Dear White People

Year: 2014
Genre: Comedy
Director: Justin Simien
Stars: Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams, Brandon P. Bell, Teyonah Parris, Kyle Gallner, Dennis Haysbert, Peter Syvertsen
Production: Homegrown Pictures

It seems that conversations about race relations are on the up-tic over the past few months. In reality these kinds of conversations have been on the up-tic ever since 2008 and have generally been shut down by white Americans insisting we have moved beyond race. Now with prevalent, if irresponsible news coverage of incidents in Baltimore and Ferguson (among several others), the uncomfortable topic of race is thankfully, for now, water cooler fodder. Still those who lack vocal black co-workers and/or black friends might just be stuck in the Fox News echo chamber. Luckily there's a film like Dear White People out there, which of course doesn't give *the* definitive black person opinion but gives a unique opinion on race relations informed by the black experience. A perspective you'd best not ignore.

The film follows Sam (Thompson) a college sophomore who is running for house president of her dorm at an ivy league university. When not campaigning she runs a satirical radio program called Dear White People which inflames the fervor of nearly everyone from her opponent Troy (Bell), to the school President (Syvertsen) to the editor of the campus's satirical magazine Kurt (Gallner). Meanwhile parallel stories develop; two involving students named Lionel (Williams) and Coco (Parris) who are trying to see where they fits in all this controversy and a fourth story revolving around the aforementioned Troy. Seems his father (Haysbert), and current Dean of Students went to the same school and has high hopes for his son.

Pardon me, but I have 2/3 of a boardroom and
no idea what to do with it

Visually, the film is not the most pleasing. First time director Justin Simien has just enough visual flair to keep things above TV quality but the movies indie budget shines through in the lack of coverage and a sticks-and-wire mis en scene. Is it Putney Swope (1969) level cheapness? No there are nod to Welles, Altman and D.W. Griffith but it's clear the film's visuals are not the primary focus of the director. His mind seems fixated on the dialogue, the story and the message behind the story.

And what about the script? Well it's sharp, its witty, its unapologetic in its social satire and it balances its themes quite nicely. You truly understand and sympathize with the characters even if the camera is a hindrance to those ends. Tessa Thompson in particular does a fantastic job harnessing the aureate oratory of a civil rights leader, the intensity of a Black Panther and the styling sense of Lisa Bonet in A Different World (1987-1993). What's more because her character is immediately the most interesting her character arc becomes the most gratifying.

In preparation for this review, I not only did my usual research, I trolled the comments on several chatrooms around the internet. The results made me want to vomit. I know, it was my fault, I should have realized internet chatrooms are the confluence of throbbing teenage ids and angry unemployable man rage. Yet not only do these mouthy taint devils hate the movie, I feel they truly miss the point. This movie is not about demonizing white people as many claim. I may be wrong but I feel Dear White People is about perception in a more universal sense.

Post-college I define myself as $100,000 in debt!

During our college years, we struggle to define ourselves in much the same way we do with any great crossroads in life; only in college the stakes are higher. We sometimes over-value how others perceive us which can hinder our personal growth. All four main characters struggle with that growth not just within the context of being college students, being straight, gay, male, and female but also being black. Being black in America doesn't just mean being three times more likely to be shot by police nor does it just mean black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than their white counterparts, it also means they are perceived by the majority by their race first and all other factors second. You can see that tension in the wondering eyes of Lionel in the first act, Coco's beleaguered defense of the party in the last act and Sam's film projects that bookend the movie.

Pressured by family, friends, race and reality show producers, our ensemble cast cover their true intentions under a guise of cattiness and stonewalling. Underneath the skin, the nappy hair, the argument that Gremlins (1984) is a veiled allegory of institutional racism; they are just as focused on forging their own path, living their own dreams and passing their finals like the rest of us.

Final Grade: B-