Dancehall Queen Stereotypes

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The movie DanceHall Queen produced by Carol Bradshaw and Carolyn Pfeiffer depicts a story of a single mother living in Kingston, Jamaica working as a food vendor to make ends meet for her family. When a family friend named Larry contributes food and clothing for the women in the house, he demands to be repaid through sexual contact between himself and Marcia’s older daughter. However, money gained from Larry, soon becomes insufficient resulting in Maria creating an alter ego for herself as an energetic yet sensuous dancer in order to make more money for the family. She shows off her assets by wining to the upbeat, reggae music in skimpy outfits, luring her old friend Larry and a dangerous priest against each other to win the attractive dancer over. I really enjoyed watching this movie because it was very eye-opening, realistic and fun to soak in the Jamaican culture. The movie incorporated a mixture of colorful, sultry, Jamaican clothing, music and entertainment, while portraying the hardship and struggle of many poor residents of Jamaica. I could also feel the authenticity and passion in this movie. The goal of the filmmaker/producer was to share and inform people about the Jamaican culture and lifestyle. He wanted to reveal both the good and bad side of Jamaica and explain where the common …show more content…

Hardships and struggles depicted in this movie would not have been a major focus in movies, had there been no extremely poor living conditions. Information reinforced in this movie was the idea of how stereotypes play a large role when it comes to determining the ones who have power. Men are usually known as the breadwinners of the family, which describes Larry’s powerful position in the family accounting for all living expenses. Information that was excluded was an in depth background story of Larry and his

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