Introduction
Millions of Black women live in the United States, and not many citizens truly understand their emotions. It seems that women have made a decision not to demonstrate their problems and concerns in public. Still, they might not experience enough support and opportunities to speak out loud about their crises and dilemmas. For Colored Girls introduces the stories of several Black women who cry and laugh, struggle and lose, hope and get disappointed. Tyler Perry, the director of this movie, adapted a choreopoem by Ntozake Shange and expanded its plot by adding new characters who “moved to the ends of their own rainbows.” Unique narratives contain the elements of passion, sexuality, and choices that depend on the roles they perform in society. One of the strongest aspects of the film is how female identity affects an understanding of sexual freedoms, including human rights and lack of abuse, and Black manhood qualities like leadership, power, and support. Despite the representation of Black sexual freedoms in men and women and Black manhood as a current social achievement, For Colored Girls shows the realities of inequality and injustice, proving womanism’s importance in America.
Movie Message
In 2010, people saw the movie For Colored Girls, starring such famous American actresses as Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Tessa Thompson, and Loretta Devine. Its main theme is the life of Black women in New York, particularly the same Harlem building, which differs from Shange’s work where ladies live in different cities like Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco, or Houston. This geographical distinction might influence the representation of the characters and the scope of the problem because Shange wanted to demonstrate that gender inequality touches upon all Americans, while Perry focuses on other features. In the movie, the relationships between women play an important role because the director chooses to strengthen the connection and interaction between people. For example, Tangie (lady in orange) conflicts with Gilda (lady in black) because of the latter’s constant interruption in her life. The Androses explain the complexity of mother-daughter relationships in Black families. Joanna, Crystal, Kelly, and Juanita reveal the theme of employment diversity in the United States.
Despite their different social statuses, health conditions, family relationships, and behaviors, women cannot neglect the impact of sexual freedom and manhood in their lives. For Colored Girls delivers the message about women striving for their freedoms because “men have such a double standard” that they can do everything, while a woman cannot. Perry rejects the idea of liberation and punishes female characters for their sexuality, which results in harmful abortion, rape, HIV, and loneliness. In one of her monologues, Yasmine admits, “women relinquish all personal rights in the presence of a man.”Her words give the impression of women feeling guilty for their trust in men, their hope for a better future, and their compliance for forgiveness. Liberation is not a simple act of physical or emotional release but a movement that eliminates limitations of thoughts and behaviors. The movie helps people see how physical support, emotions, and eye contact may affect a Black woman and verify womanism as the only way out for American society.
Black Sexual Freedom
The theme of Black sexual freedom illustrates the changes American women experience during the last decades. In the movie, some characters, both men and women, use sex as a weapon to empower their personalities. For example, Tangie believes in her superiority over men and her past family problems. She describes herself not as a “deliberate coquette,” but “the wrath of women… glittered honestly delighted… desired and allowed those especially scheming tactful suitors to experience my body and spirit.” Compared to Yasmine, who does not want to share her body with a man, Tangie thinks she prevails and controls everything. She creates a world where she turns off her emotions and enjoys sexual relationships without obligations. However, the aspects of sexual freedom go far beyond diverse sexual affairs and independence and lie at the heart of equality and human dignity. Women want to live a normal life in a society that is free from gender-based bullying. They expect to stop deploying manhood for subjugating and abusive purposes in relation to women. Therefore, Tangie, as well as other movie characters, cannot neglect sexual freedom challenges that entrap her all the time.
In fact, Tangie’s problem has deeper roots than she could think when her mother tells about Nyla’s situation and their past. The idea of sexual freedom changes the life of Black women in the Adrose family. Nyla (lady in purple) loses her virginity “in a deep black Buick smelling of thunderbird & ladies in heat” and thinks about abortion. Tangie has already done the same operation after her grandfather’s seduction. Finally, Alice suffers from her father’s behavior, who gave her to a white man when she was fifteen. The history of this family is complex as it portrays the struggle for sexual freedom not because of the intention to gain equality but to resist abuse and male power. Such a negative experience affects the future of young ladies and erases all standards and norms of correct human behavior in society. A snowball effect penetrates the family when a father betrays a daughter, a mother punishes a daughter, and sisters leave each other alone with their grief. Women cannot stop making mistakes and need a strong reason or occasion to see what they do wrong and how to improve their lives.
Sexual freedom is both a solution and a threat to Black women, but, anyway, it is a necessity that helps resist prejudiced biases and assumptions in modern society. There are many examples when ladies have good jobs, appropriate family relationships, and nice houses as normal assumptions in American society. Still, even if they feel free to do what they want and meet the men they like, they cannot get rid of the thought that they are missing something. The movie and Shange give the answer to this question. Even with the existing options, many Black women continue living with “missing something. Something so important. Something promised. A layin on of hands. Fingers near my forehead. Strong. Cool. Moving. Makin me whole. Sense. Pure.” Sexual freedom for women is a hidden challenge and huge responsibility that changes their lives and the vision of their relationships with men, family members, and friends.
