"Dear White People" (2014)

directed by Justin Simien
starring Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams, Teyonah Parris, Kyle Gallner, Brandon P. Bell



Got a chance to view "Dear White People" last month in a theater not far from Georgetown University. It was really good, deceptively simple but very clever. It started kind of slow and a bit detached in tone, with title cards describing this fictional ivy league school, but the flick got progressively stronger and more involving as we learn about the lives of a few of its black students, whose identities are as different from each other as possible.

The lead character is Sam White (the gorgeous Thompson), a bold black rights activist sister trying to assert herself in the world of campus social politics. She hosts a provocative radio show called "Dear White People," where she offers bon mots like, "Dear White People, stop dancing" and "Dear White People, your quota of black friends has just been raised to two." Her story is complicated by the fact that she is a child of a biracial marriage, that her father's compromised health is source of ongoing stress, and by the presence of her white lover, a fellow student. Just as her name suggests, her character is rife with conflicting realities.

Sam's story is contrasted against that of an introverted gay nerd Lionel (Williams, best known as the star of TV's Everybody Hates Chris) who doesn't fit into the "black" residence hall and is systematically humiliated in the "white" residence hall. Wrestling with other students, the college administration and himself to carve out a place where he can just be is a daily challenge for him. There's also a girl named Coco (Parris), who has changed her name among other things because she is desperate to separate herself from all things ghetto and thus chases after white acceptance. Then there's the popular black jock who is trying to live up to the high standards of his father (played by Dennis Haysbert), the college's dean of students, while simultaneously juggling a relationship with the white daughter of the college president and concealing a dependence on marijuana. And though the story takes place in present day, there are lingering pockets of racism on campus, both laughable and deplorable.

The film is more multi-layered than it seems on first viewing; the characters are struggling with finding their identities, managing their relationships within the college arena, and trying to use college as a springboard into who they will be for the rest of their lives. It shows that there is no one way or right way to be black, but even so, people of color instinctively band together to ward off the acts of active and passive racism that still rear their ugly heads on campus. Because college is a concentrated microcosm of the world, all of the action feels very impactful and thought-provoking. Within that are moments of provocative humor and dark satire; finding one's identity in college can mean trying on a number of hats, successfully or unsuccessfully. It can mean overthrowing the expectations of parents, lovers, and society itself. And it can also mean forming destructive habits and alliances.

The revelation of the film for me is, besides Tessa Thompson's fantastic portrayal of Sam, is Tyler James Williams as Lionel Higgins, the campus nerd who finally stands up. DWP has moments of originality, wit, and humor; it also knows on whose shoulders it stands, with a few moments that clearly pay homage to the Spike Lee oeuvre, as when a crowd of black students converge angrily on an unwitting movie ticket seller to protest the relentless showing of Tyler Perry movies, and the movie's climax will recall the moment that Mookie finally threw that trash can in Do The Right Thing. I also appreciated the soundtrack, which utilizes classical music in unique ways alongside contemporary R&B, hip-hop, and rock.

The movie never canonizes the black characters nor demonizes the whites; our identities and consciousness are fluid things and within that murk we must find common ground. It is said that today's young generation of millennials have a broader and more accepting view of race, but there is also a collective naivete and ignorance of history that persists in this generation, leading to more of the kind of outrageous actions and intense confrontations depicted here. Director Simien says he was inspired in part by the proliferation of white campus parties with themes demeaning to African Americans, and we see the evidence of real-life events of this nature in the end credits. The pictures will make you cringe. But Simien also shows that while racism is an American institution, we all can be angels and devils along a continuum of prejudicial behavior.