#432. White Horses in Film and Myth

Movies and television represent the only culture Americans have left in the 21st century. Re-runs of old TV shows, DVDs and films at theater have become our shared heritage, for better or worse.

Today, a film will be released that Black people find unacceptable and will largely stay away from for they know from their Afrocentric teachings that the Greeks stole everything from the Egyptians, who were axiomatically a Nubian (Black) Black people.

Clash of the Titans, a remake of the 1980s cult classic, will once again peddle the mythology of the Ancient Greeks to a contemporary audience, without educating theater goers of the African roots of Greek mythology and great influence African scholars had upon the uneducated boy-lovers of Greece.

One line sticks out from the trailers of the film that hits home:

Spyros: One day, somebody's got to make a stand. One day, somebody's got to say enough...

Until that day, Black people will be forced to endure films that continually degrade their contributions to world history and install a misguided and improper view of ancient history that whitewashes over any and all Black contributions.

A paucity of Black faces will be present if you see Clash of the Titans, but one character is getting a face lift that dares to challenge assumptions of white privilege and replace it with an upgrade destined for induction in the SBPDL Black History Month Heroes.

Pegasus, the winged horse that Perseus rides in the film has shed its traditional whiteness for a modified and cool upgrade that fits in with the times, finally embracing the Afrocentric roots of Ancient Greece:

GB: When I was on the set in London, director Louis Leterrier said he was mulling over big changes for the Pegasus -- he was thinking of making it black with leathery bat wings.

MM: The Pegasus is black in the movie. I'm glad the bat wings didn't happen. It made the horse look too evil, I think. But we were big supporters of black Pegasus. It was to make the Pegasus a bit more of a bad ass. When you see it in the film, it looks tough. And the actual horse they got was a bad ass. And huge.

From The Lord of the Rings, the original Clash of the Titans, Crimson Tide and The Lone Rangers trusty stead, the heroic horse has always been white:

White horses (which are rarer than other colours of horse) have a special significance in the mythologies of cultures around the world. They are often associated with the sun chariot,^[1] with warrior-heroes, with fertility (in both mare and stallion manifestations), or with an end-of-time saviour, but other interpretations exist as well. Both truly white horses and the more common grey horses, with completely white hair coats, were identified as "white" by various religious and cultural traditions.

Exceedingly rare, the white horse is symbolic of greatness, hope and beauty. Every major mythology (all religions are regarded as mythological) has saintly uses for the white horse, from Christ riding a white horse from the heavens, to the glory that is Pegasus in his true color:

In Greek mythology, the white winged horse Pegasus was the son of Poseidon, in Poseidon's role as horse-god.

These myths are a thousand + years old and all bestow magical powers and great significance to the white horse, the rarest of colors for a horse. The white horse is a constant source of pride, hope, strength and ultimately, a symbol of good.

The exceptional white horse, a rarity among horses the world over, is hated and reviled by many for the perceived sense of privilege associated with its color and a whole field of equestrian whiteness studies has propped up to determine if white horses are favored over others and if so, what efforts can be instigated to make all other colored horses feel the same self-esteem and self-worth of the increasingly rare white horse.

Pegasus is the first in film and myth to be converted for the sake of appeasing Black people and helping uproot implicit racism by removing impediments to their self-esteem through the "coloring" of a historical white horse to fit the narrative of Black Run America (BRA) and give birth to new myths:

In Greek Mythology Pegasus was a winged white horse sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa.

In Mythology Pegasus is the white Seahorse of Revelation, the white seahorse in the sky, and the white seahorse of memory within you. In the human body the place of memory is called hippocampus which means seahorse.

The myths of our time must reflect the ruling body and thus, Black people have a horse of an entirely different color that few Classicists would recognize, but those who garner history of literature from film will barely notice.

A racial charged scene from the film Crimson Tide discusses the rare Lippizaner horse, which Capt. Frank Ramsey (played by Gene Hackman) attempts to proclaim a superior equine:

Capt. Frank Ramsey: From Portugal, the Lippizaner stallions, the most highly trained horses in the world--they're all white.

Lt. Cmdr. Hunter:Yes, sir.

Capt. Frank Ramsey:"Yes, sir," you're aware they're all white? Or, "yes, sir," you're seen them?

Lt. Cmdr. Hunter:Yes, sir, I've seen them. Yes, sir, I'm aware they're all white. They're not from Portugal, they're from Spain. And, at birth they're not white, they're black . . . sir.

Lippizaner horses, however, are not true white horses:

Aside from the rare solid-colored horse (usually bay or black), most Lipizzans are gray. Like all gray horses, they have black skin, dark eyes, and as adult horses, a white hair coat. Gray horses, including Lipizzans, are born dark—usually bay or black—and become lighter each year as the graying process takes place, with the process being complete at between 6 and 10 years of age. Contrary to popular belief, Lipizzans are not actually true white horses.^[5] A white horse is born white, has pink skin and usually has blue eyes.

In fact, a white horse is described by Wikipedia as one that:

White horses are born white and stay white throughout their life. White horses may have brown, blue, or hazel eyes. "True white" horses, especially those that carry one of the dominant white (W) genes, are rare. Most horses that are commonly referred to as "white" are actually "gray" horses whose hair coats are completely white.

