Linder, on her September 2011 paper "Spelling Out Racial Difference: Moving Beyond the Inspirational Discourses in "Akeelah and the Bee"", also criticized it saying the film "acts as a platform for a racial melodrama through which ideals of whiteness are reinforced and strengthened". Using Linda Williams' categories of what constitutes a racial melodrama, Linder argues that it is described as an "inspirational" film because of " portrayal of Akeelah's victimization by the black community that surrounds her" and of redemption only achieved "through the idealized discourse of young people's educational success as defined by dominant (white) culture". Linder said characters "are mostly represented as having 'no interest in escape' from societal oppressions and limitations" and that "there is no sign throughout the film of any kind of lasting change for Akeelah's school or her young peers".