Netflix's 'Dear White People'
So recently Netflix released a trailer for the series 'Dear White People' which is based on the 2014 film of the same name. Since the trailer has been released, the video has recieved over 300,000 dislikes, and many have threatened to cancel their Netflix subscriptions and called out Netflix for "race-baiting".
I haven't seen the original film and I don't know much about the plot, but I still think it's a silly overreaction to boycott something or someone for giving a platform to someone you personally dislike. I thought it was silly of people to boycott Simon & Schuster for giving Milo Yiannopoulos a book deal, and I think the overreaction to this is just as silly as the series isn't even out yet. Just as you can't judge Milo's book without reading it, you can't judge 'Dear White People' without watching it first.
What does everyone else think?
Comments
Thats the idiot world we live in now where people react to and "boycott" things they know nothing about. Im sure Netflix will survive the few racist fools who dont want their Netflix anymore.
People nowadays would be offended if you gave them money. "What!? are you saying I'm poor? I don't want your charity, bitch!"
Hmm, I know this is the film from a few years ago but if anything it seems to mock the ridiculous everything is racist crowd. Anyway still a divisive and stirring film/series however once again load of people will now watch this series due to controversy, very few people will actually cancel their subscription.
This shows exactly how silly the outrage is. If this new series is anything like the movie, then it's gonna be about mocking BOTH sides of racial politics rather than trying to be serious. I'm actually interested in watching this.
I actually haven't seen you in a while, huh. Have a good day tho.
So is there going to be a "Dear Black people," for equality, or is that racist?
Ultimately, I don't care about whatever Netflix original series they're peddling today. I'm sure it won't be as bad as most people think. I'm sure it won't even be like most people think... but I'm even more sure I just don't care enough to find out.
I want to die.
Fake and gay. I'm contemplating watching it for a laugh, or just to see if it's actually what I think it is. Title makes it sound unbearable.
Dear White People. Tough times coming for you.
The series is probably going to be very similar to the movie, since both are created by the same Guy.
I havent seen the show yet naturally, but I dont think the purpose of it is to "race bait" but just to shine a light on the black experience. This is what I love about Netflix. They arent afraid to take chances. There is literally some type of film or show for almost everyone.
I shudder to think what would be in a "Dear Black People" show.
Not interested in the series (because it just doesn't look funny), but I have to say the trailer gives this annoying "remember to feel guilty whiteys" -vibe. I'm all for tackling issues like racial tensions with comedy, but in all honesty this doesn't seem like a smart satire, but just pure race baiting to divide the people even further. If it's not that, then the editors did poor job of showing it with the trailer.
The 30 second clip for the tv show that I saw shows white people wearing black face for Halloween. If they feel guilty about that, they should.
Oh, like this?
Well, they aren't afraid to engage in publicity stunts, no.
Which I agree is good - and of course Netflix can make what they want, and people can watch what they want, but personally this seems dreadful to me (not that, again, the reactions have been any better).
The point is that that's not something a normal decent person would do, and yet the show is presented as a message to all white people.
It's a message to everyone. I don't think that's a bad thing. Normal, decent people would not take offense, but the people who would need to know that kind of thing is not okay. I don't like this idea that anything that tries to show something from a black person's perspective is "race-baiting".
Like I said in regards to Milo. It's a marketplace of ideas and boycotting is one of the tools in a consumers arsenal if they're highly dissatisfied with the product. Are people who canceled Netflix over this easily-triggered crybabies? Maybe, but that's their problem.
So, would you say the same if the show was "Dear Black People", and every black character in the trailer would be an obnoxious piece of trash, filled with all kinds of stereotypes about blacks?
If a black person's perspective is that all whites are scumbags, then that black person is a racist.
Kinda reminds me how it's not okay for Scarlett Johansson to play a ROBOT but it's perfectly okay for Rihanna to play as Marion Crane a WHITE WOMAN.
I dont know who that guy is or what his deal is. Is that what youre basing the entire series on?
To be honest I don't really care. I probably wouldn't watch this show anyway, I have niche interests. If it's funny, that's nice. If not, oh well. I'm not the kind of person who is offended easily, so you know, if it were seriously racist, I probably still wouldn't care. You don't have to watch it, and if you don't you can just pretend it doesn't exist, let others enjoy it.