Horses have a long and storied history with mankind. We celebrate them in our literature, our stories, poems, myths and novels. We glorify them as sentient beings who helped us in our evolutionary path toward expansion and societal development.

The white horse has long been the source of jealousy and hatred and simultaneously the origin of hope and beauty. Thankfully, Clash of the Titans - though devoid of any Black people - has made the move to ameliorate historical wrongs and jettison the image of whiteness as perfection and all that is good with a Black Pegasus.

Though historically wrong, the producers of the film are to be congratulated for daring to see beyond the limitations of whiteness and bring about the inclusion of Blackness into a film about white Gods and Goddesses.

Stuff Black People Don't Like includes white horses in film and myth, as the historical color of Pegasus was correctly changed to reflect the evolving times in America and the world at large. Movies must be made to placate BRA and the failure to include one Black face in Clash of the Titans meant the scraping of the white Pegasus for a more tenable shade of Black.

The goal is for all white horses to fade from memory, replaced with new myths. One problem: all myths from around the world attribute a certain level of respect and admiration to white horses, whom have the uncanny ability to save nearly every culture, no matter its ethnicity or race.

Clash of the Titans might be right: We are nearing the point where somebody must say enough is enough.

#32. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Movies offer theatergoers a reprieve from the real world and a glimpse into fantastical lands, the opportunity to escape the doldrums of life and enter the realm where anything is possible.

Black people love movies for this reason and, though they have great difficulty sitting through them and maintaining the required silence, depart from reality as easily as any other race.

In film, people can watch their heroes come to life in full grandeur and they can remove the worry, doubt and disappointment they feel with the triumphant achievements of the actors they view. Black people love film, although some films and directors they find less appealing than others.

One film(s) is firmly at the top of the list of movies that Black people do not like, and to ask any Black person of their least favorite film would invariably give you one answer: The Lord of the Rings and the the two sequels that followed.

J.R.R Tolkien's masterpiece will never be replicated in its scope, beauty and majestic presentation - in either film or in its book form - and Black people perceived this when watching Peter Jackson's epic 10+ hour films.


The tale of elves, dwarfs, hobbits and men pitted against the forces of evil in defense of Middle-Earth is the ultimate myth of European Man fighting for the only thing that matters on this planet: your own people. Black people understand the idea of universal solidarity almost better than any other race, and what their eyes saw in The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers and The Return of the King left them universally trembling.

You see, in the movies nary a Black face is to be seen, save for the potential metaphor of the Orcs and the armies of the evil Sauron as non-Europeans attempting to subjugate the combined white people of Middle-Earth.

Each movie stands alone as a glorification of whiteness, an idea that Black people see as but a social concept when used to define white people, but when the idea of racial brotherhood is ever discussed, it can only be synonymous with Black people.

In one of the more moving scenes in cinema history (see The Two Towers), the fortress of Helms Deep is about to be overrun by tens of thousands of Orcs, bent on the utter annihilation of the the Middle-Earth's main defense, the Rohirrim:

"Despite Aragorn and Gimli's best efforts, the Uruk-hai manage to penetrate the main door and soon the stronghold is overrun. In the midst of battle, Haldir is slain and the few remaining Elves fall back into the Keep. In the Hornburg, however, the Uruks have also scaled the walls, and have breached the gate, forcing the defenders to retreat into the Keep."

Aragorn, the epyonmous King in The Return of the King, rallies those still alive to do what few men in history have ever dared; he tells the King of the Rohirrim to ride out and meet the enemy head on:

Theoden: So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?
Aragorn: Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them.
Theoden: For death and glory.
Aragorn: For Rohan. For your people.
Theoden: The Horn of Helm Hammerhand will sound in the deep, one last time!

Black people weren't buying into the elves, dwarfs and wizards routine, no. What they see is only white people depicted as good and the darkened faces of the Orcs as bad. And then they heard Sam, the loyal bestfriend of Frodo, the hobbit in charge of destroying the one ring, utter these words, in a moment of extreme despair:

Sam: It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.

Black people viewed this movie as the attempted re-birth of some long dead spirit that white people once had, and were shocked such a movie that glorifies whiteness could be made. Black people view the movie as racist.

One writer wrote:

"Dr Stephen Shapiro, an expert in cultural studies, race and slavery, said the author used his novels to present bigotry through a fantasy world... He said: "Put simply, Tolkien's good guys are white and the bad guys are black, slant-eyed, unattractive, inarticulate and a psychologically undeveloped horde."In the trilogy, a small group, the fellowship, is pitted against a foreign horde and this reflects long-standing Anglo-European anxieties about being overwhelmed by non-Europeans, he said."

Perhaps one-line in the entirety of movie history can induce shivers down all Black people's spine no more than the one Aragorn yells at the footsteps of the Black Gates of Mordor:

Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground. Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day. This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you *stand, Men of the West!*

Black people saw this scene in the theaters, they walked out in droves unconsciously. They had just seen a movie that depicted white people as the good guys - a major faux pas in Hollywood - whiteness as the supreme definition of beauty, and non-whites as the enemy.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy will never be replicated again. It is a movie without diversity, or at least to Black people, the wrong kind. And that is why Stuff Black People Don't Like will include anything that comes from Tolkien's pen, or Jackson's video camera.