A Time for Colored Women Empowerment

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Apple Cream 10/3/2012 A Time for Colored Women Empowerment Dating back when movies were first being produced, women of color were portrayed as “irrelevant and oblivious” (Snead, p. 79). Their main purpose was to serve the white characters, for they were mainly seen as maids. When a colored female was on screen with a main role, she was very promiscuous, subservient and obedient to their fellow male characters, or played the well know image of the “Mammy.” They played static characters, never changing or elevating from their role. As we fast forward to today’s times, the role of colored women has changed. Colored women are seen in a different light, where they are powerful, intelligent, and independent. The new light shining on colored women is seen in the movie For Colored Girls directed by actor, producer, playwright, and director Tyler Perry in 2010. The movie is based on Ntozake Shange's 1975 play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf." Each of the women portrays one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems. Each of the poems deal with intense issues that particularly impact women in a thought-provoking commentary on what it means to be a female of color in the world. For Colored Girls contains none of James Snead’s claims about mythification, omission, and marking (Snead, p. 4) nor does it show colored females being “irrelevant and oblivious”. I feel this is partly because For Colored Girls has a completely colored cast, with women who are dealing with real issues, but do not show any of the typical black stereotypes. The most that can be said about a mythified representation is that most of the black people live in the same neighborhood apartments, which was nothing but people who were just like them (black people) in New York City. There was no absence of blackness in the women.

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