A Sneak Preview into the Highly Anticipated “Dear White People” film*

“Dear White People, the minimum requirement of black friends needed to not seem racist has been raised to two…Sorry, your ‘weed man’ Tyrone does not count!”

Every generation has a film that shocks as it touches upon issues of race and inequalities of color. In 1950, we had the black-and-white American film noir No Way Out; in 1970, the satirical comedy Watermelon Man; in 1989, Spike Lee’s ‘fight the power’ film Do The Right Thing (1989); John Singleton’s 1991 classic Boyz in the Hood; and at the beginning of the new millennium Bamboozled (2000). In 2014, we have Dear White People a contemporary satire that is not simply another post-black film, but a commentary on expanding and updating notions of black identity.

Winner of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent, Dear White People is a sly, provocative satire of race relations in the Obama age. In this breakthrough performance, writer/director Justin Simien gives audiences a close look at four African American students as they navigate racial and sexual politics and campus life at the predominately white Winchester University. The four protagonists, “The Rebel,” “The Token,” “The Poster Child,” and “The Diva,” are what Simien likes to call “archetypes of people of color.” He sees them as archetypes versus stereotypes, or just simply blacks who espouse survival tactics in environments where they are in the minority or have to cope with the way people label them: “One of the things that was interesting about Dear White People is that I show these archetypes in the beginning, and we just dismantle them to a complete pulp by the end,”[1] remarks Simien.

Simien, a 31-year-old Texas native, drew direct inspiration for this film as result from his experience at Chapman University in Southern California. Being a “black face in a white place” is not just the premise of the film, but also an actual lived reality for Simien (the Black student body on Chapman University comprises 1.6 percent of the campus). As someone who has experienced much of what he portrays in the film, Simien takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to exploring the state of college campuses today and racial identity in a supposedly post-racial America, specifically, having a cinematic dialogue about what it means to be black today. Considering the past few years have been marked with numerous deaths of unarmed young black women and men, he has hopes that this film will resonate particularly with the millennial generation. According to Simien in an interview with “Best of New Orleans:

“The funny thing is that there are still people out there who believe [the U.S. is post-racial]…People say ‘do we even need this [type of film]? Aren’t we beyond this?’ After Obama was elected, there was this post-racial bubble; some liberal and very well-intentioned people thought we had overcome the struggles of racism. It took all these tragic shootings of black teenagers, and members of Congress telling Obama to go back to Africa, and racist blackface parties to bubble into mainstream for people to realize we’re still dealing with the same issues.”[2]

The film has garnered much anticipation leading up to its October 24th nationwide release, since one can view a collection of sketches, trailers, and videos under a PSA series called “The More You Know (About Black People)” some of these include:

             “Not To Be Racist, But…”     

            “Do Black People Love Fried Chicken?”     

            “Why The Best Athletes Are Black?”

            “White People Love Food Stamps, Too”

In addition to the PSAs, sketches, and trailers, one can purchase Dear White People paraphernalia, posters, and even the book on which the film is based.

Dear White People hopes to bring laughs, while deliberately addressing casual racist attitudes of what may seem outlandish to some white Americans; for far too many African Americans, these statements represent everyday reality. For all intents and purposes, Simien wants viewers to walk out of theater with a different mindset from the one they brought into the film, and hopefully for the better. “I’m really looking at people whose past racial bubble is yet to be popped…I want this to be part of a cross-cultural conversation they’ve never had before. Our movie couldn’t have come out at a better time.”[3]

Dear White People hits select theaters this Friday October 17th and nationwide on October 24th. However, as a special bonus for the Bay Area there will be a private screening of this film on today at Shattuck Cinema Theaters.

