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Marybeth Fair

Dr. McLaughlin

Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric

12 October 2015

An Attack on Ivy League Schools

Dear White People could be renamed Dear Anyone Considering An Ivy League

Education, probably with a subtitle of “Proceed with Caution.” In this movie, Justin Simien

clearly conveys his negative views of prestigious universities. He attacks different aspects of

esteemed institutions, including the administration, the compartmentalization of students, and the

concern with tradition. The film Dear White People makes the claim that prestigious universities

are negative, unhealthy environments through various rhetorical techniques of film.

The first of these real problems the film identifies is the college administration. Normally,

school administrators are portrayed as kind and sympathetic, genuinely concerned with the

wellbeing of their students. In films such as Freedom Writers, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Mean

Girls, and High School Musical, the teachers and administrators are caring individuals who

actively seek to make their students’ lives better. Not at Winchester. This administration is a

bureaucratic mess, using its students only as means to garner income and create good public

relations.

The king of PR concern is President Fletcher. From the moment he appears onscreen, he

is cast in a negative light through his speech. The dialogue written for his character is saturated

with lines conveying not only a lack of concern for his students, but a disgusting naivety. His

opening line, “Free speech my ass,” immediately presents him at odds with all the “American



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ideals” the audience holds dear. This very specific reference to something usually revered is an

emotional appeal to the audience’s patriotism, specifically constructed to “elicit an emotion” and

“engage the audience’s loyalties” (Herrick 13). The immediate negative impression elicited from

the audience is fueled by the dismissal of their loyalties. Further, his lack of concern manifests

itself when impressing the investors supersedes solving the blatant race issue destroying his

campus. When he discusses this problem with Dean Fairbanks, Fletcher shows concern, but it is

for possible impact on the upcoming fundraiser than towards the effects of his school’s

environment on his students. Next, he mutters “racism is over in America anyway,” after which

the audience is invited to join Dean Fairbanks in an aghast scoff. Only moments before, the

audience was angry that Fletcher had no response to the issue, and now he goes even further,

claiming it does not even exist. The problem is presented as so obvious at Winchester that a

president who openly denies it can only be either incredibly apathetic about the well-being of his

students or incredibly stupid. Later, when confronting Sam, President Fletcher is condescending

about her “little war.”

He does not treat her as a person, but as a pain in his side, an obstacle on

his desperate mission to impress investors. Finally, the last line of the entire film has Fletcher,

when tempted to exploit his students for a reality television show, asking “how much we

talking?” The final line remains in the audience’s memory, stamping down the final importance

that Fletcher has not changed, money is still number one in his mind.

Even beyond the dialogue, the camera angles convince the audience to dislike President

Fletcher. During the first scene in which he appears, the camera views him from below, forcing

the audience to look up at this figure. In this moment, “the film’s manner of presentation calls

attention to itself… encouraging viewers to pay attention to the construction of the” scene



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(Lancioni 108). The specific shot angle contributes to the audience’s understanding of the film.

The longer the scene stretches, the more the audience dislikes the President, and the more they

resent being forced to look up at him. In this way, they are aligned with the student body, also

being forced to look up at their president. It creates a feeling of presumed inferiority, which is

frustrating to an audience that realizes the President is unworthy of such respect, is not superior.

Again, in the final scene, the audience is looking up at the President. This time, the President is a

little man with a bow tie in a chair that towers over him. He is arranged to look weak, but the

audience still has to look up at him, again creating resentment against the President. This specific

angle invites the audience to realize the President is unfit for his position above the students.

The other leader of the school, Dean Fairbanks, may seem to show the positive aspects of

the Winchester University administration. On the surface, he appears to care about Lionel, a

black, openly gay student who is bullied by most of the student body. Lionel even feels

comfortable enough to bring his issues to the Dean. Unfortunately, upon closer examination,

Dean Fairbanks embodies the negative aspects of the administration just as much as President

Fletcher. Instead of working actively to find a solution to Lionel’s problem, he just moves Lionel

to a different dorm- “third time’s the charm.” Obviously, shuffling Lionel from dorm to dorm is

not effective, but it is easy, so that is the action Dean Fairbanks takes, revealing his true concern

lies with the image of his school. More than once in conversation with Lionel he mentions that

he wants this issue kept out of the papers. The Dean wants Lionel to be settled, not for Lionel,

but because he does not want a PR problem. Furthermore, during this scene, a poster hangs in the

room, captioned “Winchester University: Where You Belong.” The poster mocks the

administration, as obviously, due to the way they run their university, Lionel does not belong.



