“Dear White People” is a skillfully done satirical film that sheds light on the experience of the African-American in a predominately white institution, while simultaneously dealing with the age-old phenomenon of the identity crisis.

Justin Simien, winner of the U. S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the Sundance Festival in 2014, decided to base the film on his experience in college, at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. “I wanted to talk about this experience in a new way. I wanted to find an interesting way to convey a black kid in a white place,” Simien told The Hoya.

For Simien, college provided the perfect setting to talk about the black experience. “Here, a microcosm of racial relations is created,” he said. Although he creates caricatures of typical “black” personalities, Simean uses these personalities to creatively tell the saga of black college students, a story that is quite rarely portrayed accurately.

Sam (Tessa Thompson), the strong female lead and creator of the campus radio show “Dear White People,” attempts to untangle her own persona while also struggling to express the issues of many of the African-Americans on her Ivy League campus. In the film, Sam beats Troy (Brandon Bell), the “golden black child,” to the presidency of the historically black dorm building on campus. She uses her newfound position and radio show to become a beacon for issues she believes hamper the black students on campus. “I made her into an Angela Davis or Huey Davis from the Boondocks purposefully,” Simien said. “She shows things as they are. She’s rambunctious and a true freedom fighter.”

Colandria (Teyonah Parris), or “Coco,” is another strong black female, but she sits on the opposite side of the spectrum from Sam. Coco desires to escape a background of poverty and regards black culture with an attitude of reproach. Similar to Sam, she begins to re-evaluate her worldview as certain events unfold.

Lionel Higgins (Tyler James Williams), the timid black boy trying to understand his sexuality, is the only character with whom one continuously empathizes during the film. He finds himself in a university setting that caters only to those who belong in distinctive groups. He neither fully fits into the “black” group, nor into the “white” group. As a result, he is in a permanent state of stagnancy and helplessness. “I relate to Lionel the most. His experience in college closely mirrors my own,” Simien said. “I feel like those who are black and gay are often marginalized in the media. One can be black or gay, but seldom is the story of a black and gay individual accurately portrayed and explored. Often, we are stuck in no man’s land.”

As the film progresses, racial tensions on campus come to a head when a fraternity throws a party where one student comes dressed in blackface. Considering that similar events have recently occurred at institutions such as Arizona State University and Duke University, this plot line is especially poignant.

The phenomena of microaggressions — racial insults or biases of daily occurrence that can morph into outright racial aggression and hostility, is pre-eminent in the film — It is a distinct reminder that society can easily fall into the conditions that perpetuate the blatant racial injustices of the past and present. In fact, the film’s students dress following the theme of 1960s style at times. The resultant setting displays a distinct reminder of the past, but also shows the ways in which the past could bleed into the present.

“I wanted to create this hyper reality of sorts. I created the characters based on how they looked in my head. Creating them as both fictional and archetypal characters,” Simien said.

At the end of the film, Sam finishes her “Dear White People” series. Instead of her typical assaults and criticisms against the other races, she claims that she should not have to explicitly tell her audience, or other races, of wrongs committed — as moral human beings, they should know. Her film simply holds up a mirror for others to examine themselves in.

“You see, that is the ultimate purpose of art: to look at it and see oneself more clearly,” Simien said, explaining his decision to end his film in this manner. “What are we [film directors, artists] doing if we are not facilitating the way in order to see ourselves more clearly, more honestly?”

“Dear White People” facilitates a means for not only college students, but also American society as a whole to re-examine racial relations in America. As a whole, the film artfully creates a confluence of laughter, discomfort and stark reality. With no doubt, at the end of the film, all viewers, regardless of race, will feel compelled to reanalyze themselves and their moral views.