Comments on Race and Class in Knives Out - Applying

White supremacy

Thrombey family’s response to Marta

• Immigrant
• Issues of racial and social hierarchy

Film critiques both overt racism and the subtle, paternalistic racism of white liberals.

“White supremacy facilitated the Thrombeys to quickly band together against this immigrant woman who they perceived to have infiltrated their family”

Liberalism and Whiteness

Critiques liberal universalism and its blind spots regarding race and inheritance
How liberal values are often conflated with “whiteness”
Film tries to critique these ideas

• Sometimes unknowingly reinforces them
  • Suggesting moral and legal consensus is sufficient to address deap-seated racial issues

Class vs Race

Characters

Marta Cabrera

• Model immigrant
• Disrupts the white, liberal narrative
• Her inheritance challenges Thrombey’s values
  • Exposing their hypocricy
• Character contrasts with selfishness and entitlement of the Thrombey family
• Fundamentally good

Benoit Blanc

• Classical liberal belief in truth and reason
  • Moral compass
• Methodical, rational, driven by sense of justice
• Reflects complexities of “whiteness” and liberal ideals in the narrative
  • Definition of whiteness
  • Challenges white supremacy at the same time

Ransom Drysdale

• Entitled, rebellious heir
  • Embodies dark side of privilege
• Initially charming
  • But self serving and ruthless
• Critique of entitlement and amorality often associated with extreme privilege