Observation #6: Good Deeds

Kelley recommended that I watch one of a list of movies that portray African American women. The movies all have predominantly black casts, indicating that they were a more accurate portrayal of the African American woman's experience. I decided to watch Tyler Perry's Good Deeds. The two main women in the movie are from very different backgrounds. One exhibits the traits I have read and talked about in previous blogs: the need to shift into different personalities depending on where she is and who she is with. She also feels the need to show a strong face regardless of what's going on. She wants to be viewed by the stereotype that I've seen described in Shifting because if she isn't then she feels like she can't handle any of the hard situations that arise. The other main female character is in a relationship that she is expected to be in and is living a comfortable life, but she is unhappy. She doesn't really have anyone she can go to to talk about it though.

From what I can tell, this movie is breaking down stereotypes. These women are trying to exhibit a hard exterior, and at the beginning of the movie you think they might actually be like that, but as the movie progresses, it shows that regardless of the fact that their lives are vastly different, they each have real emotions and feelings that need supporting, just like any other woman.

I think that is one of the main disconnects that I've noticed. People assume that black women don't have to deal with or don't experience the same problems that all women experience. Why wouldn't they? And why wouldn't they have struggles? And why wouldn't they need help? I think if people would recognize that black women have struggles just like any other woman, then some of the stereotypes wouldn't stand up. What's more, it would help for people to realize that they also have different struggles. These are the struggles I've been talking about throughout this blog. It ultimately comes down to the fact that black women are not treated or believed to be human in the way that the rest of us are. That's a crazy realization, but that's what I'm starting to understand.