What About Our Daughters

A young black girl coming of age. She has a powerful women who teaches her things and give her pride and knowledge. Now she begins to soar on her own and realizes she also has what to contribute to the world!

http://for-teens-and-tweens.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-05-21T14%3A55%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7" rel="nofollow">Story

(note: story is not finished)

Wow...well I will make sure to keep checking the comments for this entry b/c this is sure to be interesting.

Personally, I'm tired of black women being cast as loud, ghetto and unruly. If that's not us, we're usually helpless, hopeless and wishing we had a pot of Madea's hot grits.

I will need to think about this but again, I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

I want to make love stories. I think if nothing else this obsession with all things Obama shows the deep hunger many in our community have for really good love stories. I want to make romantic comedies with witty banter and repartee. Too many times 'black comedy' is mean-spirited and resorts to put-downs. All too often at black women's expense. One of my all time favorite movies is The Philadelphia Story. I want to make those types of movies.

I think the movie of my dreams would have a black mentor helping out black kids. And the black mentor should not be forced to do it for community service or by their job, but because they want to out of the kindess of their heart. I do get tired of the white person coming in to save the inner city projects with no clue of what they are doing because of their personal journey of growth. I think stories of how we as African Americans help our own community are looked over and down played by media too much.

A black movie of my dreams is a movie that is well written and not full of stereotypes.
Actually I think TV shows like Half and Half and Living Single were a step in the right direction. Those were the most multi dimensional black women characters that I have ever seen in TV/Movies period.

I'd create movies where the world is solely seen through the eyes of a black woman. Our perspective is unique. In my movie(s) she goes to Europe, Australia and Asia. We get to see how she's treated there, and how she relates to people. These would be normal, wonderful, and extraordinary women like the rest of us.

I think the last film I can truly remember where the black woman was the center of attention (and the story was from her point of view) was Mahogany with Diana Ross.

I second Roslyn on the romance stories as well.

My dream role for a black woman:

A film like The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) starring Michelle Pfeiffer in which two brothers (Beau and Jeff Bridges) were fighting for her attention and affection. She was a nightclub singer (ok, I know we get tired of black people singing in movies all the time but stay with me) and she was sexy and vulnerable and complex and not perfect but they STILL wanted her.

This is what I would like to see for a black woman. And she can't be bi-racial either, sorry.

Or something like that movie Contact with Jodie Foster. A black woman with a brilliant mind and struggles having NOTHING to do with a man or some family drama. Her conflict is intellectual and professional.

Ooops! I just realized that my post was not relevant. You asked what movie we would create, not what we're doing. LOL Okay, sorry about that, the one time I try to post here I have reading comprehension problem. LOL I will continue lurking.

I have always been a fan of action and horror films, and I think that we need to show our daughters and sons that there are plenty of black superheroes.

My first movie would be based in Misty Knight, the badazz afro haired comic book character. I would also make a movie about a syndicate of vampires run by a black woman who is both wicked and saintly. She would not be a stereotype, her history would be realistic. I would also like to create a sci fi film about a black female protagonist who is wise and pragmatic but edgy. Naturally she would be saving our world or our civilization from evil aliens. I would also like a love story, that has the sexually classy tension that I saw in shanghai express. She would be at a crossroads in her life, choosing between two men who say they lover but torn over who to believe.

I would put black women as the lead crime boss who was calculated and coldly intelligent (think lucy liu in kill bill), I'd make her the lead assassin in a flick about secret govt organizations that secretly kill supernatural beings or criminals. The possibilities are endless.

Sorry for the typos, blackberry commenting sucks!

It's clear to me you have no idea how difficult it is for a black woman to make films. The lack of support at the ground floor up is never afforded to us, no matter how hard we lobby on behalf of our projects.

I've personally witnessed over and over and over again, OTHER black women putting their money, time, and effort into 'Tyler Perrys' to make mediocre relationship films.

When black female NARRATIVE (note: 'narrative' is capitalized because documentaries are fairly easy to make and contributors see the need to support these types of films and they do so more readily) filmmakers ask for the same kind of help to actualize films with more meat and substance, they look at us like we should settle for birthing some babies, and ask us to put away our pipe dreams, and get real.

