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Tristan Connors
Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin
Writing and Rhetoric 13300
11 October 2015
The Un-ironic Importance of Racism in Dear White People
A problem which has seemed to be prevalent throughout many centuries has been racism
and the way some people treat others with a different skin color. It could be traced to ancient
civilizations, such as the Romans and Chinese, and is now a subject which sometimes causes
great controversy even today after the Civil Rights movement. Some people, though, live still
believing that the problems that racism causes have been solved, that it is not present anymore in
society. One movie which focuses on raising some awareness on the prevalence of racism (even
today) is Dear White People, which concentrates specifically on how racism is present on the
college campus. In the setting of a seemingly prosperous (Ivy-like) university, it draws from
some past experiences in terms of racism and almost compares them to some of the places one
can find racism in today. The movie Dear White People utilizes different rhetorical devices and
character development over the course of the story to show the prevalence of racism in the 21st
Century and to bring to light modern forms racism now takes.
An approach the director takes to convey his purpose (to show how racism is still
prevalent today) is through cinematography, specifically camera angle and visuals. One can
describe camera angle as the placement of the camera in a scene, what it is observing, and what
perspective it is inviting the audience to see through. One way in which the camera angle is used
to convey the prevalence of racism in the 21st Century is in the case of Lionel Higgins.

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Throughout the movie the cameras position shows different groups of people, ranging from the
beginning when it shows the different majors and houses to the end, showing division between
President Fletcher and Dean Fairbanks (who now serve as metaphors for their respective races).
The first time the viewer sees Lionel, he is one person standing in front of a gigantic building,
which he is purposely locked out of. Right away the camera angle demonstrates the idea of a
very small black man (Lionel) against a very large majority (which could be metaphorically
interpreted as the people who still suffer from the consequences of racism against the large
majority of Americans who today believe that racism is no longer a problem). Right away it
conveys the presence of a very large, almost overwhelming problem. The next instance camera is
used effectively to this manner is in the scene introducing Colandrea Coco Conners, when she
is talking to Helmut West about her aspirations of being on reality television. The camera is set
up at the end of the table, looking in on the conversation as if the audience is part of the
discussion, but still separated from it. Whats even more interesting is the television in the
background which is playing one of Cocos videos involving her critical opinions of the housing
situations in Winchester University, which she feels are heavily (and unfairly) based on race.
This television is literally the voice speaking out about the injustice that comes with racism.
What is even more interesting about the camera placement in this instance is the way in which it
shows the voice which is willing to speak out against this injustice getting almost snuffed out by
(Helmuts) support for the stereotypical views of a persons race, with the conversation between
Coco and the producer literally in front of the television in relation to the camera.
The scenes with Lionel in them are some prominent, particular examples of where
camera angle is used to convey a sense of racism as well. The first major scene involves Lionel
arriving for his first encounter with the writers/editors of the large school paper. The camera is

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positioned inside the room where the two writers are sitting, looking out at Lionel as he looks
uncomfortably in as the more experienced writers give him a surprised look, as if they were a
little unsettled to see him there. This perspective the camera takes with Lionel is done various
times to show how there is still tension between races in modern times. The next major instance
of this as it relates to Lionel is more interesting, though. The scene involves a group of Kurts
friends sitting at a table talking about the party that they will throw in the near future. What
makes this scene even more fascinating is the way the camera makes the scene slightly more
suspenseful, and definitely more symbolic. It uses a technique called the moving frame, which
is used as a way of adding both suspense and symbolism to the scene. Media scholar Judith
Lancioni describes a moving frame as being able to expand the frame of the original
photograph, thus giving it symbolic importance far beyond the specific scene photographed.
This slow moving frame also serves to give viewers time to contemplate the image and to
question its significance. The more time viewers spend moving through the illusionary depths of
the image, the more significance that image takes on (Lancioni 110). The technique described
by Lancioni is subtly used in this scene to convey the significance which stereotyping and racial
discrimination still hold today. In the movie, the camera is positioned inside Kurts group as they
contemplate what they will do in the future. In the background, though, there is a person sitting
by the window, alone. As the camera slowly begins to focus on this person, it is revealed to be
Lionel, the outcast. It conveys the sense of helplessness and insecurity which he has, always on
the outside looking in, seemingly never able to change peoples views of him (excluding the final
scenes of the movie involving Lionel taking charge of his life and leading people to destroy a
blackface party, and then proceeding to tell off the Dean Fairbanks afterward). The audience is
invited to feel sympathy for this poor, left out man who cannot find a way to fit into society in

