Teacake

[Narnie]

I am on this kick right now where I just want to rip apart movies that are not true to the books they are based on. In Oprah's version of this beautiful book, teacake did not look the way he was described in the book, does anyone else have a problem with this? The idea was supposed to be that he was darker than her and people in their community did not like that, but in the movie teacake is lighter than Haley Berry...

[Lauren]

I have never seen the movie, but it sounds like that mistake would take a lot out of the theme of intra-racial tensions. Is the scene when Mrs. Turner complains about the "black niggers" included in the movie? That scene would not make sense if the difference between Janie and Tea Cake's skin tone was not present.

[Narnie]

lauren, this is a picture of the guy they used:

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/T1NUcf...

and yeah they still tried to maintain that tension, but it made a lot less sense.

[Lauren]

I'm not usually one to be like, "Ohmygod! Why doesn't this actor look just like the character's description in the book? Any real fan would be upset about this!" But in this case it subdues a central conflict. This actor is good looking, though, even if he doesn't look like his character.

[Leslie]

Frankly, just the fact that Oprah hijacked this book at all is enough to rip apart the movie, for me.

[Narnie]

I feel like the whitey outsider when I complain about it, but if anyone should have been aware of the racial themes in the book, and the physical descriptions, I would think it would be Oprah.

[Marnie]

I agree that Tea Cake should have been portrayed by a darker-skinned actor in the movie because it was important to the plot. It reminds me of the movie version of Dorothy West's "The Wedding". Color differences in the black community were an even bigger central theme to that book and yet the movie -again produced by Oprah's Harpo productions- was cast without regard to some of the key characters descriptions in the book.

[Audrey]

Such an important theme intraracial conflicts over skin color and that should have been honored in the film (which I did not like). Note the controversy over lighter skinned Zoe Saldana portraying darker skinned Nina Simone.

[Marnie]

Sometimes I feel like that's due to hollywood only allowing one 'it' black actor at a time. Zoe's cool but is there a better fit for the role out there? I'm sure there is. It's like Halle Berry or Denzel playing every black lead for a while there.

[Paula]

Was Tea Cake disliked for his skin color or was he disliked because of the nature of his character??

[Maureen]

Casey wrote: "People disliked him for being younger than Janie and they also thought he didn't deserve her because he was darker than she was."

Paula wrote: "Was Tea Cake disliked for his skin color or was he disliked because of the nature of his character??"

Tea Cake wasn't disliked as the conclusion shows where the black community wanted to punish Janie. The skin color issues is a theme that shows the community values of the time and adds authenticity to the portrayal of the racial tension and lack of black empowerment shown in the book. Having Tea Cake be a less desirable partner for Janie (too dark, too young, too poor, too wild) only enhances the theme of love and intimacy between them which was lacking in Janie's previous marriages. Nothing in the book made me think he was "disliked". Did I miss this?

[Sheila]

Having Tea Cake be a less desirable partner for Janie (too dark, too young, too poor, too wild) only enhances the theme of love and intimacy between them which was lacking in Janie's previous marriages. Nothing in the book made me think he was "disliked". Did I miss this?

I always perceived it more as he wasn't trusted by the townspeople. Younger, darker than Janie, and without a penny to his name (and none too worried about it); to me, it was more that they thought him an upstart for daring to court her, usurper to some higher position that they believed Janie already legitimately occupied.

[Maureen]

Sheila wrote: "Having Tea Cake be a less desirable partner for Janie (too dark, too young, too poor, too wild) only enhances the theme of love and intimacy between them which was lacking in Janie's previous marri..."


yeah I can see that. But at the end, they really wanted Janie to be punished, I'm assuming the death penalty. In the court room they were threatening her and it was the "white" court system, specifically the women, who supported Janie. There is a whole section where the men talk about how black women "who look like that" can kill all the black men they want. There is a lot of praise for Tea Cake in that section by the black community and they even accuse her of adultery. In the end, Janie stays around for a few weeks so that people can get over their guilt about being so cruel to her.

The court scene was interesting to me because it brought out the intersectionality of Janie. In the end she is "freed" by the white women's influence in the court room and brought under their protection. It really brought out how being a woman functioned as opposed to being a member of the black community. There are a lot of parts of the book that deal with that part of her identity, but it was the most political part, imo.