Dear White People: A Reason to Return to the Theater
Never mind the group-specific title. Dear White People is a movie we can all be excited about. Billing itself “a satire about being a black face in a very white place,” Dear White People follows the events leading up to a race riot at a prestigious, predominately white university through the perspectives of four, very different, black students.
“While the script was culled from my own college experiences and those of others I knew, I wanted to test out the voice of my lead character, Sam White, whose radio show Dear White People gives the film its title,” director/producer/writer Justin Simien told the Huffington Post.
The film features no big-name actors. In fact, it’s still in the pre-production phase. But the concept trailer alone was enough for many to label the movie a return to smart black cinema, a nod to the days when Spike Lee put out thoughtful, layered films that sparked discussion and had a generation of kids enrolling in film school or picking up cameras.
The genesis of the film began on Twitter two years ago at the handle @DearWhitePeople, where Simien sent out tweets like: “Dear White People. The single ladies dance is dead. Please turn off your web cams and go on about your lives.” Simien then got the impetus to make those tweets a springboard for a film about how it can be painfully funny to be the only black face in a mostly white place. The trailer that has taken the Internet by storm in less than a week was meant to help raise funds for the film via an Indiegogo campaign. According to Simien, the trailer raised $10,000 and got 80,000 views in a 24-hour period! Now with twenty-plus days left in the campaign, the film has raised more than $30,000. Not bad, considering the original goal was $25,000.
While anything having to do with race can be dicey, satire implies humor, wit, and intellect – qualities that should satisfy any moviegoer. And the journey Dear White People has taken should empower aspiring filmmakers everywhere. Can you harness the power of the Internet to build a buzz, raise money, and bring hope to millions of people starving for a non-Tyler Perry related black movie? Dear White People, please let it be so.
