"I'm Watching God"

ahhhhhh....there is nothing like Black Love.  It is always portrayed in the media as this violent and heavily sexual partnership but it is MUCH more to it than that!!  Today in my AAS 362 class we watched "Their Eyes Were Watching God", which is an adaptation of the novel by Zora Neal-Hurston titled the same as the movie.  In it we meet Janie, the main character who marries the newly elected mayor of Eatonville, Florida.  Their union starts off rocky and Janie spends twenty silenced years by his side until he dies, where his last words are " I hope thunder and lightening kill you".  Finally free Janie is able to enjoy her life once again, doing simple things that bring her joy such as wading in the lake near her house and basking in the sun outdoors.  She meets a drifter by the name of  Tea-Cake, who is 12 years younger, and he helps her to realize the true meaning of love and living.  Unfortunately, during an earthquake, Tea Cake is bitten by a dog, and later it is discovered that he has contracted rabies, and is slowly going mad, he is so far gone to the point that Janie shoots him to avoid being shot herself.  Soon after she returns home to Eatonville, and after telling her friend her story is once again frolicking in the pond!  This movie was awesome.  It showed the many struggles that black women of that time had to deal with.  With Janie, it was almost as if she was silenced.  Like all the black women that we have covered in class, she struggled with having no voice or an outlet.  The perfect example of the silenced black woman is, in all seriousness, Miss Celie from the color purple!! Many women in that time probably felt that they couldn't stand up for themselves because in Janie and Miss Celie's case when they did, they experienced dire consequences!  I digress from my point, which is black love is still in existence.  You may have to kiss a lot of frogs, but eventually for many they find their prince, in very unexpecting places and instances.  Like Janie, who assumed, like her fellow towns people that Tea Cake was just some user who would "use her for his good time girl", in the words of Mayor Starks.  But he proved everyone wrong and literally loved her until his death!!! ::)