Racial and Stereotypical Aspects of Dear White People Series Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Despite its name, the Netflix comedy shows Dear White People is not centered around them. Instead, showrunners attempted to highlight existing inequality and disparities in the supposedly-liberal culture of American higher education from the Black students’ perspective. As a result, the show balances the two distinctive dimensions. On the one hand, Dear White People tries to be a moralizing story aimed against systematic racism. On the other hand, it remains a college sitcom with stereotype-based characters and settings.

The racial aspect is the most substantial element in the foundation of Dear White People. The plot is centered around a group of Black students of the fictional Winchester University, a prestigious Ivy League school. Throughout the story, they routinely face and overcome prejudice thriving in the predominantly-White Winchester. While some forms of Black activism are portrayed in a satirical manner, one cannot doubt that Black students represent a community fighting for positive changes in society. According to Gray, streaming media services have become a robust site of racial engagement and representation (163). In this regard, Netflix promoted the racial-based narrative in Dear White People by putting Black people and their struggles in the primary focus.

In addition, Dear White People heavily rely on the stereotypical aspect for shaping the social agenda into a memorable image. For instance, one of the main antagonists is a rich, arrogant, and privileged White son of Winchester’s president. Moreover, Winchester University itself serves as a stereotypical embodiment of the racially prejudiced U.S. college environment. On the contrary, Black characters primarily represent a stereotype of people who fight for social justice. According to Seiter, stereotyping is a significant instrument of ideology’s operation (185). As such, the showrunners of Dear White People utilized both positive and negative stereotypes to convey their anti-racist message.

Works Cited

Gray, Herman. “Race.” Keywords for Media Studies, edited by Laurie Ouellette and Jonathan Gray, New York University Press, 2017, pp. 161–165.

Seiter, Ellen. “Stereotype.” Keywords for Media Studies, edited by Laurie Ouellette and Jonathan Gray, New York University Press, 2017, pp. 184–185.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2022, December 3). Racial and Stereotypical Aspects of Dear White People Series. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-and-stereotypical-aspects-of-dear-white-people-series/

Work Cited

"Racial and Stereotypical Aspects of Dear White People Series." IvyPanda, 3 Dec. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/racial-and-stereotypical-aspects-of-dear-white-people-series/.

References

IvyPanda. (2022) 'Racial and Stereotypical Aspects of Dear White People Series'. 3 December.

References

IvyPanda. 2022. "Racial and Stereotypical Aspects of Dear White People Series." December 3, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-and-stereotypical-aspects-of-dear-white-people-series/.

1. IvyPanda. "Racial and Stereotypical Aspects of Dear White People Series." December 3, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-and-stereotypical-aspects-of-dear-white-people-series/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Racial and Stereotypical Aspects of Dear White People Series." December 3, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-and-stereotypical-aspects-of-dear-white-people-series/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
1 / 1