Dear White People

So I saw Dear White People and I thought it was pretty good. It wasn't an uproarious laugh-out-loud comedy, but I don't think it was trying to be. Instead the movie is more like a series of conversations and monologues that characters deliver about race and the roles they see themselves in.

The movie centers around a campus radio show and it's firebrand host played by Tessa Thompson, and throughout the movie there are little asides from her show, usually in the form of statements starting with "Dear White People..." like "Dear White People, the official minimum number of black friends has been raised to two."  This show, combined with recent changes to housing policies at the school lead to increased racial tensions which culminate in the campus frat bros holding a black face themed Halloween party.  Along the way the movie points out and often has fun with a number of racial stereotypes and attitudes.  I think my two favorite examples were Tyler James Williams and Brandon P Bell bonding over being embarrassed for liking Star Trek: The Next Generation because it wasn't seen as "black enough" despite it's cast and pedigree, and the way it seemed like whenever Williams interacted with white people at least one person in the scene feels the need to fondle his Afro.

To me, having the big climax of the movie being a black face costume party seemed very apt, and something that might actually make this an important movie for future college students. I think sometimes we sensationalize the problems people face, and this makes it harder to relate to those problems. You end up with something like Higher Learning, which almost 20 years ago tried to discuss racism on college campuses with white students as Neo-Nazis and black students as Black Panthers with race war school shootings around every corner, this extreme view allows the viewer to distance themselves from what they're seeing "Sure, I don't hang out with anyone who looks different than me, but it's not like my dorm room is full of swastikas!"  Dear White People has lower stakes, but it also allows the viewer with less room to hide, it seems designed to spark discussion and to make the view examine how their actions effect people in ways they might not otherwise realize. Frankly if it keeps one college campus from hosting an incredibly racist costume party it's done more than its fair share.