Maybe you should ask why women in general legitimize films by men with their dollars. Why do women consistently support trite dick-flicks like the Dark Knight, yet turn their noses up at Catherine Brellliat films? You have to understand that the Republican party is way more progressive than the film industry! And then when you add race to that mix...

Black women DO want to make films. It's insulting to me that you would suggest we don't.

A movie with professional black women as entrepreneurs. They are not looking for fame or fortune but desire to better themselves and their families. They are content with themselves and not searching the 'knight in shining armour'. They are as diverse as women of African descent come in all shades, shapes, sizes.

http://sistagp.blogspot.com/2009/01/paying-it-forward.html" rel="nofollow">Please continue to inspire.

Why do women consistently support trite dick-flicks like the Dark Knight, yet turn their noses up at Catherine Brellliat films?

Isn't she French? Why are we asking black women to support a French director? That's not to say she's not talented, but unless she's telling black women's stories in film (I'm betting no), I'm unsure how she's relevant.

Are black women turning out in droves to see The Dark Knight? I was unaware that black women were a large part of the action film audience.

@effingfilmaker

I don't think she was saying that black women don't want to make films. I think she was just giving her reader an opportunity to say what kind of stories they'd like to see involving black women. She wasn't dogging out black female screenwriters and directors.

And I know full well that there ARE black women in the industry who follow the MONEY (i.e. supporting Perry films) and don't give a lick about telling black women's story. How is it that we have Tracey Edmonds as the head of a company called "Our Stories' yet theychose to release "Who's Your Caddy" as their first picture! Tracey Edmonds and other women like her don't give a damn about black women yet they BENEFIT from BEING A BLACK WOMAN and pull the "I'm a SISTAh!" card whenever it benefits them.

This is bigger than just RACE, it is about character and sadly a lot of blacks in Hollywood lack it.

@Hollywood Blackout

"How is it that we have Tracey Edmonds as the head of a company called “Our Stories’ yet theychose to release “Who’s Your Caddy” as their first picture! Tracey Edmonds and other women like her don’t give a damn about black women yet they BENEFIT from BEING A BLACK WOMAN and pull the “I’m a SISTAh!” card whenever it benefits them."

EXECELLENT POINT..."This is bigger than just RACE, it is about character " SO TRUE!!!

I know I'm going to hate myself for this question, but WTH is Who's Your Caddy?

@ Roslyn Holcomb: a movie not worth watching. Not being flip, just honest. If I remember correctly, Cedric the Entertainer played in it. sigh, he's a decent comedian who got caught up in a bad movie.

I would like to see more movies featuring black women who are with husbands/bf's of another race. There seems to be this unspoken shame placed on BW for not dating within the race, IMO. I'm all for hooking up with a good BM but good men come in other colors too. It would be nice if the movies showed more healthy interracial relationships.

@ Roslym

"Who's Your Caddy" was the first release from the first-ever "black owned" movie studio owned by Robert Clinton, I mean Bob Johnson. It was about some black folks integrating a formerly all white golf course.

It was basically a ripoff of Caddy Shack and one of the most poorly written scripts ever. Co-written by the same guy (Bradley Allenstein) who wrote "Juwanna Man".

Now Tracy and Bob and Glendon Palmer (the VP of development) all thought that it would be a good idea to have the first film they release be about some bumbling rapper and his "posse" scaring white folks to death on a golf course.

These are the people that are "at the table" telling other folks what black people want to see.

I knew I shouldna asked. *smdh* Carry on before these folk make me bitter.

Okay, my movie would be about a black female veteran Iraq or Afghanistan returning home and readjusting after some sort of traumatic event. Perhaps being a sole survivor of a firefight that was preceded by an IED ambush. Perhaps she was traveling in a convoy. Let's make her a Marine, an officer even but not too high ranking. I envision a flashback scene in which she does some mildly brutal things in this firefight for survival. I cannot envision anyone higher than a captain doing this. There should also be a bourgeois negro element, after all she is an officer. I got it, she was in NROTC at Spelman and this will allow for bourgeois negro friends to be supporting characters as well as a bourgeois foreground and setting. This will be a nice and sharp contrast that gives the story depth.

