The subject of race is often met with bias in one direction or the other. Not racism necessarily, but topics involving race and the tensions between races. Being from an area that is extremely diverse, I can't relate to some of the examples displayed in this film. I grew up around people that don't exclusively hang out with their own race, and where many were colorblind when it came to choosing their friends. My 2 best friends are Asian-American and black. My girlfriend is of Mexican heritage. I suppose that I was fortunate enough to be raised by parents who didn't bring to my attention our differences, nor did they probably even think about it, but I know that the majority of the country isn't this lucky. It's just that some instances in this film come off as unrealistic to me. If all this stuff really does happen, then I can see how this movie would be effective.
This film involves the upper-middle class and how racial tensions affect them specifically. While the setting is highly essential for proving points, it's also a hinderance. I should have brought a dictionary to the theater. The target audience for this movie may not understand a lot of the vocabulary. The verbiage is a quite highbrow and quick-delivered for the intents of the movie. That aside, the script is very self-aware and smart. It knows what its doing and saying at all times. And when it tries to be funny it succeeds.
This film does well what so many other teen and college movies don't--it doesn't overindulge in self-importance of the kids' lives. For one, it's because there is an importance of the topic being discussed. But it also doesn't portray the students as having all the answers and doing it all on their own. Each character makes mistakes and each character says things that make a lot of sense. It's a really honest film.
Dear White People handles a heavy topic surprisingly well and does a good job of remaining unbiased and not telling you what to think. Even though you want it to sometimes, you realize that no one has a definitive answer, and the only solution is to look at the world with colorblind eyes.
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