White Girl starts off with two white girls (obviously) in their late teens moving into an old apartment in Ridgewood, New York. As the curly-haired blonde named Leah helps her redheaded friend, Katie,  move furniture, she notices a couple of guys watching them. Leah, also addressed as “Shawty” in the film, ignores the group of men and continues to unload their truck. 

Late that evening, Leah and Katie invite a couple of friends over to smoke pot, drink alcohol, and snort robust amounts of cocaine. When the group runs out of their “fix”, Leah notices the group of guys from earlier below their New York fire escape. She goes down and asks them if one of them are drug dealers or have anything on them, to which the men responded in a vigorous way. 

Offended, they laugh in her face and tell her “Go home shawty.” And she does. As she leaves, she gets catcalled by the group of men, all except one – their alpha.

The next day, the alpha and Leah meet again at an old liquor store. They formally meet in a flirtatious way, and the alpha addresses himself as Blue. Both of them end up in Leah’s shared studio apartment and things progress from there.

The movie was written and directed by newcomer Elizabeth Wood and stars Morgan Saylor, Brian Marc, India Menuez, Adrian Martinez, Anthony Ramos, Ralph Rodriguez, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Chris Noth and Justin Bartha.

Needless to say, it is now one of my favorites, although the controversy on this movie is clear. The movie features drugs as well as an obvious rape scene, which may be sensitive to some viewers.

Though many scenes are extreme, the overarching themes of displacement and identity are very relatable. 

Now although I didn’t travel to New York in my late teens and run off to do drugs, moving from a white privileged culture where everything seems to be all “bubbly” to a ghetto, living the not-so-average American dream, I still found myself relating to the main character. 

As I transitioned from a small private elementary school to a large public middle school, I, too, experienced life from a whole different perspective and made some friends who might have been questionable for me. 

This movie draws attention to the significance of perspective — depending on where you are, who you are, and how you live —  which is why I believe White Girl is absolutely amazing. 

I don’t see it as a promotion of drug use or sexual abuse: it is a clear description of how deadly our world can be, the dangers and horrors of being not just any naive and sheltered “white girl” but any person in this world.