I can see her struggle taking us through many story points. Clearly, to her stateside friends, she will be a person different from the one they knew at Spelman. Maybe the woman is quick in her temper. Maybe she has flashbacks. Men, always thinking that war is a man thing, are intimidated by her and are scared to approach her. Maybe the perfect guy might come along but that isn't what she is supposed to do at that time. The perfect man is the temptation that tries to lure her away from healing and assimilating the wartime experience that has forever changed her. There might be an ending where she goes off by herself, kinda like John Rambo deciding to leave America in order to live in Thailand.

Just an idea.

I like Al's idea. I would also like to see more biopics. I always thought the story of Bessie Coleman (the first African American to become an airplane pilot, and the first American aviator of any race or gender to hold an international pilot license) would make for some good drama.

Thank you Daisy....

Her is some disco for you!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goxfNW27lWQ&feature=related

one of my favorite movies is Gattaca with Uma thurman, i would love to see a black woman in her role, you know, just being a woman, falling in love, not being DEFINED by her race. i would love to see black women in LIGHT roles were there is no heart ache, drama, screaming, struggle. just something fun and entertaining. to be honest, i would also love it if the love interest is a non-black man ( yes yall!!!) BUT the movie has nothing to do with race or 'healing', i would love it, love it, love it. but i'm not creative, in fact, i've always suffered in english classes, especially when it came to writing essays <----stupidest things ever!

I would like to see a movie about an attorney turned blogger who pays off her student loan debt. : - )

I want Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy movies. Black John Hughes-esque movies would be nice as well (Stmp the Yard and ATL are reminiscent of John Hughes films).

Where's my Black Arawen from LOTR? got the Wiz from way back, but I need some other Black fantasy heroines and movies I general.

What was wrong with Secret Life of Bees? This film was directed by Black Woman, and about indepedent four woman of colour during sixties...What about Viola Davis in Doubt, and Taraji Henson in Curious Tale of Ben Button.
Are you waiting for the Angela Davis/Assata Shakur biography, get in line sis...I go to see both those films after the Mile Davis, and Harriet Tubman stories get made!

@lincoln Perry Nobody tore down the Secret Lives of Bees. The post I saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but THATS NOT A MOVIE ABOUT BLACK WOMEN! And sorry, A black woman playing the caregiver of a little caucasian boy/ girl is not anything revelatory in film. Gone With the Wind ring a bell.

The Post was about people's dreams and not a single person listed the bios of Angela Davis or Assata Shakur. In fact someone mentions Bessie Coleman. So either you didn't read the post, or you didn't read their comments and you certainly didn't reply to the promt which was to tell people what YOU ideal movie would be about Black women.

@lincoln Perry Nobody tore down the Secret Lives of Bees. The post I saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but THATS NOT A MOVIE ABOUT BLACK WOMEN! And sorry, A black woman playing the caregiver of a little caucasian boy/ girl is not anything revelatory in film. Gone With the Wind ring a bell.

The Post was about people's dreams and not a single person listed the bios of Angela Davis or Assata Shakur. In fact someone mentions Bessie Coleman. So either you didn't read the post, or you didn't read their comments and you certainly didn't reply to the prompt which was to tell people what YOU ideal movie would be about Black women.

BIOS I'd like to see made: Madame C. J. Walker, Zora Neale Hurston OR Nina Simone.

I'd also like to see a movie where we don't spend half the time being embittered or pushed to the side so the other characters can shine and be front and center. While enjoyed MONSTER'S BALL enough I still have issues with the sex scene between Halle Berry and Billy Bod Thornton. In fact let's hold off on sex AND focus on romance....flat out, all out romance...i.e. average rom com like YOU'VE GOT MAIL, MAID IN MANHATTAN, WEDDING DATE, etc. Unabashed romance...not tones of jokes, then a stilted scene between the female and male lead that places out while a R&B slow jam is playing...then back to more jokes...I had slightly high hopes for DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS but in the end it was more social policy/social politics then a love story...again this is just me pondering much of nuttin'.

