Identity Crisis in Dear White People
A central theme in Dear White People, is the identity crises of all four of the central characters. What I liked about the film was that filmmaker Justin Simien chose to tell the story of the point of view from four characters with similar but different characters, whose experiences we do not normally see in film. All four were black students at a predominantly white college dealing with their differences, but all four came from different backgrounds and dealt with their situation differently. Sam deals with being caught between the black and whites worlds. Growing up she struggled with the relationship with her white father because she always felt judged by others. She is told several times in the film that she is not “black” enough, with characters commenting on the lightness of her skin and how that makes things easier for her. She tries to compensate for this by denying her identity and carefully hiding her interest in what is deemed white culture. Lionel struggles with the identity of being black and gay. Having been bullied by black kids in high school for being gay, he is hesitant to identify with the other black students at school. Throughout the course of the film he learns that these two identities are not mutually exclusive. Like Simien said during his talk, a person is not just their race, they are a combination of many different things like their gender, orientation, ethnicity, interests. I think that the film did an interesting job in examining this dynamic and struggle that is not often talked about.
I agree. I really enjoyed the character of Coco, who actively tried to defy the stereotypes of her race. I feel like her character’s voice is one that is not heard as often because it does not fit in into the traditional narrative of most race driven films. She struggles with trying to reject the stereotypes that go along with her race and in the end she is the one that puts together the black face party. For me, this was a voice I had never seen or heard and I applaud Justin Simien for being able to include the more controversial voices.