Still holding my breath.

Last Friday I saw Waiting to Exhale. I'd borrowed it from the library, so it's not like I spent a fortune on it. Thank God.

I don't know. From the past media hype, I remember that WTE was supposed to be The. Best Black. Women's. Movie. EVER. But for me it was just...Meh.

Quality of the acting, writing, and directing aside...Everyone seemed to be stuck in a box that I couldn't relate to. Take Bernadine(?) played by Angela Bassett. That woman still has me rolling my eyes. What did she teach me? Let's see: Lest I forget, every white woman is a black woman's kryptonite. Also, if you see a black person who dresses conservatively and speaks proper English, he's not a gentleman. He's an "Uncle Tom". I could get started on wondering why Whitney Houston's character was suffering from Any-Man-Is-Better-Than-No-Man-At-All-EVEN-IF-He's-Clearly-WRONG-For-Me disease.

But I won't.

Perhaps the book explains the reasoning behind these women's stupidity. I know they redeemed themselves by film's end. But you know what? I don't really care.

When it comes to the break up of a black man and woman, why is it that the media and people in society cling to the old standby--the Angry Black Woman rejected by her Obligatory Black Male thanks to the Interloping White Woman? Can't people get taken advantage of the old fashioned way--as individuals, and not racial stereotypes?

Firstly, I'm amused that people still assume that every single time there's a friendship or relationship of any kind between people of different ethnicities, it didn't happen by legitimate means. Someone is always trying to take advantage of the other person. Why?

Why not? Friendships don't just happen, people!!Surely there must be evil forces at work behind the good.

I keep encountering folks who believe this crap in real life. I think it's pathetic.

Secondly, in case you can't tell, I have absolutely nothing against so-called interracial relationships. I tried to skirt around my opinion on a public bulletin board the other day, but quite frankly...I think people who have "problems" with interracial relationships need help. I'm thinking of something between counseling and a smack into this century.

In the first place, we are not different races. (I use terminology such as "race" and "interracial" purely because they're popular, not because I agree with them.) The color of the person who objects to these relationships makes no difference to me. Every time I hear a "reason" why interracial relationships are "wrong" it sounds to me like someone is trying to use humanity's past evils to prevent our present progress.

Enough bitterness for now.