How about a teen movie featuring a group of African-American young women attending a majority black gifted and talented public high school... the movie can feature their coming of age stories and issues, while not making a big deal of the fact that they are both INTELLIGENT and black (since some think that the two don't mix).

Every major city with a large black population has one of these schools, so this idea is not unrealistic.

Although I hate romantic comedies with a passion. I think many women enjoy them. Therefore a great idea for box office might be a solid romantic comedy like NOTTING HILL, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, LAST CHANCE HARVEY, etc without the bitterness, competiveness and aggression you find in so called black or urban "romances". Of course since this is a romantic comedy both leads would be fabulously beautiful...like Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington or Wentworth Miller.

@ Chele Belle..

Oh my I nearly spit out my apple laughing at the imagery of your post. Yes indeed...you can't have a love scene in a "black" film without the loud cue of a syrupy R & B ballad blaring before the cut to the embracing couple. Tyler "Hammer Head" Perry will not be getting any of my coins...that's for sure.

Then another romantic comedy where a black female lead is is simply the average woman next door struggling through life and a good natured neighbor falls in love with her...a la...MOONSTRUCK.

Well I'd love to see a big screen version of the LA Banks Vampire Huntress Series novels because her main character is a Black woman with natural hair and brown skin fighting evil. It's a great multi-cultural story as well.

I guess I'll list some films that I like but wish they'd been told from a Black female perspective. I'm still mad that Angela Bassett isn't the top Hollywood actress making great movies. In fact I'd love it if there were enough Black actresses working that we could have a range from really great to slightly mediocre like it is for the white actresses.

Camille Claudele: I KNOW there had to have been some Black female painters from hundreds of years ago that didn't get their due

Shirley Chisholm Story: I'd be more interested in HER life story on the big screen than Harvey Milk

Under the Tuscan Sun: Perhaps not as watered down at the end but definitely a movie where the woman leaves all the drama behind and starts anew, ending up with a better life in the end.

A young college age girl from the hood wins a scholarship to study abroad like in Paris and being away from everything she's familiar with she can discover who she really is. Also getting out of the US is great deprogramming when you realize there are so many other things going on the world.

Because I Said So: Which I thought was cute. I would've loved it to have had a racial angle where the daughter had to choose between the two men who were different races. This may be a stretch but Whoopi could've played the mom. Megan Goode could pull it off if she tones down the sexpot thing. Kimberly Elise could've been one of the sisters. It would have to be reworked but I can see it.

A woman going on a spiritual quest that takes her to Tibet and beyond.

The Anna character from Alias gets her own show. A Russian spy of Cuban descent she gets to be fierce and kick butt.

A little African girl finds something that turns out to be a communication device from outer space, you know aliens and such. They send a message of invasion and only she can understand them. I know Alien invasion stories have been done to death but I still find the concept fascinating. It doesn't have to be told from a fantasy pov but definitely with elements of adventure.

There's many many more. It is very difficult in Hollywood. There's a blogger http://sistergirltales.blogspot.com who is a screenwriter and left to live in Rome. I find that very interesting!

@Daphne, I am an action flick, LOTR, Chronicles of Narnia, biopic, political thriller kind of girl. Dark Knight was a great movie. :) I wish a sistah was in the movie with a major role to really set it off. A sistah could have played the commissioner just a perfect as Gary Oldman.

Anyway...., I would like to make a fantasy movie based in Africa with a historical context. (still working on the concept). Also, I always wanted to remake The Wiz. It will be based in Harlem and dealing with regentrification aka urban renewal issues and the changes and consequences in the African American community.

Finally, a comedy with three professional Black women traveling from the east coast to the west coast. Still working on the concept. F

Sincerely,
Future film and documentary maker

Anyone also looked at signing with Travel Channel film school to get started on a budget?