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But the poster shows the smiling students, all fitting in, the perfect outward appearance Dean

Fairbanks so desperately desires.

Even with his own son, public relations and image is the priority for Dean Fairbanks.

When giving his son, Troy, advice, Fairbanks focuses on how Winchester could use someone

“like [Troy]” as president of the student body. At this point, he is just exploiting his son for the

image of his school. Later, when Troy turns to his father to expose an extremely racist party,

Fairbanks tells him to quiet down multiple times. He does not want the wealthy guests at his

high-class event to think there is trouble at his precious school. Again, as always, image comes

before his son. With this image-obsessed mindset, Dean Fairbanks stands as a symbol for the

administration at all prestigious universities.

Besides the administration, even the general staff does not really care about its students.

In one scene, Sam turns in a video an entire semester late. When pressed for an excuse, she

admits she had to return home over the summer because her father fell ill. Here is a student, with

a passion for the subject, obviously struggling with a personal issue while balancing a heavy

course load. Instead of trying to help, her professor tells her to “pull it together. This is

Winchester.” Here is yet another member of the faculty of this university unconcerned with the

wellbeing of its students.

Beyond the shortcomings of its administration, Winchester University also fosters an

environment of diminished student individuality. The students are compartmentalized into

specific stereotypes. The editing of the shots in the opening scene presents this harsh labeling

forced upon the students at Winchester University. When the students are introduced by dorm, a

box is drawn around the students. This box, while at its base simply adding a title to the frame,



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also acts metaphorically. The students are “put in a box,” a colloquial way to say they are

regulated to fit a single stereotype. The directors, knowing this, drew these boxes around the

students to bring this imagery to mind. Beyond this, the shots themselves are created with the

students remaining completely still and the camera moving. This slow movement along a

stationary subject is similar to a pan. This technique works by “prolonging, beyond normal

expectations, the time it takes viewers to decipher exactly what they are seeing” (Lancioni 105).

Due to this technique, the audience has time to analyze the director’s intent behind the

composition of the shot. The viewers realize that the stationary position of the students suggests

them being statues or dolls, positioned as the creators feel fit. Just as statues are only ever in one

position, spending all eternity doing a single action, the students at Winchester are forced into a

single stereotype. The students, however, are not dolls, but actual human beings, each with his

own complex personality, and he should be regulated to a single box.

The characterization of Lionel shows a specific instance where this compartmentalization

mentality proves particularly harmful. Lionel has trouble fitting a single stereotypical group due

to both his race and sexuality. In one scene, he calls his own home to find an extremely offensive

outgoing message, set by Kurt, that specifically targets him due to his sexuality. This instance

shows how he is not welcome at Kurt’s house. Later, in Armstrong-Parker, the traditionally black

dorm, he is kicked out along with Kurt when all outsiders are removed from the dining hall.

Lionel obviously does not fit in here either. The dangers of this outsider feeling takes form when

he is manipulated by the newspaper editor. When assigned the profile piece on Sam, Lionel is

visibly uncomfortable, but he does not refuse because that would be a rejection of the only

people on campus that seem to accept him. If the student body was not regulated to specific



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stereotypical compartments, Lionel would have an easier time making friends and would not be

so quickly manipulated by the chance at companionship.

This environment is also hugely detrimental to Sam. She struggles with her identity

because she is half white and half black. Feeling she must choose a group to join, a single

stereotype to fill, Sam chooses to embrace her African American identity. Her hair especially is

symbolic of this choice. She works daily to put it up, to make it look more stereotypical of the

group she struggles to join. One scene with Gabe, her secret white boyfriend, shows how this

single group does not fully show her personality. He explains the futility of her struggle, showing

how she displays stereotypes of both groups. For example, he tells her that he knows she listens

to Taylor Swift. The audience’s understanding of this stereotype of white girls shows “our

interpretation of images”- or, in this case, speech- “often depends upon historical context and the

cultural knowledge we bring to them” (Sturken 30). Understanding Gabe’s reference hinges on

the audience’s knowledge of American culture and the stereotypes within it, and a complete

understanding of the speech is necessary in understanding how Sam struggles with the extreme

stereotype situation at Winchester University. Gabe reveals a huge part of Sam’s character

through her struggle to hide the parts of her identity that society views as white. Sam feels

regulated to a single group, a single stereotype, and so must reject all parts of her that do not fit

with this image. The environment at Winchester lends itself to such a struggle to fit a well-

defined mold.

