herself by dirty and/or wicked means. Santanico is the kind of savior that makes white people (people like Kate!) uncomfortable through the sole nature of her own existence. She says “I refuse to be stepped on, played with, or be someone’s toy.” She shows compassion in rescuing the kidnapped women in the truck, but she doesn’t actually comfort them: instead, she yells at them until they flee into freedom.
Santanico doesn’t know how to be good in the traditional sense. She doesn’t know how to protect people, or how to protect herself in a way that is not nasty or cruel or violent.
But that doesn’t make her any less of a savior. In fact, it makes her the savior that the narrative needs. Because she is the person that refuses to slink into the corner, and that makes people uncomfortable. No one likes when the broken down break back. No one likes a “reverse-bully.” Because it says that the people we hurt are human (or in this case, have humanity) and are just as capable of doing harm as they are at taking it.
That’s a scary concept. No one wants to be reminded that they’ve ignored abuse. Oblivion is easier.
But Santanico refuses oblivion. And she refuses to be ignored, and she refuses to let fear of her and her being stand in her goddamn way. She is not Kate Fuller, and she can’t be Kate Fuller. Their suffering is different. Their understanding is different. And ultimately, this is Santanico’s story.
I’m interested to see where the story goes, given that they will be luring Santanico’s abuser in through an apparent trafficking scam. I know through interviews with Eiza that Santanico will view many of the girls as kindred spirits, and I wonder how that will show on screen. Because Santanico is not, in many ways, good. And she’s certainly not nice.
But she is The Savior. And don’t fucking forget it.
