Claudine from Movies that Move We

[richardmurray]

 

 

2:30 it's funny how being a single parent like any adult comes in all forms. Zenobia, the question is do you think using an  uncommon form of single parenting is unwarranted or just not your artistic cup of tea?

4:34 Claudine is old enough to be before women had the 2023 levels of freedom from male domination , yes I am a man. But Nike, women globally are still commonly in Claudine's situation. It's funny how in the usa, the rules in the usa are nonchalantly applied to the global humanity, when you said something similar too,  this was when women couldn't have a bank account.

7:20 The question is, did the kids too easily or quickly accept James Earl Jones new parental figure? Nike or Zenobia. 

10:30 haha! Too many Black women have heard a black man or black men say publicly, or in the black man cave, women are too much:) in the usa.  

13:52 did the story before the movie, when Claudine met the new interest, did she trick him or not tell him about the kids? 

23:22 great scenes,  with the young daughter and James Earl Jones shock at what he is getting into.

30:35 Good question Zenobia, did the characterizations in Claudine give examples to how certain negative behaviors develop from child to adult. 

32:14 yes, Pauline wasn't in the category of  "Whitey Bad" films.  The funny thing about Shaft and Foxy Brown is how they were written by whites. Foxy Brown was written by Jack Hill. Shaft was written by Ernest Tidyman. As a writer my biggest issue with many films in the 1970s that had nearly all black cast or definitely all black major cast, are the writers of the stories are white , sequentially, the viewpoints or narratives are from whites interpreting black people, or referring to their black connections.

36:02 Great point, Sweetback plus other films in the 1970s involving black musicians or actors, is  why in the late 1970s <star wars> + 80s <back to the future , die hard, et cetera> films with mostly white thespians put such a huge emphasis on soundtracks, that is one of the elements that the 1970s films in the USA with majority  black thespians  brought into the complete USA film industry.

Closing thoughts: what are my thoughts to welfare or single parenting relevancy.
To relevancy, you have to break issues up. 
First welfare itself + single parenting. 
Where do I begin. Claudine is in Harlem, a city that is legally a district of a borough in a city. Remember, each district in New York City has more people in it that the average city in the USA. Think on that, cities in the USA with a third the populace of harlem have full representation or powers over their geography while harlem has none. Why does this matter? Welfare is a leg up system, like the projects also a NYC concept spread throughout the USA, that can be easily insufficient but on existence always acceptable or rejectable. To rephrase, people can always say a person shouldn't be on welfare, using the taxpayers money, or they can say it is a public good to aid a person who needs financial assistance, but the quality of assistance the person gets tends to be insufficient, regardless of people's opinion of it. The best example is another film, also based in NYC. The film is Sabrina. Sabrina's father and Roop are similar men. The maids of the lauraughby household are no different than Claudine. But, Roop + Claudine are not getting a wage anywhere near what the workers in the Laraughby household are getting. So Claudine + Roop need welfare, they need assistance to equal what the servants in Sabrina are getting doing the same work. But the government of Harlem , wait it doesn't exist. NYC's government which doesn't cater to the whole city doesn't provide a welfare system or a labor law adequate.  As for single parenting, the reality is Black people have been single parents or being raised absent parents in far harder circumstances. I argue that black people in the usa today complain more  about other black people in difficult scenarios than warranted. It was worse in the past in the USA. But that leads to the next point. 
The next point is perception, cause perception in the Black community in the usa is rarely functional. Welfare or single parenting is a prime example. Black individuals who will make speeches, give rants on Black people using welfare or being a single parent, will be silent amidst the presence of a non black person on welfare or being a single parent. Which means what? the problem most black people have isn't welfare or single parenting cause they would rant at non black instances the way they rant at black instances. The problem is , they want zero percent black people on welfare or zero percent black people as a single parent. Many a non black is a single parent in NYC today, many. But you never hear in the news from white asians, white latinos, white muslims avbout their own  people still on welfare being lazy, or their own women need to close their legs. And not because it isn't happening, it is because they give their own the freedom to be that way without condemnation. Even though more white people are on welfare in the usa than black people, some black people want black people to have no one on welfare, while white people say that is the governments role to help their own. Even though more single mothers are non black in the usa than black single mothers, some black people want no black woman to be a single parent, while non blacks go on begging sprees for their own single mothers who are doing the same job like Claudine. 
I will end this part with a little truth that sometimes black people don't include in comprehending how we got here. In the late 1900s a number of movements, like the club women in the usa, supported the idea of black improvement regardless, meaning even though the scenario is unfair or unjust or negative to black people or a black person they are obliged to overcome all of that, regardless. And that culture back then has become today a heritage many black people adhere to. A false one. A government is meant to govern. But a government should not be treated as something to be proud of or a member of absent an ability to be in your favor, and sadly, that concept is what many black leaders accepted in the past. The idea isn't born from stupidity, it is born from a question black people were forced to ask themselves when the war between the states ended. If I am supposed to love this place, the USA, instead of leave it, and  how can I love it, when my people or community or self is mistreated yearly, monthly, daily. The answer is simple. You have to love and not leave it, regardless. That is the source of the absolutism in the black community in the usa. Now a heritage that many black people adhere to in the usa, in my view, a dysfunctional heritage but nothing is completely bad. I will speak of its merits another time:) 
I want to end with one of the most important points in the film. 
Fiscally poor people don't have easy relationships because they are fiscally poor. And yes, Claudine has six kids, begs for welfare even though she works for a living, Roop is a garbage man who has to pay for kids not Claudine's he isn't as socially connected to and barely has any money to help Claudine with her kids. Yes, and you know what, they do love each other and they can smile and walk down that street in northern Harlem:) with all those kids, still broke but loving. 
As a note, Claudine was a rare film in the 1970s organized by a black production company. Third world cinema of Ozzie Davis. And that is the point.