What ‘The White Lotus’ Really Says About White Guilt

The White Lotus is a thrilling anthology series that follows a group of guests staying at a White Lotus resort, an extravagant hotel for rich people, and how their lives become increasingly interconnected over their stay. Each season is set in a new place, with Season 1 taking place in Hawaii, Season 2 in Italy, and Season 3 in Thailand.

While the cast and setting change, The White Lotus has some thematic throughlines that appear in every season. One of these themes is the presence of white guilt among the wealthy and elite. 

The White Lotus offers two perspectives on white guilt: one that addresses its existence but ignores its purpose, and the other that attempts to act on it but reveals the limits of how useful white guilt can be. These perspectives are particularly explored in Season 1 and Season 3. 

Ignorance is Bliss

The White Lotus Season 1 follows the Mossbacher family, which includes parents Mark and Nicole and their children Olivia and Quinn. They’re a wealthy white family who invite Olivia’s friend, Paula, a mixed-race girl, on their trip to Hawaii. 

As Paula grows closer to Kai, an Indigenous Hawaiian who works at the resort, she begins to become more aware of the implications of the Mossbacher’s family’s trip at the expense of the indigenous population on the islands.

On The White Lotus  Season 1 Episode 4, “Recentering,” Paula gets into an argument with the Mossbachers about white guilt. Mark and Nicole staunchly defend their statuses as rich white people, arguing that people’s backgrounds should not factor into how fortunate they are.

They staunchly ignore Paula’s arguments about how colonialism and historical exploitation have put people of color at a disadvantage. 

It’s clear that both Mark and Nicole experience white guilt. They both initially express that they have thought about their privilege, but have decided to fully ignore that they may be reinforcing cycles of oppression. 

To them, their white guilt is not their problem because it’s easier to sit with the discomfort, and Paula’s confrontation makes them retreat deeper into their stance that white guilt should not be their problem, revealing their true selfish nature. 

The theme of turning a blind eye to white guilt is once again brought up in The White Lotus Season 3. This time, the family featured is the Ratliff family, which includes parents Timothy and Victoria and their children Saxon, Piper, and Lochlan.

They’re another wealthy white family, but the purpose of their trip is for their daughter Piper to learn more about Buddhism. 

After staying the night at the Buddhist temple, Piper breaks down crying to her mother on The White Lotus Season 3 Episode 8, “Amor Fati.” She realizes that she actually doesn’t want to live the Buddhist life.

Her mother comforts her by saying that she never wanted Piper to give up her privilege and that it would be “disrespectful” to the less fortunate not to enjoy their life. 

Compared to the Mossbachers, the Ratliffs don’t attempt to pretend to have white guilt. They seem completely dismissive of this idea.

Thus, both the Mossbachers and the Ratliffs represent the way some people treat white guilt like a barrier to enjoyment rather than properly sitting and thinking about how their actions uphold systems of power. 

A Helping Hand

In contrast to the Mossbachers and the Ratliffs’ stories in Seasons 1 and 3 of The White Lotus, Belinda’s story is an example of what happens when rich white people attempt to relieve their white guilt by helping people of color. 

Belinda is a worker at the White Lotus resort in Hawaii, and she meets Tanya, a rich white woman who takes a liking to Belinda after a few meditative spa sessions. 

Tanya then promises to fund Belinda’s dreams of starting a Wellness Center. So, Belinda grows super hopeful that she’ll finally be able to quit her job and fulfill her dream.

However, even after she draws up a business proposal, Tanya keeps shying away and refusing to uphold her promise. She gets distracted by a fling with Greg, another man staying at the White Lotus. Then, by the end of the season, she gives Belinda a large pile of cash — but not enough for Belinda to start her business.

Thus, Belinda’s story in The White Lotus Season 1 demonstrates the limits of white guilt as a motivator to make a positive change. The idea of solving problems seems to reduce the burden of white guilt, but it doesn’t seem to give enough fuel for wealthy white people like Tanya to follow through.

This implies that at their core, they don’t want to sacrifice their financial comfort if they don’t see a personal benefit. 

The message of white guilt and selfish motivations is reinforced when Belinda appears once again in Season 3 as she visits the White Lotus in Thailand to learn more about wellness treatments. 

This time, however, she doesn’t seek money from Tanya but instead negotiates with Greg, who she knows is responsible for Tanya’s death in Season 2. With the help of her son, Zion, Belinda successfully pressures Greg to give her enough money to start her own business. 

Season 3 ends with Belinda and Zion looking hopeful as they sail away back to their new lives. Belinda only gets Tanya’s money in a roundabout way because Greg is motivated not by white guilt but out of desperation to protect himself. 

This reinforces the idea that while some people may act like white guilt could be potentially useful, any attempts to assuage it are surface-level and don’t actually benefit people of color unless personal stakes are involved. 

Ultimately, The White Lotus offers some interesting critiques about white guilt, but still falls short of centering minorities in the conversation.  

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The White Lotus is currently available to stream on Max. 

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