Boycotting it seems somewhat disproportionate if you haven't actually watched an episode of the show. If it were racist and it was obviously clear on the show, that would probably be a good enough reason by my standards.
At the end of the day I'm not sure if the big fuss over something so trivial is worth it. That's just my personal thoughts.
This is the whole point. People assuming the worst instead of knowing what message the show is trying to convey. You dont know from that clip that its saying all white people are garbage. This is what those people boycotting are doing. We dont need a Dear Black People because we pretty much know what racist white people think of us. But if that show was just a way to show some perspective from a different point of view, thats not trying to offend but understand, then I would at least hear it out.
Well, the trailer is all I can go with for now, and as I said in the first post, if this series is actually an intelligent commentary on racial issues and not just a white-bashing-fest, then Netflix did a very poor job with the marketing.
I havent seen the movie so I dont know who he is, but still I will wait and watch before I judge. Is that an accurate picture of him?
It's really dishonest to crop one of the tweets to cut it out of its context (the trump's percentage of white votes for D.Trump).
I guess it's still kinda racist, but in the same way "SJW" see racist thing everywhere.
Also judging a work of art only by its title and trailer is very narrow minded. I mean you can be not interested, but judging it only by this, nah. Seems more you judge it by the political compass of the author than anything else.
I wouldn't mind. I see it more as a kind of political joke than anything else. He doesn't say fuck white people in that case because they are white, but because they voted trump. As long as you don't say it because you actually hate the racial group, I don't have any problem with it.
That's the problem: the pieces of information available are few. Judging a whole work based on these little facts to say that is dishonest. You say the author is awful; you can definitely not know that since it's his first writing. Hence me saying you judge it based on his political compass (him not liking trump).
That's your opinion and you can express it of course; I find it dishonest and narrow minded, that's my opinion aswell. Not sure if I need to repeat it thrice to make my point though :^)
From what I've heard, the original film is really just a satire of racism in America, but didn't necessarily portray white people in a negative light. But I dunno. I haven't seen it. I saw the trailer for the show and it looks awful. I know countless other people have said this, but it bares repeating because it's true: if this was called Dear Black People or Dear (insert any other race besides caucasian here) there would be a huge uproar. So why does Dead White People get a free pass? Maybe the show will actually be good and it was advertised really poorly. I dunno. But that trailer hasn't given me much hope.
Does he? Because I'd wager not.
Right, because I'm sure you wouldn't have any problem if I said "fuck black people," because I didn't agree with their politics.
I didn't realize I published a review? I thought I instead shared my thoughts on this topic at this point in time, as was requested by the thread creator, and then you found it immensely offensive, for some reason? Isn't that what actually happened?
It's not his first writing. That's a lie. And considering I thought this whole thing looked and sounded terrible before I even know who the writer was, that's also a lie. Besides, I thought you were okay with people hating others for their political beliefs? Or is it, only when you agree with them?
I agree, you're not sure what you need to do to make your point.
Netflix are the racist ones in this case. Dear White People is about a bunch of privileged black people telling white people what to do. How is that not racist?
I havent seen the movie. Is that what happens? Privileged black people telling equally priveliged white people how to live?
Oh my god. You must be one of those people Ive been fighting with on facebook. Im glad youre a fan of Bates Motel, though.
Seriously though, why is this not okay? There is nothing about Marion Crane that demands she be white. She's white in the original because, 1960s film. Bates Motel is not a rabid recreation of the movie anyway. Theyve made a lot of departures from the story including Norman having an older brother. So why is it so important that Marion, in this case, be white?
This new series is pretty racist and is only going to alienate/misinform it's viewers if the trailer is at all accurate as to what the movie is going to be about.
Don't Judge A Book By It's Cover. Watch the 2014 movie. It actually lampoons SJWs. Yes, it also satirizes white people on the other side of the race issue but it is not the preachy, condescending, race baiting propaganda that promotes "white genocide" unlike what the alt right tells everyone.
Here is a clip in the movie where SJWs are being parodied.
