Non-Holiday Films for the Holidays

Non-holiday films for the holidays 

Well, it's Fall Break, or Thanksgiving Break, and I've been preparing for Black Friday for a couple of weeks now. I've had no takers from Facebook to assist me in covering my three stores, so that's that.  Not only will I not sleep from Thursday to Friday afternoon, I will do so with minimal help unless the husband really does come this year. 

But three films have really been popping into my head lately, A Raisin in the Sun, Barbershop and Cadillac Records. Strange combination, I know.  Many know how I LOVE the original adaptation with Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee.  Poitier's Walter Lee Younger must learn to both appreciate his family and learn his place as its new patriarch.  He learns this in a way that can almost be considered tragically transformative, almost losing everything, including himself. 

I've often regarded both Barbershop movies highly. Like A Raisin in the Sun, its ultimate lesson is to realize that the life you have and the people within that life are more important than any material gain. After a long day, Calvin, Jr. (Ice Cube) realizes that his shop is "worth saving."  He becomes a man that day who appreciates his family--immediate and extended.  Sound familiar?  It should.  Calvin Jr. is a modern-day Walter Lee Younger, and like Walter, he learns almost too late that the very life from which he is running away, is the very life he loves and should love.  Thus, he should be thankful.  I learned to take a hard look at those people and things in my life that I took for granted and were taking me for granted.  Some were worth saving, and some weren't. I removed much of which wasn't worth saving to focus my energies on that which was.  Most importantly, though, I learned that I am always worth saving, and acted accordingly. 

Now where exactly does Cadillac Records fit in here...Well, remember, I told you I'm a big Black Friday shopper.  When Howling Wolf, perfectly performed by Eamonn Walker, drives to Chicago from Mississippi and parks his old beat-up truck in front of Chess Records, Len Chess offers to give him a $100 advance.  Wolf responds, "I don't borrow against the store. Just pay me what you owe me."  Of course, this is antithetical to the way Chess has handled things but he knows right then that Howling Wolf knows the game he's been playing on his artists.  Wolf is from Mississippi, so is Muddy Waters, but somehow Muddy confused tolerance with friendship and business along the way, and has forgotten a few things. (And I won't even tell you how much I love Jeffrey Wright in this film. He remains one of the best even with a mediocre script!)  Alas, one of the most important concepts here, and one I learned a little late is "not to borrow against the store."   


This means, people, that I no longer use credit unless in extreme emergencies. Black Friday isn't an extreme emergency unless it's something for my mother; everyone can understand that, I hope.   


So, as you get ready for Friday and the Christmas shopping season, remember to stop and be thankful for your blessings and please, don't borrow against the store to show people you love them. If they really loved you, they wouldn't want you to ruin your financial life for a bauble or as James Weldon Johnson puts it, "a mess of pottage."


Magnolias, 
CLJ


P.S. I know some of you thought I was going to bash Beyonce's performance.  Not going to give you the satisfaction.  Ha!  Oh, what the hay...She should never take a role in which she must curse. It's clearly evident that she doesn't use profanity in her personal life, so those scenes were just painful. Lest we forget the hotel scene, the restaurant scene, the empty house scene.  Her best scenes involved the music. Sing, Bey, just sing.