Perils of Intersectionality and the Case of Taylor Sheridan

Film maker Taylor Sheridan (Wind River, Hell or High Water, Sicario; and the TV megahit Yellowstone) grew up near an Indian reservation and has dedicated much of his efforts as an artist to telling stories about Native Americans or people among the Mexican border like the movie Sicario.

The current slate of film critics largely subscribes to the policy of identity politics. They’ve given him pushback for telling Native American stories, because those aren’t his stories to tell.

It’s not unheard of for film critics to relentlessly and irrationally attack anyone who is associated with conservatism in some way. In her review, critic Roxana Hadadi attacked a quote by Chris Pratt about wanting, “The voice of the average, blue-collar American isn’t necessarily represented in Hollywood”, with “That was a willfully ignorant statement back then, and it still is now.”

The irony is that so many of the White allies who speak for the concerns of Black people or other minorities without listening, reading surveys or polls, of what is important to them are essentially telling the stories of minorities themselves and they’re telling false stories. Obviously this is fixable and I’m not saying you or anyone else is guilty of not doing this, but I believe some do.