Comments by "JLH" (@Kyarrix) on "Love and Basketball... and the Black Gender Wars" video.

  1. Really good analysis, thank you for adding it. I loved this movie when it came out but had some problems with it when I rewatched it a few years ago. I thought the acting was good. The first time I watched it I remember being riveted. It felt emotionally real. I'll watch anything with Sanaa Latham or Gabrielle Union. I think your comment about her wanting balance or her awareness of the possibility of not having it by only pursuing basketball and that dampening her enjoyment of basketball was perceptive. Even though she's been pushed to be more feminine and give up what she loves, she doesn't allow it to push her too far in the other direction. I've never liked how the movie made her pay a price for her ambition. When a woman has ambition in a movie (or in most media and arguably in life) and succeeds, there's always going to be a scene where she is broken down in order to show the audience that in the end, she's still just a woman and not a threat. Valuable, but still only a woman. The scene will humble her and not so subtly convey to the male audience that they don't have to worry. Worse, it teaches us to expect to be humbled, to expect to pay a price for our ambition and success. Monica is exceptional, she's smart, driven, ambitious and talented. Initially I had written that because this movie was made 22 years ago, it had to humble her to reassure the male audience. Unfortunately I think that would still happen.
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