A Movie Review of Dear White People

The moment that I heard of Dear White People , I knew that I had to see it. I discovered the hilarious movie trailer on YouTube about a month before it started playing at Regal Downtown West–Knoxville’s designated indie film theater. The trailer presented a clever plot with witty characters that was bound to cause some kind of controversy. The movie tells the story of an ambitious college student, Sam, who makes a comedic/educational college radio show entitled Dear White People. The radio show features Sam ranting about how ignorant white people are to the racism that is still prevalent in the world.

Now you are probably thinking, “Why did this white guy go see a movie that is making fun of him?”. I did so because I also think that racism is still a huge problem in our society and it always will be. Dear White People‘s main purpose is to point out the flaws in our society that many either do not notice or choose to ignore. Although the film touches serious subjects, it still manages to poke your funny bone. I personally love dark humor, so this movie was pretty enjoyable for me. I do not recommend this film for people who do not find dark humor funny, or white people that don’t like to ever laugh at themselves.

I did enjoy Dear White People for the most part, but there were some moments where I found myself feeling annoyed with the characters. Although Sam is passionate about helping stop racism, she tends to beat her opinion to a pulp. There are instances where she comes on far too strong, and mistreats white people in the same way they mistreat black people. There is one scene where Sam refuses to let any white people eat in the same lunch hall as the black students of their college. Whenever they try to enter the lunch hall, Sam bangs a gong and has the black students throw food at them. Sam also has a secret affair with a white student. The boy really likes her, but in order to keep up her reputation, she refuses to tell anyone about their relationship. Sam’s hateful disposition and ignorance toward some of the white characters’ feelings contradicts the message that she tries to give, and confuses the film’s purpose.

If I were a legit, professional movie critic person, I would give Dear White People a four out of five stars. The movie managed to entertain me with its kooky characters, while also giving me the chance to see how black people are poorly represented in the media and society. A couple of the characters were a bit annoying due to their persistence in getting their opinion across, but I ended up having a better understanding of their characterization by the end of the film. I definitely recommend this film to people who are fans of black comedies. Oh, by the way, black comedies are comic works that employ black humor, which, in its simplest form, is humor that makes light of subject matter usually considered taboo. It’s not….uh…..you know….uh….yeah. Thanks for reading!