Raisin In The Sun Comparison Essay

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Raisin in the Sun is a film adaptation directed by Daniel Petrie off of a award-winning play written by Lorraine Hansberry. Overall I would rate the film as an 8 out of 10. The strikingly accurate portrayal of the life of an African American family in the 1950’s did a great job of keeping the interest up. The director’s mise-en-scene gave the film a believability that is rarely achieved. They did this through the well staged apartment that the film takes place in for the majority of the screen time. The cramped and cluttered home sets the stage for the actors in the film to truly live into their characters. The actors did a brilliant job of portraying the wide breadth of emotions in this film. Their engaging personalities kept the film alive and vibrant the …show more content…

The apartment is contrasted by both the bar and their new home. The bar is clearly seen as a symbol of the vices that keep us from taking hold of our dreams. In contrast, the new home is seen as a symbol of the fulfillment of those dreams. I am very pleased that the director was very thoughtful on navigating the restrictions that he faced in the use of different settings in the film to drive home the motifs that the original play alluded to so well. The play was complete in itself being that it led the reader to use his or her imagination to put together all of the complexities of their interactions. That being said, I would recommend the film over the written play because of how powerful the messages shown by the actors through body language are. They brought a level of depth to the message that the original author was unable to achieve. Overall, I enjoyed both of the different portrayals of “The Raisin in the Sun”. The written version was complex and had a lot of continuity, but the film had a striking exemplification of emotion through thoughtful acting and smart mise-en-scene. I would recommend this to a

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