I bet you read that tittle and thought this was going to be some form of race rant. Well, it is – but not in the way you presumed. Last weekend I came across a movie, from which this article takes its title. Now this movie you can definitely say got a lot of mixed reviews, with only 2.5 stars out of 5 on Netflix but 7.5 stars out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes. You definitely have to watch it to make up your mind. The movie follows a diverse group of African American students at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League institution. It aims to satirise race relations, especiallly in the age of Obama where, as stated by the Principal – a white middle class wealthy male may I add – that “racism is over in America”. One of main plot lines in the film is the issue of housing arrangements at Winchester. The existence of Armstrong/Parker, the all black house on campus, is in jeopardy in the name of diversification. So when Samantha White a contentious black film student whose radio show “Dear White People” gives the film its name, in a surprising feat wins the House Elections, she plans to “bring black back to Winchester”. As the movie progresses it becomes clearer that the issue of housing is symbolic of the deeper-rooted race issues at the University. Now the movie aims to intelligently satirise these issues and there are definitely elements of this, particularly in the four main characters where their characterizations question what ‘being black’ even is. From Lionel, a young, gay black journalist to Troy Fairbanks, political science major, poster and son of the Dean, the melanin in their skin is one of the few things these two have in common, but the University and society will group them together and define them by nothing else.
The climax, where the racism at Winchester finally emerges from the shadows, is at a racially themed Halloween bash at the Bechet House, where the wealthy white kids including the son of the Principal live. Students are encouraged to dress up and liberate their “inner n*gger”. Of course this results in the majority showing up, black face on and in stereotypical fashion saggy pants and clunky gold hardware, or as they called it, jewellery. Writer and director Justin Simien won a Sundace Film Festival’s Special Jury’s Award for Breakthrough Talent. It definitely gets brownie points for originality, but personally from an audience member’s point of view I was disappointed in its delivery. There certainly were some witty moments where I smiled, occasionally even laughed, but on the whole I believe the film had more potential, especially with the amount of young talent that was involved. That is not to say I was expecting Oscar worthy performances. I just felt that overall the movie was definitely lacking, and I would even be willing to go as far as to say that in trying to satirise it rather caricatured, which is actually damaging in terms of the issues it was dealing with.
Picture credit: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/562527809685251981/