Dear White People: A Film for A New Black Aesthetic

In the 1980s, the writer Trey Ellis wrote an article in the black literary journal Callaloo entitled "The New Black Aesthetic." This riveting, colorful article was a narrative exploration of a new generation of black artists, writers and thinkers who could easily navigate mainstream society while at the same time hold on to non-essentialist interpretations of their own blackness. He termed these blacks "cultural mulattoes" -- a provocative term, certainly. Cultural mulattoes were people who "no longer need to deny or suppress any part of our complicated and sometimes contradictory cultural baggage to please either white people or black." These people, and this movement, were a part of a new black aesthetic.

While the idea of the cultural mulatto is certainly a classed conception (mostly middle class blacks have the socio-political access to fit into Ellis' terminology) and maybe a de-powering moniker (as the term "mulatto" accepts white racial categories), its possiblity to transform the way blacks conceive of their position in the Western world cannot be dismissed. The idea that blackness must not be a limitation to self-identification but rather an additive descriptor is appealing to many. 

A new film is in the works that could help to re-build the possibility of a new black aesthetic in the 21st century. Described as a "satire about being a black face in a very white place," "Dear White People" promises a complex and comical depiction of blackness. The film's producers even promise as much:  

Remember when Black movies didn't neccesarily star a dude in a fat suit and a wig? Or have major plot twists timed to Gospel numbers for no apparent reason? No? Damn...

Well believe it or not there was a time when "Black Art-House" was a thing. When movies like Do The Right Thing, Hollywood Shuffle, and Boyz In Da Hood were breaking box office records as well as making us laugh, cry, and think in ways movies hadn't before.

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DEAR WHITE PEOPLE follows the stories of four black students at an Ivy League college where a riot breaks out over a popular "African American" themed party thrown by white students. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the film will explore racial identity in "post-racial" America while weaving a universal story of forging one's unique path in the world. 

There hasn't been a film like DEAR WHITE PEOPLE in a long time, and it's sure to cause a stir once we get it to the big screen.

To help make this film a reality, visit their site.