@ Faith: YES!!! YES!!! shirley chisholm AND/OR Barbara Jordan they were both on the political scene around the same time...and while she's not a Black woman I'd love to see a movie featuring the friendship and communal political mindset of Chisholm and Bella Azburg...there's a bio on Azburg and it features several pics of Chisholm...marching, campaigning together so forth and so on.

Also I love the UNDERWORLD vampire film series. Silly but I love it!!! The grey blue tone and that cute Kate Beckinsale and so handsome Scott Speedman. I agree with poster who says Megan Good could be a beautiful super hero, vampiress, action something or the other.

Yes, I would love to see a beautiful black Super hero chick who saves the world. Not over the top like Jada in the Matrix series. But you know the reluctant, super hero who really does not like fighting or violence, you know the pacifist who just happens to keep an arsenal in her kitchen, and she's just dragged back in to save the world because nobody...I mean NOBODY can do it but her :-)

The lives of both Zora Neale Hurston and Nina Simone could be great bio pics.

I read somewhere that when Nina Simone was semi- retired she moved to France. At some point she took up gardening and a few local French boys kept disturbing her flowers and she threatened to shoot them in the a** if they didn't stop...apparently it made the local papers. Everytime I think of that story it cracks me up.

Other than her great musical talent and progressive politics...she was always...very colorful. I am sure her bio if well written would pop on screen.

@Knockoutchick....you do know that the fine looking Black man who played Raze...he shares writer credit for the ideas/concepts of UNDERWORLD. There never really a probably spotting Black men in action/fantasy/ super hero stuff BUT the roles featuring Black females are few and far between...that's what makes the Matrix series so unique. Black women need there own ARTESIA...a warrior/queen/witch who is front and center in the narrative.

“A young college age girl from the hood wins a scholarship to study abroad like in Paris and being away from everything she’s familiar with she can discover who she really is. Also getting out of the US is great deprogramming when you realize there are so many other things going on the world.”

“A little African girl finds something that turns out to be a communication device from outer space, you know aliens and such. They send a message of invasion and only she can understand them. I know Alien invasion stories have been done to death but I still find the concept fascinating. It doesn’t have to be told from a fantasy pov but definitely with elements of adventure.”

“Yes, I would love to see a beautiful black Super hero chick who saves the world. Not over the top like Jada in the Matrix series. But you know the reluctant, super hero who really does not like fighting or violence, you know the pacifist who just happens to keep an arsenal in her kitchen, and she’s just dragged back in to save the world because nobody…I mean NOBODY can do it but her”

"I read somewhere that when Nina Simone was semi- retired she moved to France. At some point she took up gardening and a few local French boys kept disturbing her flowers and she threatened to shoot them in the a** if they didn’t stop…apparently it made the local papers. Everytime I think of that story it cracks me up."

these are all really, really good, i would love to see it

I knew if I thought about it long enuf...I'd like to see a Black version of MAMMA MIA except songs by EARTH WIND & FIRE and the location somewhere in the Caribbean.

If I could make the movie of my dreams ... hehe, it would be (crazy!).

Well there's one but I think it's highly inappropriate to post on this blog (hehe).

In the world not made up of my dirty thoughts, there is one story, I wanted to write and would love to see a film version of, if anyone ever decided to make something similar.

Basically it's the story of a beautiful young woman with her whole life ahead of her ... college, friends the whole nine yards and then trusting the wrong person changes her life forever.

Anyway skip forward, we see her getting sick, she thinks it's the flu, but it persists long after it should have gone away. She doesn't have health care, but it gets worst so she goes to the ER and then it's discovered she's HIV positive.

Fast forward, the main story will be about finding love when you are HIV positive. When you look like everyone on the outside, but inside you fear telling people. It's about a young woman finding herself and discovering her worth isn't tied into the superficial things she cherished before, but who she is on the inside.

Yeah all that sappy stuff! (lol)

So anyway, the story wouldn't really be focused on HIV, although that's a big element of it, it would be focused on finding love, when you're afraid of not being accepted and giving up on yourself when you think that no one will ever accept you.

I hope that makes sense.

We see so many romance stories and I got to thinking recently about writing something like this, with the statistics looking so grim for WoC and HIV, I know there had to be some women struggling out there to deal with this.

