Middle-Aged White Lady on "Dear White People"

The headline I read that called Dear White People “White Privilege 101” was not far off. This movie, set at a fictional Ivy League institution called Winchester University, explores what it is like to live as the minority in a predominantly white place, where white people have most of the power.

At the start of the movie, you learn that there has been a party where white students came in black-face, and it turned into a protest or a riot, depending on your perspective. Over the course of the film, the events leading up to the party give insight into the problems that have been brewing on the campus, which are numerous.

Sam, a young woman with a campus radio show called “Dear White People,” becomes a figurehead for a group that is trying to create change at the school. As much as she wants change, she chafes under the label of angry young black woman.

Troy Fairbanks, incumbent head of house of the historically black residence, is the son of the black dean at Winchester and is intended to be the poster child for the successful black Winchester student. Troy is dating the white daughter of the university president, who is also the frenemy of Troy’s father. To escape the tension of being who his father wants to be, Troy is getting high in his bathroom.

Lionel, a gay black man with an enormous Afro, is trying to survive his educational experience at a school where he doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. When one student asks him sarcastically “What’s harder, being black enough for the black kids or being black enough for the white ones?” he answers “Being neither.”

And Coco is a young woman from a less financially stable background who wants to fit in. At first, she wants to pretend that all is well racially and just move on already. At the same time, she is wanting to make a name for herself.  

All of these people are struggling with their identity. Who do they want to be? Who do they have to represent? How are they perceived? These are normal questions for young people, but when you add in the social expectations and assumptions that people make about you because of your skin color, it becomes much more difficult to sort out.

As a very heated campus moves closer to the fateful night of the party, everyone’s identity issues come to a head.

There are touches of Do the Right Thing and the old TV shows “The Cosby Show” and “A Different World.” There are also somewhat derisive comments directed at all three of those things.

The big man on campus is Kurt, son of the aforementioned university president. He is white, and for some reason he dresses and talks like he is one of the Jets who just walked off the set of West Side Story. But he does some truly hateful things that I’m sure even the Jets never would have done.

There are some downfalls to the movie. What makes it work is that the film has, for the most part, a sharp, intelligent humor that makes everyone watching it think deeply about who you are and who you expect people to be. And a few photos from real-life college parties like this one are shown during the end credits, which really brought it all home to me.

I think this would be a great movie to see with a group of people interested in having an honest discussion of racism and white privilege. Don’t take the kids just yet—the language and other, um, college activities are not intended for younger eyes.