In Blindspotting, filmmaker Carlos Lopez Estrada explores the dynamics of racialized violence through the characters of Collin and Miles, showing us respective symbols of the black and white experience in America. Estrada employs violence to discuss race dynamics; so just as the responses to violence in this film drive the plot forward, they too separate the experiences of the black and white man in America.
The “blindspotting” of Miles thus illuminates not only the white experience concerning violence but brings the audience’s focus to his greater legacy of white privilege in the American criminal justice system and society overall. While the movie offers a variety of scenarios of “blindspotting”, one key example would include the fight between Miles and the man at the party–where Miles becomes enraged by the man’s comment about him being a “culture vulture.” Miles brutally beat the man down, pulls out his gun and starts shooting in the air; when Collin, only one day away from being released from probation, anxiously pulls Miles away and they both run off to an abandoned parking lot.
After calming down, Miles accuses of Collin of not “having his back.” He was angry Collin didn’t help him beat the man at the party during the fight and left him to fend for himself. This is where the “blindspotting” takes action. Miles is unable to comprehend the gravity of the situation for a black man, where any trace of violence on a black man’s part inherently means criminality.
The clear discourse that takes place here is a matter of privilege because Miles–being the white man and growing up with white privilege–is unable to see how the consequences would differ between him and Collin if they were to find themselves in trouble. As a black man, the threat of incarceration always hinders Collin: creating a persistent sense of consciousness of his actions that highlight the dangers of being a black man in society overall. For this reason, Collin has to furiously explain to Miles how his traits, but in a black man, would make him reckless and a menace to society. Even Collin remotely being Miles’ friend is a risk to his safety and well being.
In fact, Miles’ “blindspotting” gets Collin in trouble earlier in his life. We see a flashback of why Collin goes to jail and his reason for probation. Collin previously worked as a bouncer; when a customer became disrespectful, Collin began fighting and Miles joined in, by horrifically beating the man. The audience clearly knows Miles and Collin shared equal responsibility in the fight. However, the justice system proves otherwise–and the black man faces a greater punishment by design. In the justice system, being black is itself a crime: so while Collin went to jail for many months, Miles came out unscathed by the law.
Despite the inequity of the punishment, clearly racially charged, Miles–in the haze of his own privilege–remains oblivious to his own “blindspotting.” That very lack of awareness led Miles to keep doing the same reckless things he does throughout the entirety of the movie. Ironically enough, while we do know Miles has a short temper and always seems to find himself in trouble, he can also take a step back and observe what is really happening. During the argument in the parking lot, Miles could have realized Collin was one day away from his probation ending.
The discourse here would be the responsibility that Miles would have taken if he was never “blindspotted.” If Miles was able to to see the situation in the other way and realize that Collin can get in–and has suffered– serious trouble due to his skin color, he would have never pulled out the gun or blame Collin for not helping. If this was also the case earlier on, he could have held Collin back away from the man outside the bar instead of helping Collin get into more trouble.
This would have possibly kept Collin out of jail which ruined his relationship with Val and many other loved ones. With our broken justice system and racialized violence, many individuals are struggling to stay alive in neighborhoods to this very day. We see the clarity of this issue within Blindspotting and the rough path a colored man can go through such as Collin. More importantly, Estrada highlights the current day “blindspotting” that many people succumb to– the main example being Miles who is “blindspotted” by his own privilege. The irony is, although this is a movie–it is very well a reality in our society.
