This movie evoked so many emotions in me; fear, hurt, shame, sadness, disappointment, happiness. relief...
From Friday's post I am glad I went in with an open mind instead of letting the views of others affect what I thought. The movie was AWESOME/EXCELLENT/GOOD/BANGING and any other positive adjective you would like to use to describe it. I LOVED IT and will probably see it again.
First and foremost this movie had an awesome cast. Some of the most beautiful black men and women were in this movie. I was enthralled by all of our beautiful skin, #ilovemyskin. So many beautiful skin tones, complexions, hairstyles, voices, swagger, personalities... just beautiful!!! Yes!!! I love my people!!!
The movie showed so many different aspects of being a black woman; rape, abortion, infidelity, STD's, self image, so on and so forth. But on the flip side black women aren't the only women who experience these issues. I think (I can't speak for everyone) that is one of the main reasons the movie had so many negative criticism. As black women, we are tired of seeing us portrayed in the media as downtrodden and dependent on men as the existence of our being. Despite my thinking the movie was overall good, I was a little disgusted at some scenes. The movie drained me. I was sad because I felt "here we go again" (and I really needed a hug when I left-literally I told my homegirl "Hey, I need a hug"). Walking out the theatre and throughout the rest of Friday night, I thought about the various things I wanted to do to empower black women; especially our young girls. The movie really made me want to go out and do more for myself and my sistas.
Some of the most memorable characters were "Lady in Brown" (Kimberly Elise as 'Crystal'); "Lady in Yellow" (Anika Noni Rose as 'Yasmine') and "Lady in Orange" (Thandie Newton as 'Tangie). Maybe because I saw myself (and my experiences) in these women. As I mentioned on the Friday post, I remember reading this choreopoem as a teenager but unlike my peers I do not recall vivid details. As of right now I can not make the comparison of the movie to the the book because it has been many years since I have read it (but believe me I will be reading it again within the next few weeks).
One thing that really bothered me was "Lady in the Red's" (Janet Jackson as 'Jo') scene with her husband. How many times are we going to be hit in the face and over the head with the "Down low" phenomenon and the equivalent HIV/AIDS. Guess what being on the "down low" DO NOT EQUATE to HIV/AIDS. You can get HIV/AIDS from anyone if you are having unprotected sex with someone who is infected. Another thing that pissed me off (that is partially unrelated to the move) was the ignorant people in my theatre. I read some blogs and they talked about the various things people did during the movie (sex, yell at screen, talk on phone, kids etc) fortunately I did not have to endure those issues. What I did have to endure was the ignorance murmured throughout the crowd as 'Jo' was talking to her husband. So many people in the audience was murmuring"faggot" "that's what he get" "nasty f**ker" "That's what he get for f***ing men". This pissed me off and I was pissed off that was even in the movie. I am pretty sure it wasn't in the play/choreopoem.
Another thing I did not like was all the "no-good black men." I love my people especially my black men and I was little pissed off that all the men in the movie were "no-good."Believe it or not there are some good black men out there. All black men are not alcoholic, mentally ill, emotionally detached, rapists, or any other stereotyped they were portrayed in the movie. I promise you ALL black men are not that bad.
All in all I love the movie. It had it's ups and it's downs (all the things I mentioned above) and on a scale of 1 to 10, I will probably give it a 7. Yes, I really needed a hug when I the credits started rolling and I was pretty depressed the rest of the night but I still think it was a good movie. I am still not a big TP fan but I think he did a good job on this movie.
I recommend you go see the movie and make your own judgement. Do not allow what you read by me or any other blogger, twitter follower, FB friend, or whoever determine what you think without actually seeing it.
SN: Black Girls Rock!!!!!!
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