Justin Simiens movie Dear White People was released in 2014 to promising reviews from Sundance Film Festival with many people feeling as if this would be the most promising black film since School Daze by Spike Lee in 1988. I watched the film when it came to Atlanta in 2014 at the Atlanta Film Festival and found myself impressed at how accurately the movie described the current issues black students face in college now, with particular attention given to blacks at predominately white institutions. Despite all of the attention it created it failed to garner the response I felt it rightfully earned, falling on deaf ears in the black community. Movies such as Selma and Get Up which were released in 2014 as well presented us with a fresh take on people whose stories we were familiar with from Dr. King to James Brown and while they were great in their own right, the films could not give to our generation what Dear White People offered.
Dear White People centers around a biracial student, Sam White,(Tessa Thompson) who is a film student at a predominately white school named Winchester University. A biting critic of the establishment, she uses her voice to attack the ignorant and racist views that white people hold towards blacks on her radio show aptly named Dear White People all while incorporating sarcasm in it. She is the leader of the black student union on campus and unaplogetically black, but faces significant pressure from the administration and peers alike who feel as if her views are a form of reverse racism. A white fraternity on campus upset by the podcast in response holds a black face party that promotes all of the negative stereotypes typically assigned to black culture, which leads to a racial riot on campus. The complexity of these issues alone should have generated significant dialogue, but did not. The characters in the movie all are important in their own rights as they represent subsets of our culture.
Colandrea Coco Conners (Teyonah Parris) known as Coco on campus is a black woman who is ashamed of her name and her cultural identity. Her blackness is more of an emblem of shame to her and so she intentionally sets out to hide it, disguising her name and hair all while seeking validation from her white peers both male and female. The acclaim that Sam’s character gets from her podcast causes a reality show producer to seek her out, much to the anger of Coco whose video blogs are virtually ignored. Her callousness towards the plight of black people and her indifference towards the injustices are also themes we can see in our modern day era (i.e. Stacey Dash).
Troy Fairbanks, (Brandon Bell) the dean’s son represents the ideal black male, clean cut, intelligent and cultured, bred by his established father to one day become a lawyer despite his own intentions of being a comedy writer. His struggles with threading the line between assimilating into the culture and choosing his own destiny are themes every black millennial can identify with. His character can be compared to Julian Eaves (Giancarlo Esposito) off of School Daze, who also was well spoken and clean cut in appearance.
Last but most important Lionel Higgins, (Tyler James Williams from Everybody Hates Chris) is a black male who is struggling to fit it on campus. He is awkward, racially neutral for the most part and homosexual, all things which add to his ostracization. His placement in the black dorm of Armstrong Parker with Sam and her cohorts leads to the campus news editor seeking his help with an article chronicling black culture on campus, a subject which he lacks experience on. His struggle to be accepted by his black peers once again begs the question of just what blackness consists of, but the violence and ignorance he faces as a black male homosexual are issues that deserve as much attention.
Recently Netflix announced on May 5th that they are set to debut a web series based off of the film, with Justin Simiens stating that he will contribute ten episodes to the show. The official trailer for the movie is attached below:
Wright World 