Reception
Sharon L. Jones, an English professor at Wright State University states that the film is no where in comparison to the novel. The novel emphasizes on Janie's life journey of living with others who try to set an identity for her; therefore, she struggles to find self-identity. However, Jones says the film leaves out many important concepts to help convey the central theme. She discusses that it is believed that Harpo's production focused the movie on the general idea of love more to reach a broad range of audience since most of her viewers are white females.
Virginia Heffernan of The New York Times comments on Halle Berry's performance as Janie. She states that out of all the actresses, Halle Berry excels at acting Janie's role. She pinpoints that the sexual scenes that Berry acts impacts viewers greatly to the point where they will definitely not forget the movie.
Ester Iverem, a journalist states that the movie stands out for its Black romance and sexuality. She also mentions the chemistry seen between Halle Berry and Michael Ealy. Their acting skills as each others' lover is what this movie stand out beyond its natural storyline. She furthers her thoughts by stating that the romance and sexuality seen in the movie are topics that compares to the romance and sexuality described in Hurston's novel.
Read more about this topic: Their Eyes Were Watching God (film)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)