Hi guys! It’s Solana, and this week I’m taking some time off to spotlight one of my amazing writers for Black History Month. I hope you enjoy Jonathon’s thoughts on the controversial film “You People” that has been making the rounds on Twitter lately!
The movie “You People,” directed and produced by Kenya Barris, recently took the nation by storm with its comedic and multilayered look at what a mixed race marriage would look like, exploring the challenges that arise when two people from different religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds come together. The cross cultural appeal was due to the fact that the movie had representation from Black, white, Jewish, and Islamic faith backgrounds. Due to its wide appeal, it has also sparked some interesting conversation, and people’s reactions to the film have generally fallen into one of two camps.
The first group's reactions included praise for the movie's willingness to discuss issues of diversity within relationships. The main characters, Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Amira (Lauren London), are two young people who come from different backgrounds. Ezra is a white male who grew up in a Jewish family, who also likes to learn about and immerse himself in Black pop culture. Amira, who is a Black woman, grew up within a Muslim family, and has much more progressive views than her parents. Many found this movie very funny with the presence of well-known comedians: Eddie Murphy as Akbar, Amira’s father; and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Shelley, Ezra’s mother. This movie also pulled on the heart strings of many young people, showcasing a love story with two unlikely individuals defying the odds and fighting for their love. I can understand how viewers who are not directly impacted by the complex issues of inequality and bias were allowed to feel good, as all of the racial tension in the movie was finally simplistically resolved. As an African American male in America I don’t have the privilege to live in the less complicated utopia that this movie presents. Hence, I did not benefit from the ‘feel good’ escape that was offered and experienced by many.
However, amidst all the positive energy circling around this film, there have also been people who are more critical in their review. Some of their concerns include Ezra’s character and how he represents a stereotypic version of “Black culture.” His character adopts a culture that is different from his own, but in doing so, people feel that there’s a disconnect between how Black culture is perceived through the eyes of a white man in this movie and what Black culture actually is, from a lived Black experience. Ezra wore the clothes, listened to the music and immersed himself in Black ‘Hip Hop’ culture, but this is only one segment of the Black experience. He could appropriate certain aspects but he couldn't really experience or understand the challenges of being Black in America.
In addition, the film used the parents of Amira and Ezra as the main source of conflict—and once the conflict is resolved between the families, the overall outlook of the movie changes for the positive. This plot ignored the issues that come up between the two main characters within the actual relationship. It was mentioned that there was going to be some tension between their backgrounds—but it turns out the solution is just to get the parents to stop being willingly or unwillingly biased, and everything will be okay. This narrative completely ignores the very real structural and institutional racism that is a reality for many minorities in this country. An example of this was when Amira was having difficulty securing a new job because of the unacknowledged societal barriers for women and women of color. These systems of racism will not be resolved by simply getting individuals to be more accepting of each other, without changing the systems that maintain inequality. The absence of these concepts within this movie makes it feel at times like a waste of a well-funded opportunity to push these conversations further—in other words, the creators are playing it safe.
This idea of playing it safe started in the beginning by creating a narrative around a mixed race couple in which the male is white and the female is Black—one of the most accepted combinations within society at large as it portrays a familiar imagery from slavery. This concept is heavy but this movie's unwillingness to dive deeper into these social and racial issues made it predictable instead of thought-provoking. At the end of the day, it was a comedy that people found funny and entertaining—but moving forward, when it comes to discussing racism, I feel there is much to gain if movies decide to dive deeper into concepts rather than playing it safe.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.