Movie Review: Dear White People

Dear White People (2014)

R

3.5 Stars out of 5

Writer/Director                 Justin Simien

Tyler James Williams       Lionel Higgins
Tessa Thompson              Sam White
Teyonah Parris                  Colandrea (Coco) Conners
Dennis Haysbert               Dean Fairbanks
Brandon Bell                      Troy Fairbanks
Peter Syvertsen                 President Fletcher
Kyle Gallner                        Kurt Fletcher

 

Race relations in America is an issue that changes but never really goes away. Spike Lee has held the crown for many years as the primary cinematic explorer of this fraught topic. New to this scene is Justin Simien. With his perspective as a gay Black man in America, he has written and directed his first film, “Dear White People”. That this title is provocative is surely his intent, but it comes from the name of a local college radio program in his movie. And the radio program’s use of the name is unquestionably intended to gain the attention of White people and do so in as provocative a manner as possible.

“Dear White People” is set in the fictional “Ivy League” college of Winchester. I find it a little ironic it was actually filmed in ultra-white Minnesota. The story has a racial tension major arc involving Sam White (Tessa Thompson), a bi-racial film major. She is also the primary force behind the aforementioned radio program, Dear White People; a program where she ostensibly gives advice to White people on how to interact with their Black colleagues. In reality of course, her program is a cry against the many ways (little and big) Blacks are deprecated and labeled as different in American society. Sam is also running for the position of Head of House in the Winchester dorm set aside for Black students. Her opponent for the position is her former boyfriend and son of the Dean, Troy Fairbanks (Brandon Bell). Sam’s unexpected election sets off a train of events that brings to the surface the only-barely suppressed tensions that exist between the Black and White students, as well as a series of personal evolutions that require some of the students to view themselves as well as their race in a new light.

Thompson delivers the best performance in the movie as the at times defiant and at other times sad and confused Sam. It is easy for almost anyone to put themselves in Sam’s shoes as she swings from taking an activist position for Black rights to worrying about her seriously ill White father and frustrated White boyfriend; that is to say, anyone can imagine her sensitivity as to public perception as to which racial group she cleaves to; it might seem obvious from her radio show that she identifies as Black, but it really is not that simple for her. Lionel (Tyler James Williams) as the sole gay person in the film has quite nearly the same problem; except his problem is that all groups actively marginalize him. Another pair of individuals seeking to find out just who they themselves are includes Troy the son of a very involved father/dean and Coco (Teyonah Parris), an aspiring reality TV actress. Troy is a pawn in his father’s (Dennis Haysbert) long running duel with the university president (Peter Syvertsen). Dean Fairbanks insists that Troy go all out at Winchester and achieve only the highest levels of performance. Troy on the other hand really just wants to write comedy. Troy’s generational nemesis is President’s Fletcher’s son, Kurt (Kyle Gallner); Kurt is of course the school elitist/bully.

Sam and Troy achieve some degree of success in their personal arcs, Coco finds some closure in her search for fame, the dean and the president don’t really get anywhere in their contest, and the bully Kurt creates a party of surpassing racial insensitivity that riles up absolutely everyone. But what is the point of this movie? Does Simien really want White people to listen and take note of the various advice dispensed by Sam? Does he want to establish that there is an established and sophisticated Black culture on America’s universities; that they employ a language and practice behaviors that might require an interpreter for the ignorant White person (I can attest this would have been useful for me on more than one occasion)? Or maybe, there is a simple extension of this last question. That is to say, perhaps Simien only wants all people (Black/White, male/female, gay/straight) to simply incorporate the idea that there are other groups out there and they merely demand the same level of respect that each of us accord to members of our own group. Perhaps it’s idealistic, but it is long past time for modern cultures such as America to abandon the caveman era concept of The Other. It is time to stop using this concept as an excuse to demean and restrict the rights of humans outside any given group.

This is not a movie for every film-goer. The language and many of the millennial concepts may be quite foreign to many. The anger and resentment of the Blacks against the unconscious, let alone the overt and covert bigotry they experience on a too frequent basis will not inspire, but will likely depress many viewers. That being said, it is a useful movie to watch for anyone wishing to take a peak over the fences each of us have erected around ourselves and our gender/race/ethnic/sexual orientation/etc. group. The movie is not an especially pleasant film to watch, but for some (at least for me), it can be enlightening to help one get a sense of what it is like to walk in the shoes of someone different.