DaShaun Carroll

Dr. Witherspoon
English 102
24 April 2015

Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees is an amazing story that tells the true definition of
perseverance and humanity. The author uses great creative writing to support and
illustrate all of the many obstacles that were faced by the cast. I believe though,
that a lot of textual meanings get lost when a film is adapted from the novel. This
is mainly because the film has to be commercial, so too many strong views may
destroy the capital from the film. The film adaption of the secret life of bees to me
is not true to the essence of the text, it lacks the raw edge of the characters, true
historical meanings, and true depiction of negros in this time frame.

The characters in this film are weak, and lack true emotion. The transition

from novel to film is always a hard and tricky one. It tends to be very difficult
because a novel has a lot of events and details that a movie can't display. With this
problem comes the dilemma of cutting pieces of the story to fit into the smaller
film window. The biggest problem with this is that we not get to see the key
emotions of the characters and the full character plots. We see a quick glance into
the life of each character, a few actions and resolves and then it's over. Let's take a
look at T Ray. T Ray is the father of Lilly and the widow of Debra. In the novel T
Ray is portayed as a troubled father and alcoholic beats on his wife Deborah and
daughter. He is manic depressant, aggressive, and has no type of moral identity or
compassion. In the film adaption, we get a brief window into some of T Rays
flaws, but because of the lack of character development and the commercial
presentation he seems more sad and ignorant then anything. This is shown towards
the end of the movie when he finds out where his runaway daughter lily had been
hiding. He goes there to reclaim her and bring her back home to be with him. He
sees his daughter, whom looks so much like his deceased wife, and he begins
beating and screaming at her while he attempts to steal her away. The attack stop
when lily screams out "Father" to him, and he realizes what he had done and
immediately stops and goes to sit down. She then tells him she is not going and he
should leave because she is in a better place. He listens to her opinion and walks
away to depart. Though we do get to see the aggressive psychotic nature of T Ray,

it is not the same as he is portrayed in the book. The novel version of T Ray, was
beating lily so brutally that nothing would stop him, let alone would he has so
suddenly stopped and took her advice at any circumstance. His character traits had
to be diminished so that it would be more pleasing, and lead to a more respectful
and happier ending. Does this pay off? It works for the film process because it
gives the audience a taste of the grim my dirty world, but eases back into the more
natural respectful world that we usually try to presume. After reading the book, the
movie is nothing more than a weak stage play. The essence, the raw rash emotion
of a human, the animalistic qualities, it's too real for the commercial aspect. War
novels, books about fighting, weapons, and murder are easier for this type of
display. The Secret Life of Bees is more of a religious, moral story that gives
insight and guidance into the life of its audience. In regards to this I can respect
the elements of the film, but as a reader, I think it lacks essence and the true
emotion of its characters.

The historical elements of this story were diminished for the sake of money.
Money makes the world go round. Money can make the strongest man go weak.
We have a saying that goes "Don't sell your soul". This means don't allow material
things that you desire, change the desires of your heart. Often many people will
change their moral views and identity for a quick piece of cash. Movie directors

often participate in this type of lifestyle. They take powerful movies with strong
perspectives and diminish its properties just to gain a better financial status. Will
the audience like and respect their decisions? That is a question that they honestly
do not care to entertain. The majority of the money made off of a film, is made
within the first week of its debut. Customers are going to go pay and watch the
movie just to see how it is. By the time their opinion is generated for the film, the
money is already made. It almost makes you feel as if you have been swindled or
bamboozled. It makes you feel almost empty and disgusted. The true question is
Why do we feel we can have our cake and eat it too? We live in a society of a lot
of cultures, denominations, religions, and tongues. We all have our own since of
morals, and beliefs. We have proven that it is easy to disrespect someone's beliefs,
so we must tread carefully on the subject. This is the big reason why filmmakers
must light wash the emotional and moral content of the story plot, when they
transition from text to film. If a movie is too moral, it won't sell, and if it's too
immoral it won't sell. They must have a good balance if both right and wrong so
that everyone will be pleased. If you analyze this last statement, "they must have a
good balance of right and wrong," it exposes our identity as a people. We live in a
world where we fill that it should be a balance between good and evil, so that we
can live in symbiosis. These mannerisms have become a norm ad whether we not
it or not we assess everything to this order. Money should not ruin our moral

mindset. Films should depict all emotional characteristics of the novels. The
Black Madonna was an inspiration and definite force In the religious aspect of
African Americans. She was the mother of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. It is
shocking that most people don't even know what the Black Madonna is. The true
meaning and understanding is not even described fully in the film. In the story it
gives a better description into what passion and strength it gave to the follow of
Christianity. They used it to show lily how to find the sisters and find out where
her mother ran away to. It never explained who she was, why they spoke so much
about her, and what benefits she had brought into their lives and culture. This is
also a cut that was made for the film adaption. Religious views are always cut for
production. It saves the film directors from having to deal with religious backlash.
Not to mention it gains them more money.

African Americans knew their role in this period of time. The film displays a
view of ignorance in the African American character traits. The film gives them a
sense of vulnerability, and weakness. For example, Zach goes to the movie theatre
with lily. Zach thinks nothing of it, and carried on like nothing is wrong. He is
then untangled in a web if racial profiling and prejudice and is punished for no
reason. In the book, Zach was conscious of the consequences and new the
outcome of his actions. In the south racism was still a fully fledged battle that was

being carried on with full brutality. African American a had trouble completing
tasks with each other let alone trying to do so with the opposite race. The idea of a
white man and a black was seen as a mockery, but was at least a little more
understood do to the fact that most blacks were owned by white slave masters. A
black man and a white woman was never something that was accepted. If this film
was based off of the actual time frame and actually showed the true lifestyles
during this time, this event wouldn't have even been thought about. African
Americans knew the consequences of standing up, and standing out. This was the
time of the start for African American freedom and equal rights. The full affect of
equality hadn't even begun to settle. There were some great leaders of the black
culture that stood out to make a difference and take a stand, but even in their acts
they knew the consequences of their actions, and they knew the trouble that would
follow. The film portrayed the wrong depiction of African Americans.

In conclusion, the film adaption of The Secret Life of Bees is weak, it lacks
true emotion, lacks historical meaning and it depicts the wrong image of African
Americans. If it were more emotional, showed a broader understanding of the
African American culture, gave Insight into the racial struggle during these times,
and gave evidence Into the historical backgrounds of the cultural factors of the
novel, it would have made a great film.

COMMENTS
Your thesis is clear.
Transition smoothly between subtopics.
I have explained that you must cite the novel, the movie, and at least one other
source (research). You must have a Works Cited page as well as in-text (parenthetical)
citations. This is a costly error.
Introduce the novelist's and director's names in the background portion of your
introduction.
See side notes.
Page numbers are missing.
Use Times New Roman 12 font.
Continue to work on sentence structure and clear, concise phrasing that is not too
informal or too conversational.
Proofread more carefully.
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