A few thoughts about Whiteboyz

1. When I watched the first few minutes of the movie, I thought it was really annoying. Usually I can get over “annoying” and find out things about the movie that will get me thinking about other things. What I found out about this movie is that i really didn’t like watching it. I thought it was vaguely painful and I kept wanting it to end. I guess what I got out of the movie was the reality check about race that the boys faced when they got to Chicago. Flip “playing black” isn’t the same as actually being black. We see that the cops treat Flip differently than Kalid at the party. We also see the cops shooting at the black man in Chicago instead of Flip.

2. I’ve looked up reviews online and I found one that says the movie has trouble “decid[ing] whether it wants to be a sort of Friday for the Limp Bizkit set or a serious social satire about the aimlessness and delusion of today’s lost youth.” I don’t know if I like that review of the movie. How does a white person pretending to be black = aimless, maybe deluted, but aimless? I just don’t see the correlation. Anyway, I agree with this reviewer because I don’t think the movie really achieves much of anything.

3. Im having some trouble thinking about the part in the movie when Flip says that he really is black and that his skin doesn’t mean anything. I remember that he seemed so serious and intent on the other person believing him. It seemed like he really thought that. It makes me think differently about Flip and the movie, but I don’t know how it makes me thing…it just is kind of unsettling.