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    TheRealMarthaJones3.0Jason Johnson
    5/11/17 1:37pm

    I thought it was clear that Gabe was trash from beginning to end. But maybe that’s just me.

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    Global BeetJason Johnson
    5/11/17 1:58pm

    “There’s money in faux wokeness now, so long as you can sell it to white audiences. (Think of the early work of W. Kamau Bell.”
    For this sentence alone, I’d kiss you if were standing next to me. Glad to read I’m not the only one who noticed something off about this comedian.

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      hamwinkyGlobal Beet
      5/11/17 2:26pm

      This is how I’ve always felt about Black-ish. Seen a few episodes and realized, ‘Wow, this really isn’t for me. I’m already black and .... I know this stuff already. It’s for white people especially and non-black people.’

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      classynogin@gmail.comhamwinky
      5/11/17 3:15pm

      I don’t watch blackish for same reason. DWP is funny and allows us to laugh at things we give passes to. Don’t want to spoil anything!

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    Rewind4ThatBehindJason Johnson
    5/11/17 2:57pm

    Got your point Jason, but here’s the thing.

    I loved the show for what it was, not what I thought it was going to be. I knew after seeing the movie, there’s never going to be a show that pulls no punches and is unapologetically Black from beginning to end. I know this now because even some Black people have an issue consuming anything unapologetically Black.

    If you’re going to make a show that proves a point to a certain racial group, you still have to saw down the fangs just a bit for people to get out of their feelings long enough to accept the message, otherwise there’s no way our TV shows are going to be made.

    Dear White People told a simple truth: Black people can be messy AF. We all know this but admitting it in public is a different story altogether. So many stereotypical Black tropes were shown but one thing all of them had in common was that they were angry, yet were not quite coherent on what they were angry about because their regular lives was mixed in with their racial frustrations. So yea, the White man gets the last laugh, from Gabe dumping Sam to Kurt really pressing Sam about all her efforts, simply because if we can’t make sense of our outrage and where it puts us, do you really expect others to care?

    That’s real life in a nutshell last time I checked.

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      BigPlops
      5/13/17 5:33pm

      ?? What’s apologetic about the blackness in Lucas Bros. Moving Company or Black Jesus, or Detroiters or Real Husbands of Hollywood or Loiter Squad or Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh, or the Eric Andre Show?

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      Rewind4ThatBehindBigPlops
      5/15/17 10:03am

      Do all of these shows say EVERYTHING that needs to be said to White America through a Black voice, or do these shows just have a unique comedic sense from Black people?

      Because I’ve watched all of these shows and none of them are unapologetically Black.

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    BigPoppaSmurfJason Johnson
    5/11/17 12:54pm

    The triangle of Reggie/Same/Gabe was the worst thing about DWP to me because all three of those characters were assholes.

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      SteadysoulBigPoppaSmurf
      5/11/17 1:01pm

      It totally makes sense in the scope of the movie but the show just makes Reggie look extra creepy.

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      BigPoppaSmurfSteadysoul
      5/11/17 1:06pm

      That was my biggest issue with him; he was like a creepy overly possessive stalker when he was pining for Sam and then got even worse after Sam slept with him.

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    YeshaJason Johnson
    5/11/17 12:20pm

    Is that a rhetorical question?

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    BlakkNicholsonJason Johnson
    5/11/17 1:33pm

    I can say that agree with some of your interpretations of the show.

    My biggest issue was the dialogue. It almost sounded like what a white person would think a “woke” black person sounds like, if that makes any sense. The cultural references were kind of dated i.e. no real BeYonce comments (ALL THE WOMEN I KNOW find a way to add a BeYonce reference to their everyday commentary) and a whole “bae” episode (do people even say that any more?)

    The other issue I had is that, other than Lionel, these people don’t look or dress like college kids. This is not a diss, it’s just something I noticed as the season went on.

    Other than that, thoug, I thought the set direction was cool, the music was dope, and the acting was on point. Season 2 should be a better experience, because the writers won’t be so tethered to the “Dear White People: The Movie” content; maybe they’ll be able to develop the characters a little more, so that they don’t just represent tropes.

