DaShaun Carroll

Dr. Witherspoon
English 102
24 April 2015

Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees is an amazing story written by Sue Monk Kidd, 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. Textual meanings get lost when a
film is adapted from the novel. Director Gina Prince Blythewood, compiled the great works of
the novel into a film adaption. 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 is not true to the
essence of the text, it lacks the raw edge of the characters, true historical meaning, and depiction
of Negroes 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. The Movie has a subtle effect to the way it presents
the characters. It is as if they have scripted so perfectly not to seem too human. If you have read
the novel, you will begin to see that the plots and events that made the novel, have been
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readapted and washed down to fit the film adaption. Let's take a look at T Ray. T Ray Terrence
Owens, is the father of Lilly the antagonist and the widow of Debra. In the novel T Ray is
displayed as a troubled father and alcoholic that beats on his wife Debra and daughter Lily. He is
manic depressant, he is aggressive, and he 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 than
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 Lily , whom looks so much like his deceased wife Debra, 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 the film lacks essence, and the true emotion of the novels 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 the social norms and expectations of this time period. 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.

Works Cited

http://www.readanybook.com/ebook/the-secret-life-of-bees-16934