The Secret Life of Bees is a film that had many different themes and symbols revolving around women empowerment, racism, intersectionality, and loss. I like the film because it had showcased the lives of black women in particular in the 1960s. It presented a different outlook on how racism and discrimination was for not just the black man, but the strong independent black woman living in the white man’s world. According to Josie Pickens, we live in “ A nation literally built for white men, whiteness and maleness becomes a neutral identity”. (Pickens, 2014)
Black woman are often poorly understood and underrepresented. Although Black Americans are already perceived as lower class, black women are twice as scrutinized, shamed on, while being the most desexualized in an inaccurate gender racist stereotypes. While black men were being lynched and beaten, black women were involved in violent encounters too, especially in situations of rape and other forms of sexual abuse. The movie Selma, acknowledges the role of women played in …show more content…
During the Civil Rights movement in the South, blacks were seen as second-class citizens and were often beaten by whites with no fair justification. Even Lily believed that blacks were supposed to obey any white person’s command. Lily was raised to believe that African Americans were not intelligent or worthy until she’d met with August, May and June. As the movie progresses, she sees that these beautiful black women were running a successful business, living independently and highly educated, despite the irrational racism, social problems and prejudice that has surfaced in the South.
The Secret Life of Bees was an excellent movie because it was not patriarchal. It was a movie that embraced femininity and female power, while paying homage to the heroines of the civil rights movement. Not just women, strong black
Black woman are often poorly understood and underrepresented. Although Black Americans are already perceived as lower class, black women are twice as scrutinized, shamed on, while being the most desexualized in an inaccurate gender racist stereotypes. While black men were being lynched and beaten, black women were involved in violent encounters too, especially in situations of rape and other forms of sexual abuse. The movie Selma, acknowledges the role of women played in …show more content…
During the Civil Rights movement in the South, blacks were seen as second-class citizens and were often beaten by whites with no fair justification. Even Lily believed that blacks were supposed to obey any white person’s command. Lily was raised to believe that African Americans were not intelligent or worthy until she’d met with August, May and June. As the movie progresses, she sees that these beautiful black women were running a successful business, living independently and highly educated, despite the irrational racism, social problems and prejudice that has surfaced in the South.
The Secret Life of Bees was an excellent movie because it was not patriarchal. It was a movie that embraced femininity and female power, while paying homage to the heroines of the civil rights movement. Not just women, strong black