The Liberation of the Model Black Student in Dear White People
originally written for SOC 902: Hollywood and Society at X University
Dear White People (2017-) is a critically acclaimed TV show on Netflix created by Justin Simien and based on the 2014 homonymous film. The series focuses on a group of African American students in a fictional predominantly white Ivy League school, Winchester University. Dear White People portrays these characters in an intricate and sensible light, a rare circumstance for Black people in mainstream media. Each character has different subjectivities from their diverse backgrounds. The main characters also face various issues on their identities and social dynamics as an African American in modern society. Dear White People reveals an intricate relationship between one's racial stand and expectations through Troy Fairbanks' characterization (Brandon P. Bell). Volume 2, episode 07 displayed Troy's internal conflict for choosing between legacy and liberation, conserving the model minority status and finding his own identity as a Black man.
This episode showed the aftermath of the town hall protest from volume 01, episode 10. The rally went awry after an article exposed how the most significant donor in Winchester, the Hancock family, had demanded to integrate Armstrong-Parker, a predominantly Black residential housing, or else they would pull $10 million donors from the school. This exposé revealed Troy that he had been used by his father like a puppet to entice the Hancock family. When Troy tried to proceed back to inside the town hall, he was locked outside, which escalated his internal turmoil. He eventually shattered the door with a rake, resulting in his arrest and fall from his grace. Troy proceeded to ignite his passion for comedy for the first time, but his jokes were awful. His friends at Pastiche offered him shrooms to help Troy find his voice. Troy was separated from the group during the trip, and he met with his friends who shared pivotal moments with him. He hallucinated a conversation with Kelsey’s lost puppy, Sorbet, where she informed Troy that “society doesn’t reward introspection in Black men” (23:08). This episode ended with a successful stand-up, where Troy delivered introspective and smart jokes on himself and male masculinity.
The model minority trope disallows Troy the freedom to establish his own identity. Such myth harmfully compares one minority group with another group by overpraising the other one as the 'model.' For instance, Asian-Americans are depicted as "hard-working, intelligent, and affluent," where on the other hand Latinx and Black people are statistically seen as the opposite (Yoo, 2020). The idolization of oneself representing a whole minority group can negatively influence psychological well-being and identity development. This episode showed the harmful effect of this trope as Troy Fairbanks the desirable face to represent Black students at Winchester. Eventually, he broke from the perilous trope and went to find himself in this episode.
The characterization of Troy Fairbanks displays the intricacy of Black people’s identities in predominantly white space. When the power of racial identity illuminates oneself, they realize the tenacious distinction between “whiteness” and “blackness” (Balfour, 1998). This realization then results in double consciousness. The theory was first introduced by W. E. B. Du Bois stated that African Americans exist in a struggle of two identities, being Black and American (Du Bois, 1999). The individual that experiences double consciousness may “internalize the negative perceptions of others, which leads to self-doubt and inhibition” (Johnston et al., 2015). Troy had struggled with this consciousness, as his father continually warned him about his racial and social position at Winchester University. He was never given a chance to cultivate his self-perception. When he encountered Reggie during his trip and asked, "who is Troy Fairbanks," a flashback showed their past conversation. Troy struggled to gain majority votes for the Head of House position. Reggie said that because Troy is “the token Black guy in a white sitcom," whose only purpose is to make white people laugh (13:22). The reply frustrated Troy as he spent his life trying to disarm white people to the point that he may not be 'Black enough' for his people. He was undoubtedly conscious about his position as a Black legacy student from an upper-middle class. Even when he is aware of his intersectional identities, Troy consequently entrapped himself in a single entity for becoming the model Black student, the bridge between Black and white people's world. During his drug-induced self-discovery trip, Sorbet posed a question to Troy: “is he just a body, a feeling, or other perceptions of him or pure consciousness?” (28:22). This question unveils the conflict that a marginalized individual possesses. They are forced to reduce themselves to a single definition to thrive within a white space, even though they are aware that they are a complex entity. Why can’t Troy be all four of that personality?
The episode ended with Troy's successful stand-up, where he delivered cleaver jokes and criticism about his fragile masculinity. The ending suggested that Troy was successful in his self-discovery. He finally liberated himself from the model minority restraint, and he found the real Troy Fairbanks. Dear White People interrogates and introspects the complexity of Black people's existence in a racialized society within the higher education environment. The consciousness that comes from acknowledging one's racial position in the world can be imprisoning. The pathway to freedom is to deny the harmful indication from others' racialized perceptions and eventually build one's self-perspective like Troy Fairbanks.
References
Balfour, L. (1998). “A Most Disagreeable Mirror.” Political Theory, 26(3), 346–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591798026003004
Du Bois, W. E. B. (2008, January 29). The Souls of Black Folk. Gutenberg.org. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm
Johnston, E., Ritter-Williams, D., & Akin, I. (2015). Making Sense of Differing Experiences of Identity in America. Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture, 6(1), 68–76. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpoc.21167 Tsuchida, S. (2018, May 4). Dear White People. Netflix. https://www.netflix.com/watch/80095698?trackId=14170286&tctx=1%2C0%2Cc 9ed54bd-b28a-45ca-b55d-9ac246e3c77b-44118957%2Cc70a0dae-b934-48ec b0e1-af0bed9cf663_77680492X3XX1607918048399%2Cc70a0dae-b934- 48ec-b0e1-af0bed9cf663_ROOT%2C
Yoo, J. J. (2020). Does the Model Minority Image Work?: Consumer Responses to the Model Minority Stereotypes in Ads. Journal of Promotion Management, 26(6), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2020.1745983