The emotions behind it and so on and so forth.

Anyway that would be my perfect movie.

I've always have had dream of owning my own network, and cable t.v. stations along with my own cable company for starters so that way I won't have racist/sexist Hollywood to answer to! Not only that but my company would globalize so that we wont just have American consumers we would have affiliates all over the world especially in the Caribbean and in Africa.

Now, for a movie I would do an Interracial Romance. The leading lady would look just like an average everyday black girl in the U.S. She would be dark skinned with African features, but she would be really pretty the only problem is that she is heavy, and has a confidence issue. You see she is from the ghetto, and the only reason why she is in prep-school is because she passed a test that gave her a 4 year voucher that was intended for low income teens. Her family does not like it because they think that now she goes to a private prep/arts school she will actually think that she's better than everyone else. (kinda ironic since her classmates remind her everyday that she does not belong) Now in the movie we would make her look really plain as a part of the story line. Black guys ignore her because she is dark, plain, intelligent, smart and wont put out. She is also very clumsy, and shy around men which does not help her situation. She is bullied by (light skinned bourgeois) girls and popular guys while everyone looks, and laughs there is only one guy who happens to be nice to her and he's the star basketball player. Oh and did I forget to mention that this is a mostly minority prep-school in a suburb right outside of New York City This girl cant seem to catch a break to save her life all she has is her best friend who lives next door who is just as big as she is. There is a black guy (who happens to be darker that her) that she has a major crush on. So in the beginning of her sophomore year she asks him to be her Valentine but, he disses her and tells his friends and his girlfriend which happens to be her worst enemy. The reason why he really said no is not because he didn't like her she was way more intelligent than his airhead bourgeois girlfriend. He knew his school would chastise him forever for dating a "hoodrat", and his parents wouldn't approve of him not only bringing home a girl from the projects but a dark skinned one too. So he thinks she'll understand, but she is crushed. So she spends the rest of her sophomore year and the summer of her junior year losing weight.

Crap! I gotta finish the story later

It could be a tv movie/miniseries, or a super (3+ hours) feature film, one Black female film dream I have is a mega-long multi-part documentary Ken Burns-style that will tell the story of the Black female in America from slavery to Michelle Obama. It would be a true HERstory!

A story about a young Black girl from the hood who is a straight-A student who grows up to conquer the world thanks to her intelligence and Black female work ethic.

Something set at an all-female Black college. Think "Mona Lisa Smile" with all Black females and minus men.

A film about an all-Black female dance troupe.

In the fantasy realm, a story about an all-female civilization like the Amazons, just with all the females being Black.

An interracial romance tale (NOT a romantic comedy) involving a Black woman and a French man set in Paris.

A look inside the world of Black lesbianism.

Those are just a few of the ideas I have concerning sistas on the silver screen!

I'm sure someone has already said it more succintly, but can we please just have a movie with black people in leading roles that is not about being black or about the black experience in America? Please? Is it really that hard??

I agree withsunsail. By the way living in africa i think movies with black leads would be really successful . . . .It's all about marketing. Some of us are tired of seeing the ghetto experience in america! Plenty of black people in the world and their stories have not been told! how about those afro-latinos in south america? especially brazil.( they have the highest number of people with african origins outside of nigeria) maybe if more black/brown women had positive images to see or true stories they would have characters to identify with!

Faith . . .I love your ideas! and by the way not all africans run around naked! in animal skins. . . . some do . . . but not all. I also get tired of seeing stories set in africa from the perspective of a white man. for example . . . Last King of Scotland. But I guess you need at least one white person to draw in the white audience? when I was thinking of that I thought I would make a movie on the 16th century arrival of portuguese invasion along the east african coast. They were followed by the omani arabs who defeated them. many africans were either forced to convert or were taken as slaves!
Still working on it as it would be a historical movie . . .and i need to get my facts straight!

I wanted to see, on screen, the mostly voiceless elderly sistahs on the planet. The sistahs that we learn so much from: health, wealth, wisdom, spirituality, truth, wisdom and a sharp sense of humor - Our Sistah Saints.