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      GDubBlakkNicholson
      5/15/17 1:04pm

      The dialogue killed me at times. Like, one can describe “being woke” in terms other than saying “woke.” Mostly, I couldn’t tell if it was the dialogue being a problem or the actors not being able to sell it/make it their own

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      BlakkNicholson
      5/15/17 1:11pm

      To me, the dialogue was just inauthentic, especially for today. If the show had picked up directly after the movie, in 2014, it would make way more sense. Lets hope they step it up for the 2nd season.

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    smoke&waterJason Johnson
    5/11/17 1:12pm

    Well, to be fair, the title is Dear White People. So, at least on some level this show (and the movie) was written to get white people’s attention. I always assumed it was an attempt to show things like hey there all you people of whiteness, here are black people and look, they are not a monolith. Their experience is very different from yours. They can experience the same things you do, but because of the baggage in western culture, that experience will be seen through a very different lens and have very different real world repercussions. And on top of all that, they have to handle that baggage whereas you don’t even have to pay attention to it. So, maybe keep that in mind when you go about your life of privilege.

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    TheseCommentsHaveBeenTakenOutOfContextJason Johnson
    5/11/17 3:40pm

    I enjoyed the season in general. I agree with a good portion of your commentary and was especially put off by Gabe’s ‘it’s too hard to love you’ comment in the finale. My friend and I laughed that WBs have no spine. This to me, goes back to the need of having a larger range of content. One show can’t be all things to all people. We can of course demand that our content have a truly authentic voice but taking into account that shows are monetized, a larger pool is needed to achieve a truer representation.

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    llaalleellJason Johnson
    5/11/17 12:39pm

    This is interesting (acknowledging that I skimmed around potential spoilers). I really support Dear White People, both the show and the movie. But I’m not sure I want to watch it. A lot like Masters of None and Dope (I’ve heard, but haven’t seen it) the commentary is essentially about POC experiences contrasted with whiteness. It’s valuable and needs to be happening. I’m really glad there are outlets for this now. Yet, I’m not that interested in the conversation and not sure if it’s for me or if I’ll get much out of it.

    Still, I kind of want to watch it anyway to test this theory...

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      Steadysoulllaalleell
      5/11/17 12:52pm

      The movie has a lot of meh executed great ideas but the show waste so much of its time on things that aren’t important. It also reduces some characters to props. Kurt is a legit villain in the movie. In the show he only shows up to say something offensive once an episode. I love the movie despite it’s flaws but the show more or less double downs on them while adding others.

      Also also, Dope is a movie about kids obsessed with the 90s. It’s the worst.

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      Bazzdllaalleell
      5/11/17 1:08pm

      It’s interesting because the movie was firmly centered within a narrative of blackness with Gabe’s character kind of being a side-on and the white frat just being antagonistic but toothless. When they arise to become the dominant threat in the film, they’re almost like Jaws, that fin lurking under the water while all of the folks debate how they deal with each other, their politics, and their family lives and then — WHOMP — forgot about us, huh!?

      I hate to say I tuned out a bit after Sam’s first scene with Gabe in the first episode because while I understood his frustration at being concealed there was no “reflection” on that. It was weird and kind of adrift. If that becomes a central theme in the story and what the entire show ends up hanging its hat on, then I can’t find myself signing onto it. Maybe it’ll be a reverse Iron Fist where I quit right before the finale and pretend the show was better.

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    Bruce SteeverJason Johnson
    5/11/17 1:10pm

    I loved this show, but actually left with the same feeling.

    It did a great job bringing issues up in new contexts, so great for that, and a lot of the self-satire was good, but it seemed to know it was going to be watched by a whole lot of boring, middle-class, white dolts like myself, and so seemed to vacillate between real “woke” recognition and audience parody.

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      emacdaddyBruce Steever
      5/11/17 3:08pm

      I hope the 2nd season can sort of bring more definitive messages on the issues raised by the 1st season. Like, what exactly DID we learn about interracial relationships other than ppl got jokes for dayz? Or activism or respectability etc?

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