MovieChat Forums > The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) Discussion > Racism and Bagger being treated fairly b...

Racism and Bagger being treated fairly by Southern Whites.

posted 9 years ago by Mr-socomsinister
5 replies | jump to latest

I've watched this movie a lot since Golf Channel seems to be airing it 3-4 times a week.

I owned the VHS as a 10 year old, was definitely one of my favorite movies.

As I'm older I see people complaining that whites in the movie don't appear to treat Bagger any differently even though he's black and in the South in those days that would be unheard of (I actually am from Savannah).

It's very likely in my opinion, that the reasoning for so was because Junuh had respected Bagger, and the entire town was at Junuh's feet. It would not have gone over well if the town tried to rid of Junuh's personal caddy. So even if there was some vitriol towards Bagger's skin color, the fact he was Junuh's caddy transcended that. Junuh was obviously as revered as any other Savannahian, and if he was looked at as great enough to be standing equal to Hagen and Jones then his influence was important.

There were also other blacks in the movie that seemed to have gotten a long with other whites.

[–] Rockhound6165 8 years ago

Actually, I don't believe Bagger was seen by anyone except Junuh and Hardy. They're the only one's we see interact with him and at the end, it's quite obvious that Bagger was a ghost/spirit.

[–] khagg72-886-928939 8 years ago

Except that guy who told him he would never caddy in the state of Georgia again if we walked away.

[–] thorsail 8 years ago

AND just before Bagger left he was having a conversation with that Scotsman dude
and shook his hand in farewell.

[–] ctina1973 8 years ago

Adele and the judge ask him what his strategy is for Junuh.

[–] ATG6 (3000) 4 years ago

Southern people are more polite in general. Even racists wouldn't go out of their way to mistreat someone, as long as they "stayed in their place" and said "yes, sir" a lot. And being a caddy is seen as a subservient position, so few people would have a problem with it.