Their Eyes Were Watching God Romanticism

Romantic dramas are a genre of movie loved by some and hated by others. To make a satisfying romantic drama the movie must have a good balance of romanticism and realism. Why this genre is so disliked by some is because directors often overload on drama, making the story cliché and unbelievable. Their Eyes Were Watching God directed by Darnell Martin, rises slightly above the usual romantic drama. Though this movie does hold a line of realism through the movie, the amount and intensity of the issues the main character faces can sometimes be overwhelming.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, based on the book of the same title by Zora Neale Hurston, is about the life of Janie Crawford, an African-American woman and the struggles she goes through

trying to find happiness in the south in the early 20th century. The movie starts out with a young Janie being forced to marry a wealthy old man, by her grandmother who she later leaves for another man named Joe Starks, who becomes the mayor of a growing town. Despite many marriage struggles, Janie stays with Joe till his untimely death. Soon after Janie’s husband’s death Janie falls in love with a man many years her younger named Tea Cake. Janie eventually leaves town with Tea Cake despite the warnings of her neighbors for a farm where she and Tea Cake are happy until Tea Cake gets bitten by a rabid dog, contracts rabies, and ultimately must be shot and killed by Janie. Janie then returns to her home dirty and alone. Her neighbors make fun of her but Janie soon shares her story with one of her friends and then goes to watch God from a local pond thus ending the movie.
The movies camerawork and editing were satisfactory. Many of the scenes were beige in many senses of the word sometimes making the movie boring and seem longer than it actually was. Disappointingly the coloring of the movie only changed a few times throughout the movie. The way the movie was put together was not confusing though some scenes seemed to go on too long or were unnecessary. The continuity of the movie was not extremely noticeable as a result of many things going on so the viewer does not focus much on that aspect of the movie. Even so it did not have any extremely obvious continuity flaws. The camera angles were helpful to the overall composition of the movie and made the movie interesting to watch.
The acting was pretty believable, Halle Berry’s portrayal of Janie Crawford was very convincing, though her southern accent sometimes became overpowering to the lines and at times she was hard to understand. Michael Ealy’s depiction of Tea Cake was better than many love interest in the usual romantic drama. He gave the character depth and made Tea Cake seem like more than just a love interest but an integral part of Janie’s story.
Though the rest of the aspects of this movie were fair, the storyline was the most disappointing part.

Truly life was hard for many people in the early 20th century but the amount of tragedies that happened to Janie and some of her decisions were a bit outlandish. Janie is depicted as an extreme free spirit in a time where women empowerment was not on the rise, Janie made many independent choices without any repercussions like leaving her first husband. Janie left her first husband for Joe Starks abruptly and almost without any warning or punishment, her husband seemed to be okay with her decision and the grandmother that forced Janie into the marriage in the first place is nowhere to be seen. Another aspect of the story that was slightly unbelievable was Tea Cakes death. Tea Cake dies after getting bit by a rabid dog in the middle of a raging hurricane just seconds after the house that he and Janie share is overcome by waves. It seems as if too many things of epic proportions happened at nearly the same time. The question here is how was the dog even able to survive when Tea Cake and Janie were almost drowned by the storm? This question is never answered.

Their Were Watching God in comparison to other movies of the romantic drama genre is one of the better movies of its type. Though it has its flaws the story is quite interesting and does manage to intrigue the audience. The viewers can feel Janie’s pain as Joe dies and can connect to her joy when she finally finds love with

Tea Cake and then her overwhelming sadness as she does what must be done to save herself ultimately killing him. Overall this movie may be disliked by some a recommendation is given. This movie will captivate and entertain romantic drama lovers worldwide.