Review of “For Colored Girls,” both the movie & the Broadway play (seen in New Orleans 30 years ago)

I may be opening a can of worms with this, but . . .
I had the movie “For Colored Girls” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Colored_Girls)
recorded and waiting for me to feel ready to move through the emotions in Tyler Perry’s written, directed & produced version of the play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf”
I saw the play in New Orleans about 30 years ago and I remember that I felt a profound sadness at the time. So I knew I had to be ready to go through a roller coaster of emotions while watching the movie. Emotions that did not include a lot of joy or peace.

I thought this was the cast I saw in the New Orleans production, but they would have been a long way from home.

It should be noted that “Colored” doesn’t stand for the skin, but the colors of the rainbow. Each woman/girl represents a different color.
I was surprised that a man (Tyler Perry) made the movie as I know that this is the kind of film that some like to call “anti-black male.” But Tyler had the understanding and foresight to see that these negative images of the male are about men conforming to what a Black Man “is supposed” to be in our society. So, the war vet who (accidentally) drops his kids out the window when trying to convince their mother to marry him is what society turns a man into after convincing him that he will be a hero if he goes and fights for our country. Like many of these “heroes,” he comes home broken, with no job in sight, which eventually has him turning to alcohol. (Do not read the plot in the first link. It will only confuse you. They also claim the vet only wants to marry her so he can get more benefits – I don’t remember anything about this statement from watching it)
The other stereotype is the black man on the down low, who gives his wife the HIV virus. He finally admits to his wife that he isn’t gay, but he has sex with men because “Nothing else is expected of him.” It’s just sex.
Interestingly, many people criticized the movie for being too dramatic. Well, he couldn’t have the women talking to the audience like they do in the play. So they talk to other characters or to themselves. If it is dramatic, it is because the play is dramatic. Besides, aren’t movies and plays supposed to be dramatic?
Some people may say the women were too dramatic. Or the storyline was too dramatic, but I think the role of black women has changed so much since the 70’s that you would hardly recognize these women today.
Somehow, without even seeing many of these dramas, black women became strong. Or maybe some of them went through one or more of the situations depicted and became strong because of that process. Or maybe some black women taught other black women that they need to stick together & support each other. However it happened, black women have become stronger, more enlightened and more in control of their own lives.
Now, we just need a play/movie/book “For Colored Men.”
P.S. The book is available if anyone wants to make the play. Although there are some teens in the story, this would have to be done somewhere other than a high school. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58098.for_colored_girls_who_have_considered_suicide_when_the_rainbow_is_enuf?ac=1)
Peace & blessings,
Sherrie
Sherrie Miranda is the author of the historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador.” It is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador:
http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y
Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: