I saw the "race-themed" movie, Best Man Holiday this weekend. And it was awesome!So, I came down with some ol' nasty little cold on Thursday. Just all of a sudden, sneezing, coughing, congestion... BAM! She's sick. Bleah. But... this was opening weekend for Best Man Holiday. And I've been waiting for this movie for months. Okay, actually for YEARS. Over a decade if ya wanna be real precise about it. I was NOT going to miss opening weekend of this movie. Cold, snotty nose, slight fever or not. I was going. And the boo-dude was going too even though he kept complaining that it was a chick flick.
*laughs*
We went. We had a great time. Enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Bonefish Grill (oooh, the tilapia was sooo delicious!) and it was generally a great date for us. I was back in bed on nyquil before 9pm. For me, a great date with my guy. The movie was wonderful -- more wonderful than I even expected it to be. For a sequel that was 14 years in the making... not one frame was a wasted moment. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more and I was deeply satisfied.
This movie was about friendship and love. The characters (for the most part) are far more accomplished and wealthy than my friends and I are (well, some of my friends really ARE wealthy ballers but they're still cool with lil' ol' me and my lil' ol' blogging life). But the characters feel "real" to me. The friendships that they have, the depth of their love for each other is palatable -- and it reflects the way that I feel about my friends. I love those characters too. More than words can really say.
...I almost didn't want to write about the movie because the dreaded... C-word had a pretty big role in the movie. And well... damn... sometimes you just don't wanna deal with cancer. I know you know what I mean. But, it was there and it played its part (I don't want to spoil the movie for the folks who may not have seen it yet). Even with that part in the movie, the movie really ultimately was about the love between really good friends.
Soooooo... on Sunday when USA Today published the headline that Thor was nearly beat by the "race themed movie" Best Man Holiday... social media flew into a frenzy. And I'll admit it... I think I kicked over a trashcan too.
(okay, in my head I did... still counts, right?)
However, a few hours later... and TWO headline changes later... I am laughing about it. Here is what's funny to a girl like me...
I am black. (don't gasp, I know you knew that...) I am really pretty proud of that. Not because it is so special but just that I come from a very rich heritage of a strong and resilient people. I don't shy away from race topics or black issues because well, to me that's silly. There is no hiding my melanin rich, caramel colored skin. I love it. It is me. How could I not? I value the history that I come from and all of it fascinates me -- my history, my ancestry, my culture, and how varied my black people can be. However, my pride about being a black American woman doesn't make me less human. Doesn't make me more so either. It is just a part of me. Just like my curly hair and my thick eyebrows. Its part of the package of this human life.
So, when Hollywood is surprised that other people like me can appear in a movie, living relatively normal lives, going through the same stuff that other people do... I have to chuckle. No seriously. I have to laugh. I have to laugh at the confusion that people who may have different traditions but still are just humans existing and living on this planet... aren't automatically focused on their race. There was nothing about this movie that referenced race or racial themes. I mean, absolutely nothing. And yet... it was considered a "race themed" movie. Compared to Fruitvale Station and 12 Years a Slave and the Butler. Now, all three of those films were race-themed. Because they were centered around issues of race and racial prejudice in America.
(I've seen all three and they all were EXCELLENT! I highly recommend them if you haven't seen them yet. I honestly think that all three will be up for awards this year too.)
But black people just being people learning to cope with marriage, divorce, kids, illness, success, failure, etc. (shakes head) Nooooope. That ain't race themed. That's just life y'all. And I loved all of it.
I really loved that I held his hand tighter during the parts about cancer that reminded me of a lot of pain... no race theme in that either. Just love. Happy to have someone's hand to hold during the hard parts. It wasn't always this way.
What I'm trying to say is that although this particular black woman in America enjoys race topics (films, books, dialogues, etc.) that isn't the entirety of the black experience in America. Everything we do doesn't revolve around our race. I guess understanding all of this can be convoluted to some. I get it. And I'm sort of sorry (only slightly though) that it is hard for some people to understand all of it. But please know that we all just want to be acknowledged as human.
What did you think of Best Man Holiday? Did you see it? Like it? Love it? Oh wait... did I fail to mention that there was a dance sequence too? Getchu summa dis New Edition swag....