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any way. This is also very metaphorical in meaning (which can be confirmed by Lancionis
statement that slow camera movement helps to add symbolism to a photograph or scene). Lionel
represents that group of misfits and outcasts in society today, and with the racial theme behind
the movie, it makes sense that this group of social misfits would be the people living under
racial discrimination. That means that this scene would again portray the minority classes being
ostracized by the white, wealthy class which holds control over much of the United States today
(as symbolized by Kurt and his group of friends).
Another way in which Dear White People conveyed the theme of the prevalence of
racism in the 21st Century was through visuals; that is, the movie shows this theme through the
use of color schemes and photographs/frames. The two most prominent examples of this in the
movie are in the beginning and end. The movie starts off with initial credits on top of very
colorful backgrounds, which switched between colors like red, yellow, blue, and green. Once this
opening sequence is over, though, the colors seem to disappear. Now, it shows the main
characters of the movie watching the television, but the backgrounds are either dark or light
(standing for their respective races; dark backgrounds were behind characters like Sam, Troy,
and Coco, while light backgrounds were behind Kurt and President Fletcher). Before any of the
characters had even interacted there was a sense of separation between racial groups. Then the
movie showed frames of some people, specifically people from the business school, the media
school, the house with all the sports people, Kurts house full of rather trashy-looking white men,
and lastly the house where the school puts most of the black people, Armstrong-Parker. It could
be argued that this sequence of framing the different groups is just an attempt to show separation
in general, that the director wouldnt show stereotypes of the business and media schools if the
major theme of the movie was racial tension. Although the frames do show a sense of the overall

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separation of groups that occurs in college, they really serve as a way to magnify the racial
tension over all the other controversies within this specific campus, as the humorous cliques in
the frames are juxtaposed with the almost normal people in the last two frames (Kurts house and
Armstrong-Parker). The first few highlight some stereotypes that would be comical for a movie
to show, but the last two are not as amusing as they are unsettling, showing two very different
groups in the white people flipping off the camera to the black people giving this almost
intimidating stare at the audience. And from that point the movie begins to go more in depth
about the contrast between the last two groups of people, almost as if those two juxtaposed
frames were the thesis of the movie, while whatever came before was an introduction about
college, and the cliques and groups that form within it. Similarly, just as the movie ends, more
frames are showed, but this time they were of real blackface parties at some prestigious schools.
It is almost as if the director had taken his thesis about the separation of races that exists today on
college campuses and applied it to the world with very real, almost unnerving images which
inspire a disgusting recognition from the audience. The images are dependent on the larger
cultural meaning they provoke and the social, political, and cultural contexts in which they are
viewed, as mentioned by Sturken and Cartwright (25). These images convey the unsettling truth
that racism is still a problem today, and that there are plenty of ways it exists without many
people being aware that it does (especially on a renowned college such as Dartmouth, one of the
few in the images).
The other popular manner in which the director shows the prevalence of racism was
through character development (or lack thereof), specifically in the character of Coco Conners.
Right away Coco comes off as this extremely confident girl who knows where she wants to be
and is very aware of her identity, that she doesnt associate with the stereotypes associated with

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black people. But then, right from her first encounter with Helmut West, her identity (as the
viewer sees it) begins to deteriorate to the point that she doesnt really know who she is, and her
insecurity comes out. The development of this character shows the struggle for some people to
find their identity, but metaphorically Coco represents black people who had struggled fighting
for a place in society, especially in America. Just like her, they have gotten to the point where
they could get into elite colleges and universities, but now once again they see that there are
various stereotypes and forms of racism which must be fought in order to actually achieve a
place in college society that doesnt involve the black stereotype. But this black stereotype has
already proven to rather lucrative in terms of both financial and social success. Sometimes it
could be easier just to be the black guy in a group. Sometimes it could be easier to bolster this
stereotype if it causes financial gain (like President Fletchers decision at the end of the movie to
let Helmut West recreate the riot which had gone on in the school. This makes it harder for any
person to develop a truly unique identity outside a stereotype, and to do so would require a
personal and social struggle for acceptance.
Throughout the plot of Dear White People, the director used various aspects of
moviemaking, from character development to camera angle, to show how modern racism is
present, especially on college campuses. Even more so, he shows that not many people are aware
of such problems which could affect the lives of many people if left unchecked. Due to that, he
brings to light these injustices which he feels must be solved, but he doesnt necessarily present a
way to solve them. Showing people the overarching problems could inspire action from the
people, which could lead to change in the way that racism and stereotyping is dealt with on the
college campus. Maybe there is no direct way to solve this problem right now, but raising
awareness of it is the first step, which was masterfully taken by the director.

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Works Cited
Lancioni, Judith. The Rhetoric of Frame Revisional Archival Photographs in The Civil War.
Visual Rhetoric: A Reader in Communication and American Culture. SAGE Publications
Inc, 2008. Print.
Simien, Justin, dir. Dear White People. Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, Code Red. 2014. Film.
Sturken, Marita, and Cartwright, Lisa. Image, Power, and Politics. Practices of Looking: An
Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. 25. Print.