Dear White People
Season three, Netflix, now streaming
One of the more obscure Netflix shows, in the UK, at least, where it barely gets any publicity at all, Dear White People deserves much more attention. It’s based on a 2014 US indie comedy movie, written and directed by the ridiculously talented Justin Simien. Now we’ve just reached the third season of the TV version, which is basically a half-hour sitcom, while also being the least basic sitcom you’ve ever seen. The show is set in a posh Ivy League college and focuses on various black students as they try to negotiate the issues of being African-american in such a privileged world. But it’s also about much more than that. The series responds to what’s happening in politics and pop culture with extraordinary speed and agility. Early in this season, for example, we get an amazingly acute piss-take of fellow
Netflix show Queer Eye, and there’s a knowing running joke about “the disappointing third season of Netflix shows”. The show also tackles more serious issues, like the rise of the far-right on college campuses, with a dazzling lightness of touch. There’s a new focus here on young student reporter Lionel (Deron Horton) embracing his sexuality with the help of his mentor, a brilliantly brash and uncompromising new character called D’unte, played with gleeful gusto by Griffin Matthews. D’unte, in fact, usefully embodies the edgy, unapologetic boldness of a show that dares to show us the realities of everyday racism, as well as the head-spinning obsession with free speech and political correctness in the US college system. Dear White People isn’t just a super-fun comedy, it’s also an education.