There are different approaches that films take to discuss race relations in our world today. Two of my favorite films,
American History X and
Fruitvale Station, take a harsh, dark, but realistic look at how it affects the individual. Then you have over the top comedies like
Undercover Brother or
Guess Whose Coming To Dinner take use humor to open up the discussion. What if a movie decided to take mix of both of these worlds, a little bit realism look at race while also having fun and making some great jokes that also make a commentary. Somehow Justin Simien has been able to beautifully combine these two approaches to create one of the most original and honest films about identity that brings a breath of fresh air to cinema. Something that opens up the conversation and reminds us that there are more problems than we are willing to realize. Movies are all about perspective, the perspective of the writer's ideas on the world and its characters or the perspective of the audience that the director chooses for us to see, so I love seeing movies that give me people's perspective about the world around us. I can only see and fully understand my own perspective but film allows me to at least absorb someone else's outlook for a few hours. Especially as a White Christian Male, I seriously enjoy being able to see director's and writer's perspectives so that I can open my mind and expand my horizons. That way my views on the world, life, and people can always be growing, changing, and maturing the more I consume.
Dear Black People, written and directed by Justin Simien, follows a group of African American students at a predominantly white Ivy League university. One of them, Lionel Higgins (Tyler James Williams), a shy and unsocial homosexual, is try to get a spot as a writer on the main campus paper while also trying to find a place to live where his fellow residents won't verbally abuse and embarrass him. Sam White (Tessa Thompson), a passionate and outspoken media major, start growing in popular through her radio program "Dear White People" in which she blatantly calls out everyday racist tendencies of whites but by also speaking out against the oppressive school system her fellow African Americans are experiencing. We also follow a hall president who lives in his father shadow and a young lady who decides to make herself more ghetto in hopes to land a spot on a reality show. These students have to navigate college life while dealing with a white majority campus and trying to discover who they truly are on the inside. At the same time a college residency house choose a risky and racist party theme that could cause campus to implode.
