Over the weekend I watched "save the last dance" for the first time in years and I noticed somethings that I've never thought about, when watching/thinking about this film. The entire movie deals with the racial complex that Chicago is known for: a white girl moves in with her father after her mother is killed in a car accident. Her father lives in one of the poorer areas of the city and the girl (Sara) attends a public school where the majority of her classmates are Black. The movie is all about Sara trying to find her place in life.

Because of the dynamic of her school Sara is constantly finding herself in situations dealing with race. I personally think that the film does a really good job making things realistic when it comes to the environment and the behavior of the characters.

Although the environment is racially motivated from beginning to end, there is one really interesting scene, towards the beginning: the cafeteria. As predicted, most of the tables are full of Black people, but there is one table in the middle that is full of White people. It is the "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" reverse. But it makes sense, the few White kids at the school are obviously going to sit together because they understand each other and connect in a way that the other kids can't because the other kids are Black.

I also like the way the film deals with the ideas about Black people. There is a verity of different types of people; the druggies, the violent (gun owning) kids, the college aspiring kids, and many things in between. The film has both the stereotyped Black person and the non-stereotyped. However, I feel as though the actions of the different characters is secondary to the underlying, real issue; how the students react to the messages they are feed about themselves. You find out toward the end that the one Black character (Malick) whom has been in and out of jail for violent acts thinks that he can be nothing more than he is now. He doesn't think that he can go to college and make a god life for himself. At one point, right before he goes to a shot out, he says that he is trying to protected the one thing his has, his dignity. He uses his gun to get respect.

I could go on and on, but there are a lot of characters. To me, I feel sad for Malick. He doesn't feel good about himself, and now that I've taken this course I know why; we are to assume (from the film) that he has been feed the message that Black people aren't as good as White people and the Blacks people who are successful are a rarity. I wish I could get everyone who thinks this a god talking to a say that this is not a fact, it is a lie. That they can be who ever, even though there are people in the world you try to convince you otherwise. Not the most original and much easier said then done, but the truth.

I'm really glad that I watched this movie at the end of the semester because there is a lot more that I can appresiate that I wouldn't have been able to at the beginning.