Nothing says acceptance of cultural and racial diversity like a patronising promo video for an institution of higher learning. And nothing satirises those very promos than this "Diversity" video for Winchester University, the fictitious educational establishment that is the setting for upcoming comedy Dear White People. Taking the guise of those insidiously upbeat promos videos, we get introduced to some of the students and faculty at Winchester, who speak openly about how much their life has changed for the better now that, thanks to their future alma mater, they now know that black people also eat food... the more you know.
Dear White People itself presents the story of four African American students who attend an Ivy League college (Winchester) where a riot breaks out over a popular "African American-themed" party thrown by the white students at Halloween. Race and identity become the topics of discussion in every class and hallway, with everyone voicing their opinion on who has it worse, what people regard as their own personal identity and when lines are crossed in the name of diversity. The matter is continually underlined by a TV show focused on black life in a white world, and a campus DJ who begins her show with the words that give the movie its title: "Dear White People."
The WU video below is a neat way of highlighting both the subject of discussion in the film and the manner in which it chooses to approach it. It's offered up in broader strokes than the film deals with, but this is part of the point: comedy of exaggeration to emphasise the point. But within that exaggeration will perhaps come a sting of recognition. Will it speak to the experiences of those who attend such Ivy League schools? It certainly doesn't seem shy of confronting the fact that maybe the racial disparity so seemingly negated by college promotional material is still a major issue in the lives of many students.
Watch the video below, then check out the trailer for it here, and get ready for a very interesting movie heading our way very soon.
Dear White People itself presents the story of four African American students who attend an Ivy League college (Winchester) where a riot breaks out over a popular "African American-themed" party thrown by the white students at Halloween. Race and identity become the topics of discussion in every class and hallway, with everyone voicing their opinion on who has it worse, what people regard as their own personal identity and when lines are crossed in the name of diversity. The matter is continually underlined by a TV show focused on black life in a white world, and a campus DJ who begins her show with the words that give the movie its title: "Dear White People."
The WU video below is a neat way of highlighting both the subject of discussion in the film and the manner in which it chooses to approach it. It's offered up in broader strokes than the film deals with, but this is part of the point: comedy of exaggeration to emphasise the point. But within that exaggeration will perhaps come a sting of recognition. Will it speak to the experiences of those who attend such Ivy League schools? It certainly doesn't seem shy of confronting the fact that maybe the racial disparity so seemingly negated by college promotional material is still a major issue in the lives of many students.
Watch the video below, then check out the trailer for it here, and get ready for a very interesting movie heading our way very soon.