WHEN’S THE LAST time a show sparked boycotts and cancellations of Netflix subscriptions? Dear White People is doing just that, but in the best possible way.
Under the hashtag #BoycottNetflix, white nationalists who are well known for accusing people of being overly sensitive when they don’t agree with them, are becoming a little bit… Overly sensitive.
The same people obsessed with protecting free speech when it facilitates racist rhetoric are suddenly uncomfortable with Netflix hosting this show and are calling for it to be removed. That’s simply because Dear White People unapologetically holds white people accountable for being complicit in systemic racism.
Dear White People has received the coveted score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, while simultaneously garnering some vile and deeply unnecessary racist remarks from everyone’s least favourite edgy mouthpiece Katie Hopkins.
This is a show that’s provocative, extremely relevant, well written but most of all, it is hilarious.
The show is based on the 2014 movie with the same title, same writer and same director (Justin Simien) and is set on the campus of a fictional Ivy League college called Winchester University.
It follows a diverse group of students during a series of important events on campus which highlight the fact that racism is still rampant in society today, regardless of your social class or cultural surroundings.
Each episode focuses on an individual character.
There’s Sam, the cool, gutsy and honest host of the radio show entitled ‘Dear White People’ in which she spills the tea each morning on the daily stresses of the experience of being a black student on campus.
There’s Lionel, a young black man grappling with his sexuality and the nuances of not meeting the hegemonic ideals of black masculinity. People think he’s making some kind of political statement by growing an afro.
In reality, it’s because he feels too geeky to be taken seriously in a black barbershop and the white barbers simply have no idea how to cut a non-white person’s hair. These are some of the things that white people take for granted, but this show draws attention to.
Then we have Troy, son of the university’s Dean, who is held up to an unrealistic standard by his father and expected to be the next Obama. There’s Reggie, a charming and reflective poet.
Colandrea, or Coco from south side Chicago, who is trying to unlearn what makes her black as a means of self preservation in a society that devalues dark skinned women.
There’s Rashid, an upbeat Kenyan who is constantly fascinated and in disbelief of the strangeness of American culture.
Then there’s Gabe. Without giving too much away, Gabe is the only white person who has made his way into this circle. While he tries his best, he will simply never be able to understand the experience of black people, on campus or in the wider world.
At times, Gabe becomes frustrated by the guilt he feels about being white but deals with it in a slightly better way than the majority of white people on campus.
However, his frustration is quickly put into perspective by the black students who point out that although Gabe becomes acutely aware of his skin colour when surrounded by black people, he can simply walk out of the situation and be put back at ease.
For black people, there aren’t many places where they won’t constantly be aware of the fact that they’re black. As Kathleen Hanna angrily yelled in Bikini Kill’s ‘White Boy’ back in 1992 (which remains extremely relevant to this day), “I’m so sorry if I’m alienating some of you… Your whole f**king culture alienates me”.
Dear White People is a breath of fresh air.
We’re constantly presented with the same TV shows and films churned out again and again, each time with a different all white, all heterosexual cast. Has Hollywood not gotten the memo? There are black people and LGBT people out here watching TV now. Even black LGBT people, believe it or not.
Get Out also received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and shows with more diverse casts such as Orange Is The New Black have gone down extremely well. Moonlight won ‘Best Picture’ at the Oscars this year.
It’s clear that we need more shows like this. As Ikumi, an Asian student who is pals with the group in Dear White People points out:
“Yeah, it must suck to only have two movies this month with people that look like you. Try having the same two options since 2000! All I got is The Joy Luck Club and Crouching Tiger.
This is where Lionel chimes in with “and Kung Fu Panda”. So despite the huge demand for ethnically diverse characters and casts in movies, Asian people are working with 2.5 decent films in the last 17 years.
Dear White People will make you feel EVERY emotion.
Prepare to cry at the injustices that some of the characters face. Halfway through the season there is an amazing performance by Marque Richardson who plays Reggie’s character that makes the fear that young black men live with on a daily basis in the United States almost palpable.
Prepare to be filled with rage at the audacity and ignorance of some of the characters on campus, including students who think dressing up as black people for Halloween is cute and funny, white people who insist on saying the N-word and scoff at the input of actual black people who advise them not to do so.
Prepare to think very hard about things that you may not have thought about before. For instance, Coco’s efforts to distance herself from black culture, or Lionel’s struggle to find a decent barber, or even the standard that black men like Troy have to hold themselves up to and the insults they have to withstand with complete dignity in order to be respected by white people in society.
Prepare to take sides in a love triangle. I have not gotten so emotionally invested in a TV romance since I was a teenager, but there’s one in Dear White People that made me boo at the iPad six times.
But most importantly, just prepare to laugh. Because above all else, this show is really funny. You’re guaranteed to laugh out loud a couple of times, especially if you’ve ever seen the show ‘Scandal’ which Dear White People features a parody of called ‘Defamation’. All of the characters make references to watching ‘Defamation’, despite hating it. We’ve all been there.
