Preview

A Raisin In The Sun Film Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1212 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A Raisin In The Sun Film Analysis
Referring to the latest version of A Raisin in the Sun (2008) it is set on the Southside of Chicago, Illinois. In the film, the head of the household is Lena Younger (Phylicia Rashad), who the family calls, “Mama.” Mama’s husband, Walter Sr. has passed away so a settlement for $10,000 from his life insurance policy is being mailed to her. Walter Jr. (Sean Combs) and Beneatha (Sanaa Lathan) are Mama’s children and they believe the check should be given to either of them for medical school or an investment into a liquor store. However, Mama is unsure what to do with the money but she does know she wants to move the family out of their apartment and into a house they can call their own. Although everyone’s aspirations conflict, the film ends in a way that rekindles the love of the family. Personally, I did not like that this film was set in current day because I feel like the struggles …show more content…
The cast for this film, overall, mimicked their roles from the script relatively well. I enjoyed that this particular film was able to capture the power and edginess set in the script as well. I also enjoyed that the 1962 film matched the book very closely, although it was not perfect I could easily fall along with the script. It is appealing to me that A Raisin in the Sun also touched on modern-day issues such as racism and poverty regardless of how long ago it came out. These issues also tie in to one of the entire central concepts we discussed in class: “The American Dream” and the idea that if it is not achieved, it can destroy someone (Walter). As a result, I felt as though I was able to relate to A Raisin in the Sun in some aspects such as racism, poverty, Chicago and family struggles which is why I truly enjoyed the authenticity of the original

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Although there are lots of similarities and differences between the book and film by Lorraine Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun, both the book and film can stand on their own while having those contradictions. In the book, the whole story's setting takes place within the Younger’s apartment living room. While in the film, on the other hand, various different sets were used such as: Walter and Ruth’s bedroom, the bar, the Younger’s new house, and multiple others. The different sets used in the film make the story a lot more interesting to the viewer, because it depicts the Younger's life outside of their tiny apartment living room.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Raisin in the Sun is set in Chicago during the 1960s. This play focuses in on a lower-middle class family who has recently lost the man of the house. While the family overcomes how to spend the insurance money it becomes clear that the three main female characters have major differences due to the ways they were raised in their generations. The women often butt heads on different topics like what duties women have in the house and in society. Each generation changes slowly but eventually the differences in them are very clear because of the evolution of duties of women.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stunning scenes of landscapes, trees, and clouds fill the scenes of The Revenant. Snow fills the open-void of the wilderness and sunlight bleeds through the spaces between the tall, dark trees. The camera mainly focuses on Hugh Glass as he attempts to take his revenge upon John Fitzgerald, who murdered Hugh’s son. The camera pans smoothly during calm shots of vistas and nature, while the camera rapidly shakes during the intense attacks of the Native Americans. Rivers flow smoothly, and in some shots, Hugh’s fearful, beaten face fills the frame as he struggles to evade the threats of Native Americans. The contrasting nature of the scenes in The Revenant is effective in immersing the viewers in the environment, portraying a message of conservation, and developing a captivating, simplistic storyline.…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun explores one extended family’s journey toward social and economic agency against the turbulent backdrop of post-World War II America. While Hansberry speaks to the idea of dreams deferred, she also emphasizes that the path to home ownership and social presence promises to be a significant undertaking for the Younger family. Hansberry offers pointed commentary on the frustration of African Americans (embodied in the Youngers’ experiences), who exist as second-class denizens without the rights of true citizenship. Consistent with this commentary are the dominant and reoccurring themes of social and heritage displacement that threaten to relegate the Youngers to an ephemeral existence.…

    • 108 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A Raisin in the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin I’d like to direct attention to the initial dreams of each individual characters in in both books in addition to some similarities that I found between some of the characters. Walter was a son, husband and father desperately seeking success in A Raisin in the Sun. To…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Raisin in the Sun is a play about the Youngers family who lived in the South Side of Chicago during the 1950s. During the first scene the Youngers’ are waiting for the check from the now dead Mr. Youngers’ life insurance policy totaling $10,000. Each character/family member has a different idea about what should be done with the money. The main characters within the story include Mama, Walter Lee (Mama’s son), Ruth (Walter’s wife), and Beneatha (Mama’s daughter). Mama wants to buy a house in a nicer neighborhood with the money which was the dream her husband and her shared. Walter would like to invest in a liquor store with friends. Ruth is backing Mama’s idea. Beneatha would like to invest in her future by attending medical school. When the money is finally received Mama puts a down payment on a house in an all-white neighborhood. Someone from the neighborhood, Mr. Lindner, tries to make an offer to the Youngers to get them to not move into the new home. The family refuses. At the end of the story the family finally leaves their cramped apartment and moves into their new home which is basically the American dream. The play was written and produced by Lorraine Hansberry in 1959. There are several movie versions however for the purpose of this assignment I will be using the 2008 movie version written by Paris Qualles and Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Kenny Leon and starring Sean Combs as Walter.…

