In 2000, Raja Gosnell’s comedy Big Momma’s House prospers in demonstrating a criminal case assigned to FBI agent Malcolm Turner, acted by Martin Lawrence, who conceals himself as an overweight elderly African American lady. Portraying the dark skinned FBI agent Malcolm Turner as an Asian companion in the opening scene, the audience may already be surprised by the agent’s ability in disguising so perfectly, foreshadowing clearly following occurrences (cf. Big Momma’s House, 2000: 00:01:29 – 00:02:04). Thus, being a master of disguise, Malcolm Turner is given the assignment to trap the brutal bank robber Lester Vasco, who has escaped from prison. In order to capture Lester, Malcolm Turner and his partner John Patterson are sent to a village in …show more content…
Further analysis of the character Big Momma has to be made carefully, since Malcolm Turner is just pretending to be Big Momma, why characteristics can only be examined as suggestions by taking the reactions of friends and relatives into account. When Sherry Pierce arrives at her grandmother’s house, the pretended Big Momma outlines a crucial difference in comparison to the real Big Momma. Trying to cook for starving Sherry and Trent, Big Momma shows perfectly her disability to cook by using way too much butter, oil, and lard and burning herself due to heighted oil, ending up in almost setting the kitchen on fire (ibid. 00:21:12 – 00:24:35). However, this scene may not be taken too serious in the representation of the real Big Momma, because film director Raja Gosnell may have included it only to add comedic relief. Under crucial evaluation, other scenes can also be categorized as being matter of comedic relief. Exemplarily, helping Trent to revenge himself after having been mobbed at a basketball game, Big Momma evinces olympian talent in playing basketball, running and jumping around and even hanging from the basketball hoop (ibid. 00:49:45 – 00:52:15). Additionally, the pretended Big Momma attends a self-defense course where she is shocked by the course instructor’s harsh treatment towards a friend. As a consequence, she challenges the instructor throwing him around the room and eventually defeating him (ibid. 00:43:11 – 00:45:59). Those three film scenes serve clearly for the spectator’s amusement and entertainment, since Big Momma is first conversely depicted as a lady, having indeed cooking and baking abilities. Second, an elderly and pyknic lady would never be able to do such physical
The Novel, The House on Mango Street, was based on the writer Sandra Cisneros. She was writing this when she was living in Chicago. She was like Esperanza. She want though poverty. She has been heartbroken and deeply joyous. She inventing for herself who and what she will become. This is the life of Esperanza Cordero and based on Sandra Cisneros to all women out there.
The film Bamboozled is an attempt to reappropriate black stereotypical presences in film. Several of the characters correspond with the classical and enduring stereotyped roles such as the Uncle Tom and the coon, however their utilization within the film’s satirical context allows for a historical exploration of the stereotypes as well as a reconfiguration of their meaning in terms of contemporary relevance. Through an analysis of the central figures Peerless Dothan, Manray, and Womack, one can identify the ways in which the film allows for them to transcend and redefine their roles. Additionally, the figures of Sloan and Dunwitty provide further commentary about black cultural identity and white hegemony in the twenty first century.
Miss Lottie’s old house symbolizes the deterioration of the entire nation during the Great Depression while the marigolds she plants represent hope in the face of despair. In detail, having Joey deciding to go to Miss Lottie’s house, Lizabeth describes the house as “...the most ramshackle of all [the] ramshackle homes.” (257). During the Great Depression, everyone has many money problems. So the fact that Miss Lottie’s house isn’t the best of all of the houses, shows how the Great Depression causes hardships. The Great Depression makes it so that the nation suffers in an ongoing poverty, which is why Miss Lottie’s house is very much broken. Furthermore, Lizabeth continues to describe the house when she states “a brisk wind might have blown it down… There it stood...a gray, rotting thing with no porch, no
Growing up on Mango Street, girls had to take two steps backward to take one forward. Just like ballroom dancing, women let men take the lead and sacrifice an extra step to continue moving on the floor. When Sally escaped from her father and married the marshmallow salesman, she had to give up her youth and femininity.
The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros that is about a young Mexican-American girl named Esperanza, and the struggles of her life as she transitions from childhood into adulthood. Esperanza wants to find her true identity, but the conflicts and struggles that she faces throughout the story. Her town is a part of her adventure to find her self identity. She picks herself up, learning and figuring herself out throughout the novel. The author uses symbolism throughout the vignettes to convey the deeper meaning of conflicts developed in the novel, to show the difficulties of growing into adulthood.
My first impression of Mama is that she is the “stereotypical mother”. Mama first shows this when she is talking to Ruth and she is worried about Travis’s and his health. She shows her caring disposition when talking about Travis’s eating habits by saying, “I just noticed all last week he had cold cereal, and when it starts getting this chilly in the fall a child ought to
Through humorous comments, the mother paints a picture of what she is thinking, and allows the audience to see her as she is, and not as the world and those around her perceive her to be. Specifically the mother describes the characters appearance, and actions, as well as offers analogies, such as mothers on T.V. To support her view of reality, or how things really were, in her opinion. As the story progressed, she reveals cultural differences between Mama, Maggie and Dee. Walker also points out the importance of respecting your immediate heritage such as parents, and other family, and truly knowing and internalizing the real meaning of racial
In 1971 on June 17, President Richard Nixon delivered a special message to the Congress on drug abuse prevention and control. During the presentation, Nixon made it clear that the United States was at war with this idea of drug abuse. What baffled Americans then, and still baffles Americans today, is that we are at war with our own nation with drugs; it is not some foreign affair like the media tends to focus on with Mexico. Nixon stated that at the time of his speech, what was implemented to control drug abuse was not working…“The problem has assumed the dimensions of a national emergency. I intend to take every step necessary to deal with this emergency, including asking the Congress for an amendment to my 1972 budget to provide an
“You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street. You can't erase what you know. You can't forget who you are” (105). No matter what, Esperanza’s experiences on Mango Street have become a part of her and she cannot change it. In the novella, The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, the author introduces Esperanza, a resident of Mango Street, who constantly dreams of becoming an independent woman with a house of her own ideals. As she and her family purchase a house and become a newcomer into a new neighborhood of a crowded and poor Latino area, Esperanza faces mental and physical changes that affect how she sees the world. Sadly, the characteristics of the house consist of nothing of her desires. Due to her
The war against drugs in America is not simply a battle to minimize the negative effects of drug dealings and drug abuse in society. The House I Live In, a documentary directed by Eugene Jarecki, explores the war on drugs in America and its effect on American society. The documentary includes first-hand accounts of how drugs have affected America from many different perspectives. These different perspectives include law enforcement agents, judges, prisoners, politicians, and family members.
“The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is a unique piece of literature that brings an interesting style of writing to life. Cisneros writes in vignettes that are as powerful as they are short and to the point. These snapshot stories illustrate the life of a young adolescent girl named Esperanza, who is trying to understand the ways of life, and fit in her culture. She learns that some of her expectations don’t quite match with the reality of her world and every action has a consequence. This is a prevalent topic throughout the book as Esperanza is growing up and facing life’s challenges as a female teenager in 1984.
The protagonist of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House is Eleanor Vance, an emotionally underdeveloped young woman with a dark past. As a character, she has a deep connection to the broad theme of family within the novel, and more specifically, how the lack of family when it is desperately needed leads to emptiness.
The House That Scratches the Surface With only five percent of the world population, the United States manages to hold twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners, with a majority being incarcerated for drug crimes, with a disproportionate majority of those individuals being African-American. Eugene Jarecki’s 2012 documentary, The House I Live In, attempts to analyze and explain the far reaching causes and consequences of American drug policy on communities, individuals, and the country. This is done through multiple personal stories and the intertwining history and policy that have shaped their lives. The House I Live In is squarely directed at those who are in acceptance of the status quo regarding drug laws and offenders in this country.
In the beginning of the story, Mama felt criticized by her daughter Dee, who came back to visit her mom after experiencing a different life beyond her poverty stricken home. For example, when describing herself, Mama is proud of her life as a “big boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (70). She takes pride in the painstaking life that she has as a single mother who has supported and fed both her daughters in the absence of a working man in a time period in which men’s role as the provider and head of the household was prominent. Mama’s self pride is further seen as she brags that she can “clean a hog as merciless as a man” (70). Despite Mama’s positive image of herself, she lets Dee’s image of her mom taint her self image. Mama views herself through the eyes of her daughter as she describes
In another instance, a group of "po' white trash children" confront Momma at her store, taunting her. As Renee Barlow notes, "They were represented as clownish, dirty, and rather silly. On the other hand, Mama simply stood like a rock and sang the Gospel. Her beauty of soul versus their disgusting antics creates a powerful scene about the nature of the oppressed and the oppressor. Marguerite, meanwhile, lies crouched behind the screen in agony at the inability of her class to command respect simply because of their color. Then, as the scene progresses, she understands that in spite of the disparity of power between the po'white trash and Mama, Mama has won" (Barlow, 861927397.html). She has won not because she has outsmarted the white youths or even -- strictly speaking -- overpowered them, but because she has outclassed them.