*As posted in The Berkeley Graduate

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[1] Interview from New York Times “Happy to Be Your Guide to Black Identity”: Justin Simien Goes Mainstream with ‘Dear White People’…10/9/2014…By: Nelson George

[2] Interview from Best of New Orleans, “Director Justin Simien talks about Dear White People”

[3] Interview from UPTOWN Magazine, “The One Thing ‘Dear White People’ Director Justin Simien is Sorry About”…10/13/2014…By: Angela Bronner Helm

It’s More than Just Race, It’s about Culture too… ABC’s Newest Family Comedy ‘black-ish’*

In a matter of weeks, the 2014 Fall lineup of television shows will be premiering on various networks (some have already made their debut). Fans await a dozen shows, including the new Shonda-land drama line-up on ABC (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder), NCIS [CBS], Gotham [FOX], Criminal Minds [CBS]. One show in particular making headway is ABC’s newest comedy sitcom black-ish. Kenya Barris (America’s Next Top Model & Are We There Yet?) created this new family comedy, who is also an executive-producer along with Larry Wilmore (In Living Color, The Bernie Mac Show, & The PJs), Anthony Anderson (The Departed, Transformers, & Me, Myself & Irene), and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Hannibal tv series, Boyz In the Hood).

A few days ago I had the opportunity to view a sneak preview of the new pilot that is set to premiere on September 24th. Let’s just say audiences are in for a comedic and cultural treat. Picture a family man from a middle-class African American background struggling to gain and maintain a sense of cultural identity while raising his children in a predominately white, upper-middle-class neighborhood [in what appears to be Los Angeles]. This fun-loving family consists of successful advertising executive and patriarch Andre ‘Dre’ Johnson (Anthony Anderson), his doctor wife with the intentionally problematic name Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross; Girlfriends), their four children, and their instigating but loving grandfather, Pops (Laurence Fishburne). All together, it appears as though the Johnsons are living the good life: beautiful family, great jobs, a house in the suburbs. However, has this success brought too much assimilation for the family?

Both Dre and Rainbow are successful in their respective careers, yet at times they find their viewpoints on opposing sides. Rainbow, who happens to be bi-racial, is more of the liberal in the family, and actually believes that they live in a post-racial society and that her children can live and exist in a colorless world. Then there is Dre’s father, Pops, who loves betting on horses at the race track, but also offers his – at times unsolicited – advice and opinions regarding family matters. Though the advice may be blunt, it is typically ‘spot-on’ and it is often challenging to disagree with him. As we might imagine in any family, every parent or guardian wants to be able to give their children the best that they can. However, sometimes the children have another agenda all their own. What results is the price Dre and Rainbow must pay when they have given their children more than they ever had. Raising all four children in a comfortable lifestyle in an affluent, mostly white neighborhood, has several consequences, many hilarious, contributing to Dre’s struggle and quest to keep them rooted in his idea of African American and black culture.

The pilot introduces these struggles when the oldest son, Andre Jr., or “Andy,” as he calls himself at school, announces to the family that he would like a bar mitzvah (though his family is not Jewish) along with the rest of his white schoolmates. To exacerbate the situation, he also want to play field hockey versus trying out for the basketball team. So of course Dre begins to plot ways of guiding Andre Jr./Andy back into what seems more ‘black-ish.’ Then there is Zoe, the eldest of the four children, who is smart, pretty, popular, and drenched in privilege and unjustified entitlement. Essentially, Zoe’s idea of achievement is grounded in material possessions rather than work. For Zoe, success and accomplishments are equated to having 150,000 Instagram followers. The twins, six-year-old Diane and Jack are an intriguing duo. Diane is gifted, talented, and smart, but without an outlet to funnel all her smartness. She takes every opportunity to remind people that that she is one minute older than Jack, who is the sensitive and delicate twin. He is the one child who idolizes his father, offering comments at every moment even if they come out sounding awkward. Ultimately, Dre is very dedicated and motivated to building a strong black cultural tradition for the present and future. Although he wants to live the American dream, at the same time he is striving to preserve some sort of black identity in this multi-cultural world.

At the close of the pilot episode, several thoughts and questions will definitely surface in one’s mind, such as, What does it really mean to be black?; Is it really a promotion when you become the Senior VP of Urban Affairs and you happen to also be black?; Are black and urban one and the same?; How does it feel to be ‘put on display’ and visibly black in the workplace?; and What exactly is black-ish?  Overall, this new family comedy from ABC offers a humorous yet progressive look at one father’s determination to instill some sense of cultural identity in his family. As “Dre” puts it so eloquently, “I’m gonna need my family to be black – not black-ish!!”

black-ish is set to hit television screens on Wednesday, September 24th at 9:30/8:30 CT PM.

Check out the trailer HERE:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNqqjDv6_dU !!

*As posted in The Berkeley Graduate