Here's why Mahershala Ali is considered 'Green Book' supporting actor

Sunday night at the Golden Globes something very common happened. "Green Book," a film based on a true story about a friendship between the world-class classical and jazz pianist Dr. Don Shirley and a bouncer named Frank Tony Vallelonga (“Tony Lip”) received several nominations. The actor who played Shirley — Mahershala Ali — won the award for best supporting actor in a comedy.

Let me be clear. This movie about an unlikely relationship between an African-American virtuoso pianist and his Italian-American bouncer/bodyguard touring the Deep South during the 1960s resulted in the actor playing the pianist — the man whose career and need for protection is the heart of the story — being recognized as the “supporting character.” 

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Questions come to mind: How is the pianist the supporting character in this story? And why would you want to tell this story this way?

The answer to the first question is actually very simple. The black character is seen as the object of the story rather than the subject of the story.

What I mean is the Black character is a part of the narrative — sometimes a crucial element — but not the center of that narrative. In spite of the obvious, "Green Book" isn’t about the pianist.

This makes more sense when you realize the film was based on Tony’s journals. Therefore, it’s Tony's narration of their shared trip experiences. So you could argue the source material dictated the shape of the narrative ... But there’s a wrinkle in that argument. The screenwriters, including director Peter Farrelly, never made any effort to contact Shirley’s family and find out if there was any documentation that captured his perspective on the experience.

So then there's my second question: Why would you want to do it this way? Why wouldn’t you want to uncover Shirley’s point of view?

This is more fundamental. It’s a decision made at the beginning of the process. To tell a story of a black character’s struggles the audience must observe their suffering through the eyes of a white onlooker. "Imitation of Life," "To Kill A Mockingbird," "Cry Freedom," "Losing Isaiah," "The Blindside," "The Help" and "Green Book" all share the same perspective black pain: The audience sees black people, black pain. through the eyes of a white counterpart who is somehow transformed by the experience. It’s as if the pain isn’t real unless a white person is moved by it.

That’s entertainment.

Gary Anderson is the artistic director of Detroit's Plowshares Theatre Company.