This negative environment not only compartmentalizes students but also hosts a conflict

between modern world and strict tradition. The university attempts to maintain tradition even

when it is unrealistic for the current, modern times. One way the film sets up this juxtaposition is



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through the set. The Corinthian columns and general architecture of the physical school,

reminiscent of ancient Greek temples, stand in stark contrast to the students playing soccer on the

quad before them. Another example is the Armstrong-Parker dining hall. Fabric tablecloths and

crystal glasses grace the table before the students, but on these elegant tables Sam flips Kurt’s

plate. Here, the actions conflict with the set to illustrate this disparity, this conflict between the

modern world and the traditional college setting.

Some viewers may argue that the film instead embraces the importance of tradition. The

main character, Sam, formulates a personal crusade to strike down the Randomization of

Housing Act, an action by Winchester University to prevent students from choosing their own

dorm, effectively destroying Armstrong-Parker house’s African American tradition. However,

when viewed in light of the university’s history, this act is actually a return to tradition. The film

establishes that historically, the university was mostly white, but in recent years a thriving black

community was built at Armstrong-Parker house. To combat this change, the administration

proposed the Randomization of Housing Act to destroy the opportunity for students of color to

choose the same house. Sam must endure weeks of arguing with the administration and

petitioning with her fellow students to convince Winchester to repeal the act. This struggle to

move from a tradition to a better way of living, one that creates a comfortable atmosphere for the

students of color, shows an issue that extends to most prestigious universities. The focus on

tradition can be so strong that it strangles the students who are from the modern world.

The modern students are also strangled by tradition when they attempt to fit the mold of

the traditionally successful college student. Troy attempts to be the perfect model student, always

greeting others, always smiling, always dressed to perfection, always running for some office.



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Troy is the student whose day includes Head of House duties, followed by “a shift at the

Politicos booth, then a shift at orientation,” then a meeting with his advisor. Later, however, we

realize Troy spends a large portion of his time in the bathroom, smoking pot and writing jokes.

Thus, this perfect university figure is not Troy’s true self, but a traditional role that he sacrifices

his personality to fill. Another figure hurt by this traditional “Ivy League student” image is Coco.

She changes her name and regulates her appearance again to fill the mold. The name change

especially is symbolic that Coco’s true self is altered in order to fit this mold. The university

forces her to change in order to fit with the traditional mold, because the prestigious school

cannot handle a modern student.

Dear White People is a complex film with many themes, including the negative

environment fostered in prestigious universities. Through rhetorical techniques of film such as

dialogue, camera angle, shot types, set, and more, Simein clearly conveys his feelings on the

subject. He could have placed his characters and their struggle with race in the modern world in

any number of settings, but he specifically chose a college campus to add this second dimension,

this added theme to the film. Through the analysis of this theme, one must note that the claims

made in the movie are responsive to a rhetorical situation. A rhetorical situation is “a natural

context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance,”

with an exigence being “an imperfection marked by urgency” (Bitzer 5,6). Every piece of

rhetoric is a reaction to an outside situation, and this film is no different. The writers created a

fictional school, Winchester University, to symbolize an actual Ivy League university, the true

context, or rhetorical situation, to which this film is responding. While Winchester is fictitious,

the problems exposed are very real.



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Works Cited

Dear White People. Dir. Justin Simein. S.n. :, 2014. Film.

Bitzer, Lloyd F. "The Rhetorical Situation." Philosophy & Rhetoric 1968: 1-14. Print.

Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric: An Introduction. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn

and Beacon, 2005. Print.

Lancioni, Judith, and Lester C. Olson. "The Rhetoric of the Frame." Visual Rhetoric: A Reader in

Communication and American Culture. Los Angeles: Sage, 2008. 105-117. Print.

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture.

Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.

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