Last Friday I along with about...oh a hundred trillion other black women made my way to Atlantic Station to see the long awaited..."For Colored Girls." Finally. I thought as I got dressed and headed to meet my girlfriend for our "date night." It was obvious that many of my "sister friends" had no idea what the movie was going to be about. They didn't know it was originally a choreopoem....that was written over 30 years ago.
But let's be honest, even if someone had said that it was a "chorepoem"...most folks would have no clue what the hell that meant? I had to look it up myself..so I understood why some people were confused. I pause here to mention that Ntozake wrote her ass! I mean, the symbolism and movement in the words was so profound that I almost hesitated to call myself a poet after listening to the beautiful monologues. Wow. She gets 140 titanium stars for the poetry. But at the end of the movie, (which was MASTERFULLY done by the way) I still felt confused. Not about the poetry but about the underlying message.
...my confusion was about something else. Something a little more personal. Prior to going to the movie, I knew that the full title of the book was FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONTEMPLATED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF. So, I was expecting to see profound sadness...the type of sadness that would lead one to commit suicide. That made sense to me. What surprised me was how much of that sadness came by way of a man! The women in the movie were all types of worked over by these no account men. Hence my relate-ability issue. As a lesbian...I sympathised with the women...but I couldn't relate. I just felt sorry for them...from a distance. During the "after movie discussion," my gf and two other of our friends (also black lezzies) talked about the faint pity that we sometimes feel for straight women. None of us felt good about it, but we all said we felt it.
The movie and our conversation made me wonder, was this an accurate portrayal of what heterosexual black women go through?
So I wanted to pose a question to my lezzie friends. How do we as lesbians feel about straight women? Can we really relate? or do we feel like we are better, because we don't take shit from no man???
Straight women, please feel free to chime in. I had no idea what I really felt until this movie...so maybe you have never thought about it either. Let me know. What were you thoughts about the movie and how it depicted straight women? Was it accurate?
What do you think? Are all colored girls the same??
Straight Girl here: I feel like I am better, because I don't take shit from no man!!!
ReplyDeletep.s. i'm single than a muthafukkah though...i think that's the crux of the situation
p.p.s. i wonder why tp didn't choose to include a lesbisexual colored girl--even brewster place had a same-sex couple. i often think he's got it in for "the gays"...jmo
You know, I wondered the same thing but I am thinking that there was no such character in the original book...sooo he didn't want to take the liberty of adding a new colored girl. Its interesting because I have been reading a lot of reviews on the movie and people seem to feel like he portrayed the women as victims as well. I just feel like as black women, we deal with so much more than just relationship issues...what about weight? class? Things like that...there is so much more to "our" story than being used, and abused. Thanks for reading, big sis!!
ReplyDelete