It really seems to me that the entire idea behind this show is:
"Teach white people a lesson about how insanely over-privileged they are, as well as how blissfully ignorant they are as to what it's like to be black in America. Act as though the whole lot of them would gladly take part in something as abhorrent as blackface parties and punish them on the basis that they have no consideration whatsoever for any race other than their own."
If that's not what this show is about, then this trailer really did an awful job at representing it.
That's how I understand it. The guy is sad that americans elected Trump (with what Trump did this far I think he's kinda right to believe it) and say fuck to the majority who elected them. He's white himself, so that would mean he's racist against his own race. Kinda paradoxal.
Well, no. if you say "fuck black people" for electing someone you consider mad, I wouldn't mind. As long as you consider the group for their political opinions and not for their race, no problem.
Well, tell me then what work of fiction he did and that you watched/read.
You mix works of art and political opinion, that's the problem. for example, Celine is known for the beauty of his writing; yet he wrote many things anti semitic. Does that lower the work he did? No. Nietzche made some anti semitic comments as far as I remember; should the input he gave to philosophy be considered, or not read it because of this? No.
Now I'm not saying this hipster from GQ is the equal of the latters; only that when you judge a work of art, you need to see it whole to judge it, and not based on the political beliefs the author got, which are the only arguments you brought to say this series suck.
As presented in the comments, it's based on a movie who make fun of racial arguments in both sides.
Well, you kinda distorted my sentence, but nice pun nonetheless.
Not according to the definition, which includes someone who "believes that a particular race is superior to another," which is exactly what was exhibited. The fact remains and you know it, we wouldn't be debating whether it was racist or not, if a Trump supporter said "Fuck black people," because they voted against Trump, or for Obama.
That would be settled - and you would have a problem with it, regardless of what you claim.
Here's his IMDB, feel free to peruse to your heart's content. And I haven't watched / read any of his stuff; never said I did, but at least I knew they actually existed, and didn't assert to the contrary.
Correlation does not imply causation. I never said the series was or seemed poor because of the writer's beliefs and statements. I instead rebuked the notion the show's purpose was not to "race bait," but instead to "shine a light on the black experience," by displaying the decorum of the man in charge of fulfilling that purpose.
I never said the series sucked...
I appreciate it - and thanks for making it so easy.
I always enjoyed the first two seasons of The Boondocks due to their clever, mature, and realistic view of racism in American society. Despite being a comedy, the situations that it presented to the viewer often left them thinking about social issues in a intelligent and self reflective manner.
This, on the other hand, looks like complete garbage. It is obviously riding off of the "fuck white people" sentiment that has seemingly gained popularity. This is race baiting and I doubt any kind of positivity can be gleaned from it.
And judging from the trailer they should probably change the title to "Dear Racist Frat Guys" since they're grossly overgeneralizing and condemning all white people.
I think I know myself better than you do to say that I wouldn't mind if for the same context someone would say this. It's the intent which is aimed in law, not the act. At least in mine.
I hardly see your point seeing mine still stands; you judge it while you don't know his work. This far I didn't judge it.
"the writer (who is awful)" "with healthy doses of anti Trump hysteria" "Buzzfeed-like series"
The connotations of your arguments hugely imply that.
It's the same: you judge it based on the profile of the author and not the work of adaptation. No matter his thoughts, he can be faithful to it.
The only way that could be true, is if people didn't have any misconceptions about themselves, which obviously isn't true.
The writer is awful. His twitter is a maelstrom of anti Trump hysteria. And this entire series does look and sound exactly like something you'd see from Buzzfeed (which is insanely popular, by the way). This is all true. But, the idea I was passing any kind of sweeping review over a series I've not seen, nor plan to (which I said) is factually false.
Saying: "personally this seems dreadful to me (not that, again, the reactions have been any better)" is not equivalent to saying it just sucks, end off, as you attempted to make the case of.
Of course he can - but it's not very likely, is it? Certainly it's not where the odds are favoured. But we shall see. If it turns out I'm wrong, and this ends up being a masterpiece that brings racial harmony to the world as opposed to further division, then I'll happily apologise and say you were right, and I was wrong.
But again... it's not very likely, is it?