Netflix's You People

(Disclaimer…I stand by my essential argument in this piece, but after listening to David Harsanyi discuss it on the Federalist podcast I think I might have underestimated the anti semitic “undertones” of this film, in fact its easy to make the case that the film just is anti semitic (and by extension anti black because if American blackness and anti semitism are somehow inherently tied together, well that’s not good). It’s caused me to think a bit more about what wokeness means and how its related to ethical cynicism. In some ways I now see that this film is probably at best morally ambivalent, which seems to be the logical conclusion of identity politics in our era, which I think is part of what I had originally written. I’ll probably write more on this at some point.)

The list of comedic films that “you couldn’t make today” seems to be getting longer. The Hangover is a celebration of toxic masculinity. The 40 year old virgin is too homophobic. Blazing Saddles is racist. Animal House is for lack of a better word “rapey”. Tropic Thunder has Ben Stiller playing a mentally handicapped person and Robert Downey Jr in black face. As with all things, some of this is unfortunate and some not so unfortunate.

The idea that #metoo and cancel culture has changed the landscape of the kinds of comedies we can make is seen as almost a truism. Never mind that most of the time, especially with films like Blazing Saddles and Tropic Thunder, the so-called “racist” elements are actually satirical, powerful, arguments against racism. Downey Jr’s black face really seems to be a lampoon of the white liberal tendency to center their own egos within any argument about race, and a mocking of the narcissistic extremes actors often go to. This is exemplified by the infamous “you people” scene. 

Ben stiller: I don’t believe you people!

Robert Downey Jr: what do you mean you people?

Brandon T Jackson: what do you mean you people?

Jackson of course is actually black. His reactions to Downey’s ridiculous attempts to be black are hilarious throughout the film. NPR actually is on the record defending this particular part of Tropic Thunder’s intentionally offensive satire. Downey was even nominated for several major awards, something that rarely happens for comedies. My oh my, how the times have changed. 

And thankfully they may be changing again. Netflix’s new comedy “You People” (obviously riffing on that potentially explosive phrase) seems to be evidence that all the politically correct posturing isn’t nearly as popular as it seems. It’s a Rom Com about a mixed race couple in LA. Jonah Hill comes from a Jewish family and has podcasting aspirations. His love interest, Lauren London, is black and is building a career as a stylist. But the biggest obstacles to their relationship are their parents, portrayed by two of the great comedy icons of the last several decades: Julia Louis Dreyfus and Eddie Murphy. It’s essentially Guess who’s coming to Dinner but inverted, where the optimistic revolutionary ideology of Civil Rights era Hollywood has been replaced by the contemporary cynicism of identity politics. Murphy is constantly trying to embarrass Hill’s character, based on the belief that a soft white boy isn’t good enough for his daughter. Dreyfus on the other hand is far too eagerly focused on London’s blackness, constantly attempting to “celebrate” it in the cringiest manner possible. 

This isn’t quite the scathing rebuke of racism found in Mel Brooks' The Producers or Jordan Peele’s Get Out, rather it deals with the difficulties of difference in blended families. These particular complexities are especially relevant in light of Kanye’s antisemitic downward spiral. Murphy’s character is a member of the Nation of Islam who celebrates Louis Farrakhan, whereas Dreyfus is rightly offended by Farrakhan’s infamous antisemitism. But racism isn’t at the heart of this film. Its focus on the complexity of ethnic differences puts it more in line with My Big Fat Greek Wedding than American History X. 

Growing up lower middle class in the 90s I occasionally heard my elders make soft arguments against interracial marriage, but it was never due to overt racism. I knew a Filipino-Nepali couple who were warned that it would be difficult to blend those cultural outlooks. This is many degrees removed from the Jim Crow anti miscegenation attitudes that form the backdrop to Guess who’s coming to dinner. It wasn’t that white and black, or in the case of the aforementioned couple brown and darker brown, SHOULD not be wed, it was that mixing cultures can be difficult. And marriage is already difficult enough as is, why make it more difficult? It’s not really a racial difficulty, more like recommending that Auburn and Alabama fans maybe should not get married. 

You People is an exaggerated, but honest, depiction of this truth. It comes from a kind hearted place, not trying to give the middle finger to cancel culture or attempting to abide by every woke guideline, but rather admitting genuine fears about this age. And those fears, mostly located in elite sectors, are made pretty clear. 

America has never been less racist, despite what the New York Times Op Ed page might have you believe. Black intellectuals like Voddie Bauchman, John McWhorter, and Jason Riley have consistently pointed this out for decades. None of them deny that racism still exists, but the assumption of this film, and most Americans according to decades of survey data, is that a white guy and a black girl should be together if they want to. But with the emergence of CRT within the broader culture and the insane leftist reactionary politics of the last six years it’s obvious that the filmmakers behind You People have grown weary of racial ideology. This light hearted film betrays how exhausted people from wokeland are with wokeness. 

At one point in the film a very privileged black woman makes a deeply disturbing claim: white and black people are just never going to get along in America. This is quite simply false, and the film ultimately rejects this idea, but sadly it seems to be what elites actually believe. Or at least what they’re struggling to disbelieve. 

And I suppose I would too if I read Robin D’Angelo and Ta Nehisi Coates as if they were racial prophets, instead of race profiteers. Americans have every reason to believe that race is a socially constructed barrier that we can, do, and have (in many ways) overcome. And the solution isn’t the Wilsonian melting pot that dissolves all cultures and ethnicities into a bland generalized Americana. The solution is genuine justice, decency, and open curiosity towards difference. Also throw in a little patience and forgiveness. 

You People isn’t a great film, in part because it’s overburdened with the cynical elite worldview of this time. It’s not entirely sure of itself because it’s coming from a perspective that’s weary of its own dogmas. But while it doesn’t completely work as a movie, it is an important sign of these bizarre times. The woke facade is weak and unstable, and it’s making the people who adhere to that ideology hopeless and miserable. You People is a road marker saying brighter days are ahead.