So I pulled out the friends and relatives list of women that I knew I could count on and WE MADE A SHORT, SHORT - NO BUDGET COMEDY.

"SISTAH SAINTS" - on our website and YOUTUBE. We even got recognized as one of top 75 comedies.

So we say, "Talk is Talk. Action counts. If we can do this small film, then you ladies can take your dreams to the next level - NOW!"

Good Luck and Be Blessed. Your works will NEVER be in vain. We can give support to each other and
God/The Universe will take care of the rest.

I would like to make a funny romantic comedy of a loving portrayal of a Black Man and a Black Woman. I too am tired of seeing the loud supposedly professional Black Woman who emasculates her husband. We need to see our realities of positive relationships being made.

I see somebody took YET ANOTHER opportunity to give Black females the spotlight to talk about the po' Black man and his troubles.

SIGH. It will never end. I want my Black female Israel NOW.

I always wanted to see the book "Tumbling" adapted to film, Its main characters are mainly black women and its set in the 50's. I read that book from cover to cover the moment i picked it up when I was 14.
I just want to see a story about a black woman that is multidimensional.
Perhaps following the life of a young girl growing up in the 60's in Los Angeles California. Her parents are strict Jehovah witnesses, and her father while a brilliant and successful engineer he is also an abusive , sadistic, uncaring father, a unrelentless neat freak who demands nothing but perfection from all his children. She is the middle child but assumes the responsibility of caretaker of her older sister and sickly younger brother, her mother who married at a very young age has given up defending them and accepts the role of the "dutiful submissve" wife doctrine that has been programmed into her by her husband and the elders at the Kingdom Hall. The movies POV is of the young girl navigating her way through the strict confines of the religon she considers a "cult", while she escapes her harsh reality in books, movies and tv shows like "The Brady Bunch"" "Bewitched, and " Get Smart", also trying to ensure the survival of herself and her sibilings. Sadly enough after another brutal beating at the hands of her merciless father , she finally is able to tell someone after running away for help, and passing out on the steps of which happened to be a policemen. Shortly after ,her and her siblings are seperated, scattered into different group homes. She has to adapt to the rough group home environment, in south central LA seeing as how she had been somewhat sheltered growing up in a middle class household. Ridiculed for being "dark" and "nerdy" in a color struck LA culture, she struggles to maintain sanity and her self-esteem. She gets passed from group home to group home, luckily she finally lands in one, ran by a kindly woman who also teaches Charm School. She cares for the young girl while she blossoms into a beautiful young woman. Unfortunately at the age of 18, the woman passes, and she has to assume the role of an adult without truly being able to enjoy her childhood. She starts getting involved in the party scene of Hollywood during the late 70's and early 80's. Getting involved with the typical, entertainers, athelets, and musicans, even sustaining a long term relationship with a prominent well-known Australian movie director who "keeps" her for many years. Who soons become possesive, and keeps her on a tight leash , she soons tires of being his "exotic" indulgence, she breaks away, from him and the whole Hollywood scene in general. SHe soons settles down, gets a regular 9-5, and after reuniting with her brother and sister she reassumes the "mother" role that she had been accustomed to as a child. Her brother resurfaces as a harder, colder, jaded person, than the young boy she was seperated from as a child, her sister who was always considered the "beautiful" one because of her long "good" hair, has shunned her ethnicity, and now dons blue contacs and speaks with a heavily "valley"accent. Her mother whom had not tried to contact her since they were all taken into custody also re-emerges with a new husband and 2 new children. Her father had also moved on , remarried, with 1 more child, and a new stepford wife. Both breeze into her life demanding forgiveness, even telling her to call them "mom" and "dad" when she was once forbidden to do so. The woman struggles for years with resentment, towards her family, religon, GOd and all she perceived to have failed her. The story is about survival, and forgiveness. Its also explores the social stigma of questioning religon, domestic abuse, and self-acceptance, which was and is so prevelent esp in the black community then and now. Hell its alot longer on paper but this is pretty much the jist of it.