Men, in their turn, draw on sexual freedom to prove something to themselves or even to express their hostility to women’s power and beauty. For instance, Carl cannot stand the supremacy of his wife, Joanna, who, as he believes, tries “to tell me what to wear or calling shots over my head.” He chooses sex with men to do the bending and forget about his rich wife, who earns more, thus, controls their finances. Bill, a rapist, relies on the promotion of sexual freedom in another, more disgusting way. He starts romantic affairs with a Black woman and makes her believe that she can invite him to her home. However, “the scars being betrayed by men” never disappear and teach her a lesson about the defenselessness and the impossibility to win the war for sexual freedom under equal conditions. People may trace the roots of Black feminism in such injustice because women need to have some backup in their life. The movie shows that men offer no protection, trust, and safety to their women in the majority of cases and use sexual freedom as an explanation for their wrong decisions.
Representation of Black Manhood
For Colored Girls contains many interesting and touching topics for discussion, and the representation of Black manhood deserves attention. The strength of this movie is its focus mainly on women and their complex life stories through the prism of male contribution. Perry develops each female character’s line in relation to a particular man, with the purpose to reveal cis manhood in the Black community from a specific extreme. Instead of underlying such critical elements of manhood as leadership, protection, relationships, and safety, the movie distorts them, questioning the worth of manhood in society. Jo’s husband, Carl, betrays her with other men and infects her with AIDS. Beau Willie is a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who cannot find a job, beats Crystal regularly, and kills their children. Yasmine’s friend rapes her on their second date, Juanita’s man prefers another woman to her, and Gilda’s partner chooses a better life, leaving the woman. All stories represent men as independent but disrespectful human beings who have to confirm their cis manhood qualities by means of terror, rudeness, and lies, which serves as a solid background for womanism in the United States.
However, in the movie, not all characters are bad guys, which provides people with some hope for Black women. Perry chooses a police officer Donald, Kelly’s husband, as a supportive and honorable man who can listen to women and share their pain. For example, he demonstrates compassion to Yasmine, who reports about rape, and explains how other people may see this situation. He also befriends his colleague, Renee, who is a lesbian. He expects to learn something from this woman about “some insight on the female mind from a same-sex point of view.” He knows that he is only human and uses this fact as an excuse for his inadequacy. As a cis man, Donald neither vaunts with his gender and available possibilities nor rejects that women and men are different in some way. Such a choice does not make him a good or bad man, but it does contribute to the distorted manhood image in the movie.
Finally, one should admit that Black manhood characteristics depend on how men treat their women with respect to their own needs and demands. It appears that Shange presents Black women as a threat to men’s self-respect and dignity, questioning their true qualities of good fathers and husbands. The purpose of the movie is to help women understand the root of their gender-biased problems but not to find an excuse for male behavior. Therefore, some men consider For Colored Girls a subjective and restricted perspective of how Black people develop their relationships. At the same time, this film creates a solid frame for womanism from the point of view of perverted manhood. Women need protection, support, and understanding, and if they do not find any in their men, they address other women and reach the goal. They know that “being alive and being a woman” is everything a single female gets and should use at the moment. Cis manhood is not for them to become stronger but for them to be confident in the necessity of unity and solidarity.
Conclusion
The life of a Black woman in modern society is never simple, and the issues of sexual freedom and cis manhood prove the worth of the womanism movement. This analysis does not criticize or praise For Colored Girls movie but confirms the problem of gender and racial inequality. It is normal for a woman to strive for her independence, become a good mother, and have a loving and supporting husband at home. Her sexual freedom means no sexual abuse but protection a man offers. People expect manhood qualities like leadership, cooperation, and power promoting the development of equal relationships where women do not feel threats. Attention to male characters helps show how and why men treat women the way they do. Sometimes, women allow inequality and injustice to fulfill their lives and accept everything as something they actually deserve. For Colored Girls teaches that female empowerment, community support, male respect, and personal self-respect are the main elements of any Black woman’s life. Today, not many people can achieve this all at once, and that is why womanism remains a vital weapon in Black sexual politics.
Bibliography
For Colored Girls. Directed by Tyler Perry. Performed by Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Thandie Newton, Tessa Thompson, and Whoopi Goldberg. Atlanta: 34th Street Films, 2010. Web.
Shange, Ntozake. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. New York: Scribner, 2010.