Step Sisters (2018)

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Step Sisters (film)
Step Sisters (film)

Step Sisters (2018 ) a dance comedy movie directed by Charles Stone III. It stars Megalyn Echikunwoke as a black sorority girl who agrees to teach the art of Greek stepping to a house of party-obsessed white sorority sisters.[1]

Plot

Jamilah has her whole life figured out. She's the president of her sorority, captain of their champion step dance crew, is student liaison to the college dean, and her next move is on to Harvard Law School. She's got it all, right? But when the hard-partying white girls from Sigma Beta Beta embarrass the school, Jamilah is ordered to come to the rescue. Her mission is to not only teach the rhythmically-challenged girls how to step dance, but to win the Steptacular, the most competitive of dance competitions. With the SBBs reputations and charter on the line, and Jamilah's dream of attending Harvard in jeopardy, these outcast screw-ups and their unlikely teacher stumble through one hilarious misstep after another. Cultures clash, romance blossoms, and sisterhood prevails as everyone steps out of their comfort zones.[2]

Controversy

The movie tells the story of a black girl who agree teaching a white sorority about how to dance like black girls. The movie served alongside a large helping of performative 'wokeness', uncomfortable, non-funny racial humor and unfocused social justice 'lessons'. ( For instance, a large part of the plot is about the impact of cultural appropriation of black traditions by white people, but then also features a dance number with a bunch of black women dressed as generic Asian women in silk robes and fans without blinking an eye.)[2]
The movie was accused of being regressive, in that it made its black protagonist “the help” and supposedly encouraging cultural appropriation. One Twitter user, Nia Malika,  to Netflix: “We can’t have anything at all. None of us black sororities and fraternities are going to watch this foolishness. It’s African … Can we just have it please?”[3]

The plot focused on a black sorority sister, Jamilah, who in order to get into law school has to teach black Greek-stepping to a white sorority sisters group whose charter is about to be revoked. "I think people will come away being pleasantly surprised that the take-away message is actually the opposite of white people culturally appropriating the black culture," said the actor who plays Jamilah itself. "The messages are a lot different, and a lot more profound." Yet a description of the film making its way around the internet has disturbed many blacks.

"The way it was presented to me, it just put me off," said Candice Frederick, a film blogger. "A lot of my readers and followers kind of felt similarly, and a lot less diplomatic. ... There are a lot of (black) people not excited about this movie."[4]

Reference