Cinema Therapy — Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D.

Green Book

“People don’t take trips, trips take people.” — John Steinbeck

Back in the Jim Crow era in the United States, it was difficult for African Americans to travel around our country because of racism and segregation. To help them navigate their travels they relied on what was known as the “Green Book.” The Green Book listed hotels, restaurants, and other establishments that were safe to patronize, that would accept blacks and shield them from racial slurs, police brutality, and more, allowing them a “vacation without aggravation.”

The movie Green Book is based on a true story from this era. It explores the relationship between a cultured, world-class African-American concert pianist of Jamaican descent, Don Shirley (played by Mahershala Ali), and a blue-collar, tough-talking, cigarette-smoking nightclub bouncer from an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx, Tony Vallalonga (played by Viggo Mortensen). The two men end up on the road together in 1962 when Shirley embarks on a concert tour through the American South and hires Vallalonga to chauffeur him around and offer protection. When we first meet wealthy Shirley in his apartment above Carnegie Hall, he is dressed in robes and jewels and he’s sitting on a throne as he interviews the overly-confident Tony Vallalonga whose favorite tactics are fists and “mouthiness.”

Despite their differences, the two men develop an unforeseen bond and an unexpected friendship slowly emerges from their dialogue and their shared experiences while on the road. Tony is shocked by the racism they encounter in the places Don isn’t allowed to go. One example of Vallalonga’s own background of racism is when some of the men in his family refuse to leave Vallelonga’s wife Dolores (Linda Cardellini) alone with the black men who were repairing her kitchen sink.

Tony is stunned by his new employer’s request not to smoke in the car, and the fact that Don deliberately eats all the sandwiches Tony’s wife, Dolores, had prepared for both men. Don is unimpressed when Tony steals a pretty jade stone from a roadside stall and then instructs Tony to retrieve the litter he has thrown out of the window. Don’s concert performances are another window into living in two worlds. During the performances Don is the star, beautiful and elegant in white tie, playing popular music with his Don Shirley Trio. Off stage Don is treated as just one more black man as when he’s told to use a wooden hut outside instead of the toilets indoors during an intermission in his own concert.

While on the surface, Shirley and Vallelonga couldn’t be more different, as the road trip progresses, we witness how the characters learn from each other, change each other’s perspective, and discover that they’re not so different after all. Their chemistry is heart-warming during their serious as well as lighter-hearted events. In one scene, Shirley, a man of rarefied culinary tastes who has never eaten fried chicken, is opened up to a whole new food world when Vallelonga introduces him to Colonel Sanders. In another moment, Shirley confesses to Tony how stressful it is for him to maintain his unruffled cultured persona and not react to the racism they encounter on their trip. Tony, attempting to maintain a connection with his wife and family while away from them on his road trip, labors over letters home, detailing minutia about every meal, even the scarcity of his favorite Italian food. Don rather brutally tells Tony how awful his letter is, and instead dictates to him a series of love letters that become the talk of Tony’s family.

Psychological Implications:
"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life."
                                              — Richard David Bach

Movies model ways to help audiences wrestle with life's challenges, face conflicting emotions within themselves, and begin to sow the seeds of change. In Green Book, the more we learn about Don Shirley and Tony Vallalonga, we get to bear witness to their journey of transformation, which for each involves a descent into the shadowy, unknown aspects of the self to redeem their disowned, healthier aspects which they both utilize to work towards a harmonious relationship. We get to see their healing process take place and watch them grow and open up to one another which creates an inspiring blueprint to help the rest of us navigate our own relationship journeys.

Green Book struck a chord in me. It awakened in me a recognition of the problem of opposites, of good and evil, of light and darkness, which taps into our country’s major conflict of good/bad; black/white; dualistic thinking, and the deep-seated unmet needs that initially may bring two people together. It can also result in tearing them apart unless they acknowledge the potential within for transformation and make attempts to pull-into consciousness a willingness to work towards healing, meaning, and connection.

Shadow Concept
Green Book is an example of what Jung calls “shadow content,” meaning that which is hidden, the underbelly, the dark side, that which is not seen, or unacceptable to the parental environment. Shadow is the thing a person has no wish to be. Banned to shadow, one may have no awareness of certain split-off aspects within that simply never get to play in the light of day. Don’s “yes” when Tony introduces him to Colonel Sanders fried chicken can be understood as a metaphor for a shift in consciousness that comes when people are open to recognizing a different perspective, to seeing that which is unlike them. When we can recognize our own shadow parts, then we can also redeem the healthier hidden aspects and utilize those strengths to work towards a harmonious whole — from fear and control to fullness and maturity.

In relationships, being unaware of these split-off, aspects of the self can make us more vulnerable to the power, authority and the domination of others. Warrior on the outside, fragile on the inside, this shadow part is easily lured into unhealthy relationship patterns of dominance and submission. Such shadow energy plays out in the relationship dynamics of the characters in Green Book.

The Mask
The mask is known as the persona — the part of the personality which one presents to the world, as Don Shirley presents as self-controlled, cultured, and creative, and Tony presents as an overly-confident, self-assured tough guy. These traits covered-up, masked a very different sense of identity. When one’s shadow aspects are repressed, a mask is created to reinforce a purely external image of oneself. This external picture can be vastly different from the inner reality of the person, with his or her hidden emotions, attitudes, and conflicts. The defensive mask that presents oneself in a role, or “social look,” comes into being with identity formation in childhood. One appears as one is “supposed to act.”

In Green Book, this truly odd couple, Don Shirley and Tony Vallalonga, with their conflicting characters, backgrounds, and personas, eventually bond and learn from one another. In the end, the fastidious Don loosens up and tries things he previously thought were beneath him (the fried chicken), and Tony becomes less racist (early on he had thrown away two glasses used by black workmen fixing the kitchen sink in his home), and willing to stand up to racism.

The coming together of these two men, their changed thinking, is strengthened by their shared experiences and their new perspectives.

The moral of the story: it’s about being open to different perspectives, unknown aspects of the self, which may leads to getting along better.

Green Book was written by Peter Farrelly, Brian Currie, and Nick Vallelonga, Tony Vallelonga’s real-life son. The film gives room for these brilliant actors to bring these actual people to life with a great deal of humanity. Shirley and Vallelonga died within months of each other in 2013.

Charlyne Gelt, Ph.D. (PSY22909) is a clinical psychologist who practices in Encino. She leads Women's Empowerment Groups that help women learn the tools to move beyond self-destructive relationship patterns. She may be reached at 818.501.4123 or cgelt@earthlink.net. Her website is www.drgelt.com. Her office address is 16055 Ventura Blvd. #1129 Encino, CA 91436.