Their Eyes Were Watching God
Directed by Darnell Martin and presented by Oprah Winfrey and the Oprah Book Club as a TV movie, Their Eyes Were Watching God is the story of sincerity, truthfulness to oneself, and the idea that we must live to follow our desires on our own for our own free will. The opening line of the movie states “There are two things people got to find out for themselves. They’ve got to find out about love and they’ve got to find out about living.” It opens the perspective of the story and automatically catches the viewers’ attention with the lines that follow by raising curiosity about the mysteries of its opening. The movie takes viewers through a flashback of several years, telling a story of love and faith as it touches on aspects of life we often take for granted and others we are too concerned with. The flashback takes us to the meaning of living. This movie which has derived from a widely credited novel brings the theme of one of Zora Neale Hurston’s work of art to life: a loving and happy life lies within the pursuit of our own desires.
Award-winning Halle Berry does a terrific job at bringing out the characteristics of Janie Crawford, also known as Janie Starks from the novel-made-movie written by a magnificent author. The director, Darnell Martin who is the first African American to direct a movie for a major studio (Colombia Pictures’ I Like It Like That of 1994) manages to bring the novel to life through the actors. Perhaps, it is a result of her experience as a director, screenwriter, producer, camera assistant and film laboratory worker. Janie is a down to earth girl with dreams exceeding those of the ordinary, dreams of happiness and traits of living freely that are usually found in children. Viewers will see her floating in a lake staring at the sky and wondering at the beauty of flowers. The way in which the setting and the style of the movie was portrayed should be credited as well. Janie’s hair fits her simple personality and the style of all characters exemplifies well the styles of that time. Through a series of experiences, Janie reaches knowledge of the meaning of happiness. She first has an arranged marriage, then a marriage with a mayor, and finally a relationship with the love that brought her clarity. She learns that happiness is not to live by expectations of financial needs or comfort, but by loving, laughing and playing while pursuing the goal of one’s desires. She discovers it all with Virgible Woods, coincidently known as sweet “Tea Cake”.
Although the movie brings the novel to life, most recognition should be given to its author. After all, the movie can not exist without the novel. Their Eyes were watching God was published in 1937 and was not generally recognized until years later due to sexism and racism of that time. Along with writings of authors from the Harlem Renaissance including the talented poet Langston Hughes, after years of poverty and lack of recognition Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is now considered one of the most widely read and acclaimed novels of African American Literature of her time. Hurston grew up in Eatonville Florida, the first incorporated black city of the United States which she uses as a setting within the novel. She worked for a traveling theatrical company leaving her studies and later studying anthropology at Colombia University and continuing her studies at Howard College and Bernard University. She published four novels, two books of folklore, an autobiography, several short stories, essays, articles and plays during a thirty-year period. However, she did not gain much money for her writing and therefore did not live wealthy. Her neighbors even collected money for her funeral in 1960 because there were no other means of paying for it. They didn’t raise a sufficient amount for a tombstone. Hurston’s grave had no tombstone until 1973. A plain grey headstone marked “Zora Neil Hurston: A genius of the south” was placed by Alice Walker, an author inspired by Hurston. Zora was a genius because of her clear perspective of the aspects of life, detailed perspectives that can be pointed out and understood after reading one of her novels.
Unlike the movie, the novel is introduced with a comparison of men and women. Hurston uses the example of a distant ship to describe the dreams of men, which are unreachable and “mocked” by time. She continues explaining that women act according to dreams because their dreams are truth. After returning to an old home in Eatonville, Janie begins the flashback and story to her friend Phoebe with her childhood experience as the only black child in her school and growing up with her grandmother. Janie’s life begins to change when her grandmother catches her kissing Johnny Taylor and screams her name with anger. The novel states that at this moment, Janie’s childhood ended. Her grandmother tells Janie she must become married woman because she has reached womanhood and can not go around having relationships with different men. Men like Johnny would only use Janie to wipe his feet on. Although she sounds harsh and she slaps Janie at one point, Janie’s “nanny” continues to give her a talk in attempt to teach her a lesson. She sits Janie on her lap and continues speaking of life learned lessons. She is portrayed as caring and passionate as she speaks of Janie’s infancy and childhood, and continuously mentions Jesus, tying into the religious aspect of the novel. She continues to be part of Janie’s life even after Janie is married off to old Logan Killicks, guiding her in certain ways including in the idea that marriage would bring love, which Janie discovered to be false. The novel states that the death of this first dream (marriage would bring love) caused her to become a woman.
Regardless of the changes and cuts made in order to transform the novel into a movie, the movie has been nominated for seventeen awards including the 63rd golden globe award for the best performance by an actress in a mini-series motion picture and an Emmy for hair design. Clearly, the movie’s acting and portrayal of setting is phenomenal. The movie has exceeded expectations of a TV movie. The introduction of the movie skips straight to Janie returning to her old home in Eatonville Florida with torn cloths and dirt on her face, being criticized by all who watched. It did not include the comparison of men and woman at its start. Janie’s flashback in the movie cuts her childhood out and begins with the encounter and kissing of Johnny Taylor at age sixteen, which triggered her grandmother’s decision of an arranged marriage. However, the movie portrays her grandmother as a bitter old woman who exits Janie’s life and is not seen after the marriage. She does not comfort Janie or speak of her religious thoughts on life or marriage or past experiences about believing in being assisted by God as she does in the novel. As time passed and Janie realized she could not grow to love, she knew she wanted more than a decent marriage. She took the first opportunity available toward what seemed like freedom but ironically restrained her emotionally from the world and who she was. Janie’s second marriage defied all her character stands for. She married Joe Starks who with her company became mayor of Eatonville. His marriage showed no appreciation toward her but a need to show her off as his wife, “the mayor’s wife.” It did not serve the purpose of love but the purpose of reputation, something young-minded Janie did not care for. His death left her with a sense of freedom. She felt no need to mourn although she did grieve and felt for his death. At that point Janie knew it was time to care for herself above all. Janie meets and falls in love with Virgible Woods (Tea Cake) who inspires her to find out about love and about living as stated in introduction of the movie. With him she lives within the beauties of nature poorly but freely and peacefully.
Janie’s experiences are not typical but touch on unspoken details of faith in God and ways in which life should be carried out. It raises questions of what is proper, what is wrong, what is right, and what is best. Though the movie summarizes the theme and the acting could not have been better, it can not compare to the novel because of the necessary cuts. Not only do the novel’s words carry symbolism and imagery further than the movie does, but the way in which the story was written can not be copied by a movie because of Hurston’s choice of words and description of the story outside quotations. I can personally watch the movie a countless number of times but suggest reading the novel as well to completely understand the various symbols, themes, and to be impacted by both works of art.
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. U.S. 1937
Their Eyes Were Watching God. Dir. Darnell Martin. 6 March 2005
Sonnet Media. Zora Neale Hurston. Estate of Zora Neale Hurston and Harper Collins. 28 April 2008 http://zoranealehurston.com/
Hollywood Media Corp. Darnell Martin. 7 May 2008 http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Darnell_Martin/197386#fullBio
Ads by Google. Video Fiend. 7 May 2008. http://www.videofiend.com/TheirEyes-Were-Watching-God—Trailer-400014.aspx
