My Thoughts and Insight on "For Colored Girls"

Okay so I FINALLY saw the movie yesterday. It was absolutely worth going to see. Tyler Perry did an awesome job of giving an in depth look at each of the 'colored girls' plight through the events and through the poetry. However, it was heart wrenching and an emotional kick in the gut. I cried, cried, and cried. One particular scene was VERY difficult for me to digest. I still get teary every time I think about it. I was extremely angry! It was too much, that it literally fucked me up mentally and emotionally. All I could think of was how could he do that? How could he drop his own babies from a 10 story building??? UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I digress).

The movie was about women who have all experienced some pain, hurt, humiliation, and abuse. They confronted and acknowledged their own demons and then begin to realize the power they possessed within, to overcome it all. It gives you hope and empowers you at the end. The movie makes you take a look at your past and current situations of being a victim. Are we a victim of ourselves? What have we allowed in our lives? What are we putting up with just to avoid dealing with what's really going on? What is our role in our own misfortunes of hurt? 

What I also got out of it was, we as women have to stop ignoring the TRUTH all for the sake of being with a man. This was the case in Kimberly Elise's, Loretta Devine's  and Janet Jackson's character. These women had men who were liars and cheaters, abusers in different ways, but they chose to ignore their instincts just to have that man in their life. "Jo" (Janet Jackson) knew her man loved men, however she did not want to accept the fact her husband was gay. She wanted that "arm candy" husband who was very attractive, intelligent and had a lucrative career. She saw him looking at other men, when he thought she wasn't looking, but ignored it and was in denial about her husbands homosexual infidelities. However, it all came to a head when she was diagnosed as HIV positive. 

"For Colored Girls" did not "bash" black men, despite what the critics say. This movie was a display to the world what black women (and other races of women) go through EVERY SINGLE DAY...Rape, abortion, sexual promiscuity, dysfunctional mother and daughter relationships, infertility and domestic abuse etc. Any intelligent, mature man who sees the movie for himself, would get exactly what the movie was about. It's about moving toward the end of the rainbow in the midst of all the shit you go through in life. Not all of the 'colored girls' characters' misfortunes, was the direct cause of a man. For instance, Nyla the youngest of the 'colored girls', had an abortion. She chose to have an abortion because of her over zealous religious mother, who would highly disapprove of her being pregnant. Nyla was 18 and college bound and had got pregnant on the night of her prom. When she found out she was pregnant, she went to a drunk, mentally disturbed woman (Macy Gray) who grossly performed abortions out of her nasty apartment.

I think people should stop over analyzing it and trying to make the movie something it is not. A "man hating" movie it is not! Ntozake Shange work was interpreted well by Tyler Perry with casting, direction and production. I liked how he intertwined the characters, and at the end they could all relate to each others pain. He did not make the story up himself and I do not see why he is being blamed for "putting it out there." The events that happened in the movie is real fucked up, I'm not going to lie and hard to watch, but it is reality.

I'm hoping the movie will empower some women to get to the rainbow. I hope this movie will give some women the courage to stand up and say "ENUF!" This movie should not be a tool to divide or perpetuate the division between black men and women. Why cannot it be a vehicle for healthy discussion? Discussion that does not point fingers or lay blame is not productive and leads us to land of no where and the valley of anger.

I think "For Colored Girls" is an important movie to see. Because at some point, you have to stop running from yourself and stop tolerating the bullshit. It's not going anywhere. We have to make better choices in our everyday lives and know that we have worth with or without the people (man OR woman) who don't see it. And it's not up to us to make them see our worth and value either. Regardless of what we endure, we should not allow it to defeat us and eat us alive until we have nothing left to give or get. If nothing else, we can use our experiences to give another woman strength and hope. Help her realize her worth. Because of "For Colored Girls," I now know that this 'colored girl' can get to the rainbow and it's actually much closer than she thinks. Thank you Tyler Perry.

Naturalistaglam