I'm watching The Lost City of Z 

And it's, uh, better than I thought it would be? It's a sorta pulp jungle adventure. It takes a true story from an ugly period of white people history and does portray that ugliness but avoids a lot of the pitfalls that would make it simpler and more problematic. (Or alternately, unwatchably disgusting.) I think if you're interested in telling stories with a pre-ww1 globetrotting adventure vibe you could watch it and take notes. It's only a tiny bit "white savior" trope but it's really more like "one white guy explains to the other white guys why the other cultures are valid, actually"

The guy doing the expedition into the amazon is settling a map-making dispute! The native character has subtitles and speaks in full sentences! The guy's wife has her own ambitions and feelings! And later the guy returns because he wants to learn more about the history of non-white civilization!

Having said all this I'm not sure why everything is so yellow.

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To be totally clear I am reacting to this as a historical fiction rather than a history in itself

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