Old Raisin, New Sun

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April 25, 2011 ENC1102 Professor Shaw Old Raisin, New Sun Everyone has a dream whether it’s of becoming a better member of society or just being a better family member. In the film “A Raisin in the Sun”, a 1961 film written by Lorraine Hansberry and presented by Colombia Pictures, it showed the importance of dreams and how much we should value our families. It also showed the segregation and the injustice that African Americans faced in when it came to making their dreams a reality. All of the characters in the play had hopes and dreams they thought benefited the family as a whole. A remake of the original film was released in 2008 under the director of Kenny Leon. Leon brought his own vision of play. There were also many different scenes added to the remake that were not in the original. Hansberry’s and Leon’s film were the same in thought but the execution were completely different. There was a difference in character and overall mood in the two films. Lorraine Hansberry’s play demonstrated how tough life was to be an African American. The original play captured the essence of Hansberry’s idea of the American Dream and the humiliation felt among African Americans during the 1950’s. In the original film, Walter, played by Sydney Poitier, had so much more emotions. One could feel his pain and suffering. One could see that all he wanted to do was provide for his family, make something better or himself and become a man. In the remake, Walter, played by Sean “Diddy” Combs, does not have as much emotions as Sydney. It felt generic, as if he did the film just to do it and not to bring the film back to life. Combs could not really grasp the concept of how hard it was during the time of the original film mainly because he did not experience the heartache and pain of the injustice inflicted on African Americans in the 1950’s. Combs stated “Racism doesn't exist in the
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