The Color of Fear. During the filming, he surprised me by his moving stories and insights. He was an important contrast to Victor and, to me, equally. The Color of Fear. During the filming, he surprised me by his moving stories and insights. He was an important contrast to Victor and, to me, equally effective and memorable. I will always remember his Appalachian speech and the one about having to still shuffle in corporate America.

The film shown in class, The Color of Fear, featured a focus group of men representing multicultural America, who held an open and often frank discussion of racial issues in the United States. Among the many topics and issues mentioned included the notion of White over Black, or persons of color. Closely related to this is White Supremacy and White Privilege. Other things mentioned by the participants include: being invisible, disregarded, ignored, that minorities held themselves back from progress, and color-blindness to name but a few. In the interest of previewing the content of this course, what was it about the film that got your initial attention, revealed something new in the discussion of race and racism, or made you think closer about everyday events in your personal experience?
Reflecting back on the movie and the end of the quarter and all the things I have learned through out, the part of the film that got my initial attention was David. To me he summed up the saying “ignorance is bliss”. He seemed to come from a world where in his mind, equal opportunity was everywhere and he felt very strong about the best person for the job should be the one that gets it based on qualifications not skin color. In actuality, the world outside his own small town was quite the opposite. Minorities that he would consider a friend and look at the same as he would a white person where getting treated bad in some cases and would have to deal with the “white man” always trying to get him down. Working in a job that is culturally diverse, what made me think closer about my everyday events is that how good it is to be able to live in an environment where I don’t have to worry about the color of my skin being a hindrance or a negative effect on me being able to perform my job or even getting...

The Color Of Fear Fact Sheet

Produced by: Stir Fry Productions 470 3^rd St. Oakland, CA 94607 (800.370.STIR)

Directed by: Lee Mun Wah

The Color Of Fear Discussion Questions

VHS & DVD; TRT: 90 minutes

© 1994

Winner of the National Educational Media Award Golden Apple.

Characters in the Film:

Roberto (Mexican American)

Lee Mun Wah (Facilitator & Chinese)

David Christensen (Euro American)

Yutaka (Japanese American)

Hugh (Latino American)

David Lee (Chinese American)

Gordon (Euro American)

Victor (African American)

The Color Of Fear Imdb

Loren (African American)

“The Color of Fear” is a film about the pain and anguish that racism has caused in the lives of 8 North American men of Asian, European, Latino, and African descent. Out of their confrontations and struggles to understand and trust each other emerges an emotional and insightful portrayal into the type of dialogue MOST of US fear, but hope will happen sometime in out lifetime.

This film was the first in a 3 part series that engages the issues of racism, intercultural competence, and intercultural communication in a real and intense environment.

Study Guide:

Take a moment to think about your own experience with race and ethnicity. What has it been like to be your ethnicity? What are the challenges? What are the positives?

1. Think about each of the responses from each of the men in the film. How might they compare with your own life story in regards to race? If you cannot make any comparisons, howcome?
2. Why do you think Lee Mun Wah, as the facilitator, did not “talk” very much or stop any of the conversations?
3. If you are male, how does it make you feel to see grown men cry? How does it make you feel to see grown men hold hands and embrace? Is that something you are accustomed to seeing? Break your answer down.
4. If you are a woman, where do you find yourself within the film given that these are all men? Does it bother you that some of the men cry? Explain what you mean.
5. Spend some time talking with someone from a different ethnicity and ask them what their experience has been like. Might there be any comparisons with your life? If so, where are they at? If not, howcome?
6. So what about David Christensen? What do you make of him? Do you feel sorry for him? Explain what you mean. In the film, David C is obviously dealing with deep seeded race issues. Issues that trace all the way back to his childhood. How might your own developmental process been shaped in regards to race and ethnicity? How have you been racialized?
7. Where do you think we are at as a nation now that president Obama has been elected? Is racism declining? Over? A dead issue? Worse now than it ever was? Discuss this among a variety of different ethnicities to get a well-rounded perspective.
8. How might class factor into the race issue? Do you think classism is worse than racism today? How so? And, what is your own definition of class? Share that with several friends and see what they come up with too.
9. What are some realistic solutions you could offer the men if they were standing in front of you today? For your friends? List out a set of racialized problems you think are issues and see what solutions might realistically work.

Things to take notice of:

• Notice the copyright date. What is the significance of that? Why am I making you watch such an “old” film? How relevant can it be? Right?
• What are the major/ minor issues within the film?
• What points does each person make? Is it valid? How so?
• Where do you find yourself within the film?
• How important is ethnic ID in this film?
• What are the themes that arise in the film?

Deeper probing Questions to ask / be discussed in class:

• What point does Victor have when he confronts David C?
• What was so important about Gordon’s direct talk about White privilege to David C? What was that all about?
• What was the point of stating their ethnicity?
• What did Roberto mean that the “Cure for the pain is in the pain itself?”
• What did Loren mean by saying “Walk through some halls with some pride, your gonna scare somebody!”
• What was so important about Lee Mun Wah playing the “Devils Advocate” with David C concerning his daughters and getting into college?
• David C. stated that he would hire the right person for the job, but how does his past knowledge about minorities and “Coloreds” affect his hiring process?
• Does interethnic racism put minorities down while lifting Whites up?
• Does everyone have “equal footing” in society today?
• How does our own personal ETHOS play a role in this film? Life?
• Where are you at in the film? Which character could you be?
• Why do you think they announced their ethnic background first?
• How much does your past social construction of identity play a part in your own ETHOS, worldview, and stereotypes?
• What about internalized racism? What is that all about? Did David Lee have a point?
• When have you not intervened in the face of racism?

Connection to the Literature

• How does David C represent and connect with what George Lipsitz asserts in his chapter?
• What elements of White Supremacy are present in the film as laid out by Herbert Blumer?
• How does a sense of group position shape how we see other racial and ethnic groups? What illustrations of that are seen in the film?
• How is categorization language (Them, they, us, you people) used at different variances by David C in the film? How does that affect race and ethnicity talks?
• Describe how Aguirre & Turner’s concept of colonialism, Puritan values, and the concepts/ issues of cultural and institutional legacy of early colonization connect with both the entire film and David C’s initial posture on racism? How might religion also play a role in racism?
• What part does spiritual and theological understanding have as it relates to racism?
• Explain what Aguirre & Turner mean by Anglo-Saxon hegemony and the dynamics of ethnicity? How is that seen through the film? Inter-ethnic discrimination? Break that down a bit.
• What elements of racism is Victor talking about as he reflects to David C the problems of racism?
• What roles does Gordon play in relation to Aguirre & Turner’s chapter on White ethnics?

Last Updated 4/7/2019

Daniel White Hodge PhD

The Color Of Fear Movie

CSULA