Before I talk about the ridiculous backlash to this show (which I can't resist addressing), I just want to spend a moment praising it, because it's really, really good.
Dear White People is an often funny series following a group of black college students. Many of these students are focused on addressing issues of racism but being college students, the struggle is often interrupted by the needs for sex, friendship, status, and petty drama.
While its sharp writing, witty lines, and engaging characters are enough reason to watch, the series is notable for its appreciation of complexity. Whether it's a fiery radical who's keeps her white boyfriend on the down-low or a charming budding politician suffocating in the role his father gave him, this is a show that acknowledges it's characters flaws, such as hypocrisy and self-righteousness, and their confusion in defining their place in the world, even though it is ultimately on their side.
Now about the critics ... There are a lot of very harsh reviews here, but many represent reflexive anger, the same cause of the insanely high number of people who downvoted DWP's cute, amusing and barely edgy trailer.
I'm not saying everyone who hates this show is being racist - I hate a lot of series for reasons having nothing to do with race - but if you read the reviews you can see a lot of white people see this not as a TV comedy but an act of aggression, seemingly just because they find the title somehow offensive (apparently it is monstrous for black people to call white people white people?). There are reviews here saying that the show is pushing the races further apart by highlighting the racial divide, as though centuries of slavery and Jim Crow that are echoed today in police shootings and demands for the first black president's birth certificate are somehow the result of black people saying too many harsh things to white people. It's a classic case of fauxpression, where people try to portray themselves as victims using the language of the historically oppressed.
The portrayal of white people isn't really even that harsh. They are shown as generally clueless and entitled, but even then, it's basically just a portrayal of ivy league frat boys. I'm white, but I can't see any reason I should personally be upset by a movie mocking dumb, entitled frat boys; a lot of movies by white people have done the same thing.
In spite of the title, this isn't really a series about white people. Whites are seen here only slightly more often than they are in Oprah Network series like Queen Sugar and Greenleaf. This is a series about the black experience (well, the black, ivy league college experience).
Maybe that's what the anger is really about. White people's voices are being ignored in a TV series that has "white people" in the title. But it's okay, angry white people; I think you'll still be able to find one or two TV series that give the white people perspective on things.
And if you're really, really angered by this series, please google "white fragility."
Update as of the end of Season 3: The review above is of the first season, which I gave 10 stars. I've lowered that now a bit in light of what followed (because unlike the people who gave this series 1 star without actually watching it, I respect the rating system). Season 2 was still very good, although not as funny as the first season. Season 3 was ... it was just weird, a strange mishmash. There were interesting concepts, like that the students had, like young people do, realigned their goals, but so much of it was weird and little of it was funny. There were two really good episodes in the second half, but the rest was a mix and the season ending was, well, not an ending, neither resolving the season nor creating a compelling reason to watch season 4. Season 4 was a discombobulated mess that I gave up on after 3 episodes. By then, almost everything good about the series had been whittled away. It's sad.
But still, watching season 1.
Dear White People is an often funny series following a group of black college students. Many of these students are focused on addressing issues of racism but being college students, the struggle is often interrupted by the needs for sex, friendship, status, and petty drama.
While its sharp writing, witty lines, and engaging characters are enough reason to watch, the series is notable for its appreciation of complexity. Whether it's a fiery radical who's keeps her white boyfriend on the down-low or a charming budding politician suffocating in the role his father gave him, this is a show that acknowledges it's characters flaws, such as hypocrisy and self-righteousness, and their confusion in defining their place in the world, even though it is ultimately on their side.
Now about the critics ... There are a lot of very harsh reviews here, but many represent reflexive anger, the same cause of the insanely high number of people who downvoted DWP's cute, amusing and barely edgy trailer.
I'm not saying everyone who hates this show is being racist - I hate a lot of series for reasons having nothing to do with race - but if you read the reviews you can see a lot of white people see this not as a TV comedy but an act of aggression, seemingly just because they find the title somehow offensive (apparently it is monstrous for black people to call white people white people?). There are reviews here saying that the show is pushing the races further apart by highlighting the racial divide, as though centuries of slavery and Jim Crow that are echoed today in police shootings and demands for the first black president's birth certificate are somehow the result of black people saying too many harsh things to white people. It's a classic case of fauxpression, where people try to portray themselves as victims using the language of the historically oppressed.
The portrayal of white people isn't really even that harsh. They are shown as generally clueless and entitled, but even then, it's basically just a portrayal of ivy league frat boys. I'm white, but I can't see any reason I should personally be upset by a movie mocking dumb, entitled frat boys; a lot of movies by white people have done the same thing.
In spite of the title, this isn't really a series about white people. Whites are seen here only slightly more often than they are in Oprah Network series like Queen Sugar and Greenleaf. This is a series about the black experience (well, the black, ivy league college experience).
Maybe that's what the anger is really about. White people's voices are being ignored in a TV series that has "white people" in the title. But it's okay, angry white people; I think you'll still be able to find one or two TV series that give the white people perspective on things.
And if you're really, really angered by this series, please google "white fragility."
Update as of the end of Season 3: The review above is of the first season, which I gave 10 stars. I've lowered that now a bit in light of what followed (because unlike the people who gave this series 1 star without actually watching it, I respect the rating system). Season 2 was still very good, although not as funny as the first season. Season 3 was ... it was just weird, a strange mishmash. There were interesting concepts, like that the students had, like young people do, realigned their goals, but so much of it was weird and little of it was funny. There were two really good episodes in the second half, but the rest was a mix and the season ending was, well, not an ending, neither resolving the season nor creating a compelling reason to watch season 4. Season 4 was a discombobulated mess that I gave up on after 3 episodes. By then, almost everything good about the series had been whittled away. It's sad.
But still, watching season 1.