    • 866 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In every family, each member has their own role to play. Whether it is the supporter, the dreamer, the realist, the dominant and strong head of the family, from birth we are each given a place to fill in our family. The problem comes when we don’t know how to live in our place. Then a person gets lost trying to fill another role because they are not satisfied with where they are. The characters in A Raisin in the Sun are members of a family that have to deal with a member who no longer knows his place in the family and goes on a personal journey to find one. The play’s main character, Walter Lee Younger, is struggling with his identity. Thrashing around drowning in the shortcomings of his life. His main focus throughout the play is getting money. From the opening scenes we see that that seems to be his driving force. The whole family is used to it and even annoyed as whenever he begins to talk about the insurance check or his new idea on how they could earn some great money, everyone brushes him off and tells him to stop thinking about money all the time. Walter Lee can’t stop thinking about money because he feels like a failure, but if his plans worked out he would be rich and that equals success in his eyes. He works a dead end job as a chauffer for a wealthy white family but he has no education, no status, and no money, to help him succeed. He dreams a big dream of putting pearls on his wife’s neck and being able to give his child, Travis, everything he himself was not able to have. Now, this is a dream most parents have for their families. Who would not want to be able to support their families and never have to see their children struggling? My parents have worked long and hard for their whole lives to give my sister and myself a better life so that we would never have to see the poverty they endured. My mother speaks to me all the time about the projects she grew up in and how she and my grandmother had to share a bedroom, just like Benetha and Lena Younger,…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In A Raisin in a Sun, the main character, Mama has a dream in the beginning of the play, by the end of the play Mama dream has changed completely because of outside sources and a new outlook she develops on life. Ever since Beneatha and Walter were little, Mama dreamed to move her family out of the ghetto and into a house with a yard, a place for her to garden, and her family to live peacefully.. Her dream was deferred when she and her husband moved into the tiny little apartment. Everyday her dream allowed her to…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raisin In The Sun Movie

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Walter I have dissected something that looked like you yesterday”(30). This statement made by Beneatha to her brother Walter was missing from the new movie. the novel A Raisin in the Sun was a story of hope, legacy, racism and dreams for individual people and how they want to achieve them. It is a book that tell you the story of African American people in the 1940’s and what little they had back then and how hard they had to work to achieve their goals.There is more than one movie of Raisin in the sun but the black and white is the best. All the others movie they take out some of the important scene and then they don’t portray what Lorraine Hansberry's vision was of her experience in Chicago.The black and white movie best portrays Lorraine Hansberry's vision of her experience in Chicago during the 1940s because it…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Raisin in the Sun is a drama, a play, and a book that can reshape the way you think about people who are important to you. This magnificent story symbolizes how a family can go through a rough patch and at the end of the day continue to love and aid each other despite the circumstances.…

    • 620 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I thought the play "A Raisin in The Sun" was very good because it accurately displayed so many aspects of what life would be like in the 1950's for African Americans. Full of conflict and racial tension, Hansberry creates a strong distinction between her different and unique characters. The main theme of dreams creates conflicts that are evident in the play because the family is aiming for an individual dream that seems to never happen; however, in the end, they get away form the individual dream and finally reach a common ground.…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry. The drama explores the human experience in the Chicago ghetto of the 1950’s. It was adapted into a film in 1961 by Columbia Pictures Corporation that was also written by Lorraine Hansberry. The film was intended as an interpretation of the play with many similarities, but there are several distinctions that allow each of the versions to stand as an independent work.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The film version of A Raisin in the Sun featured the original Broadway cast, including Sidney Poitier as Walter Lee Younger, Ruby Dee as his wife Ruth, Claudia McNeil as Mama, and Diana Sands as his sister Beneatha. Walter Lee dreams of opening a liquor store so that he can quit his job as a chauffeur. Already attending college, Beneatha dreams of becoming a doctor. As the family matriarch, Mama dreams that her children and grandchildren will have a better life than she and her husband, hoping to buy a house with a back yard for them to live in.…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In a Raisin in the sun people wondered about Walter Lee’s inner journey. A Raisin in the sun is a play that explorer’s the struggles of African American people who achieve their desires. It’s about an African American family trying to pursue an American dream of owning their own home but in the process they encounter racism and they must decide what is really important in life.…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays