So...What is love?

So...What is love?

love during the era

Poetic Justice and its relation/symbolism of love in the era

Youtube.com

The Black 90's Collective

1993

Phoenyx.J.Boston

With the 1990’s ushering in the era of “hood” films, African Americans finally received an opportunity to tell their stories the way they lived it. Many saw this as an achievement, while others saw it as a misrepresentation of the race, by exploiting our issues. One of these areas heavily depicted was “love and relationships”, with many critics suggesting the exploitation of African American women. Films such as “Boys n da Hood” and “Don’t be a Menace”, not only came from the African American male’s perspective, but exhibited women as “bitches”, “hoes” and objects of sexual desire. Beyond the Nefertiti emblems, tight jeans, cut off shirts, updos and long braids, African American women demanded that they be portrayed not only as sexy, but as strong and independent.

With the “strong black women’s” movement of the 90s heavily underway, several films attempted to earn their respect by depicting the “female perspective” of daily life in the hood. Many film critics credit the rawness of John Singleton’s film “Poetic Justice”, as being the most representative of the African America female perspective. Many women could relate to how Justice had to cope with losing her boyfriend to the violence of the streets, her battle with depression and her ability to find love again.

So what was love like for African American men and women during the 1990’s? My response, is “hard and dangerous”! Films such as “Poetic Justice” provided audiences an accurate perspective of why love was harder to obtain from a women's perspective. At a time when African American men were dying at the hands of gang violence and street life, African American women had to become hard, emotionless and even sometimes heartless in order to protect themselves. Love and the desire of relationships was a fairy-tale and even seen overall as a weakness to African American women. Unlike the present, where the requirements have become relaxed, African American women had to safeguard their hearts and block out the emotions in order to be successful and even survive. And for the men that did have hope, they either had to combat the pain and insecurities that were inherited by previous relationships, or had to be taught how to love.