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Review: Dear White People Volume 2: Who is This For?


Dear White People had a critically acclaimed movie and a first season loved by many. We eagerly awaited the second season and when it came we celebrated. Then the love faded, so were we not woke enough or was it just bad? I sat down and watched to get to the bottom of this. I'm still not sure if it was bad or I just didn't get it.

This season deals with the fallout from last season. Lionel revealing the financial fraud, Troy smashing windows and the black face party being shut down. We also have to deal with Sam's father dying and seeing how that brings her together with Coco and Joelle when the three of them have been drifting apart. Individually, Sam has a meltdown trying to prove how down she is with the cause. Lionel realizes that a lot of gay men, including gay black men do not like black men as well as the fact that monogamous relationships can be hard to find in the gay community. Joelle and Reggie finally get together. Reggie deals with the trauma of having a gun pulled on him by drinking his emotions away. 

The first issue I saw, was the constant argument of "are all white people racist." Gabe has a documentary discussing if he's racist. Lionel goes out on pride night and has to hear multiple conversations about how it's not racist to have a preference while white guys and even a black guy tell him how they don't like black guys until he finally meets Wesley and they fall in love.

I honestly enjoyed the movie and even the first season. Despite the criticism that it was given I was fully on board. But for some reason that wasn't the case this season. It's as if gears started turning in my mind and I just could not figure out who this show was for or what purpose it served.

I know the show is called Dear White People but there is just way too much focus on how hard life is for white people. The struggle of know if you're racist or you have a dating preference. The struggle of not making an effort to get to know your roommate so are you racist if you ask her to use headphones? We spend way more time with Dear Right People, the parody radio show of Sam's radio show than we actually do her show which the TV show is named after. It's like, so much of the show was telling you how white people are oppressed too.

Maybe it was for black people by black people. Just like FUBU. Then I realized that couldn't be true. If that were the case they wouldn't spend so much time trying to cram in regular everyday AAVE and slang into places that it doesn't fit. It's as if it was written by black people that just started being black two to three years ago and didn't really associate with black people before that.

Maybe it's written for white people who want to understand black people. But that couldn't be it because the show doesn't really focus on day to day lives of Black people. It focuses almost exclusively on the relationships between black people and white people. I just don't know who this show is for.

If I'm being honest don't watch this show anymore. It's just not good and Netflix telling you how much they love black people shouldn't change your mind. You'd be better off watching Grown-ish. It's just the better show. It deals with the same issues without the constant focus on how white people feel. But that's just my opinion.

You should buy Darrell's Book, watch him on the Blerds Online YouTube Channel or The CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. 
Darrell S.

Hey, I write stuff, a lot of different stuff, that's all.

2 Comments

  1. I too was conflicted by this season as well. This article shared some of the concerns I had as well. "Who is this for" was definitely the main question I too was fixated on answering. I will continue to watch the show because I enjoy Lionel's and Troy's character development the most, even though Troy was losing me because of the randomness of his actions.

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  2. A lot of the characters didn't really keep the same energy and the dynamic of the show shifted.

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