A Raisin In The Sun Film Analysis

Referring to the latest version of A Raisin in the Sun (2008) it is set on the Southside of Chicago, Illinois. In the film, the head of the household is Lena Younger (Phylicia Rashad), who the family calls, “Mama.” Mama’s husband, Walter Sr. has passed away so a settlement for $10,000 from his life insurance policy is being mailed to her. Walter Jr. (Sean Combs) and Beneatha (Sanaa Lathan) are Mama’s children and they believe the check should be given to either of them for medical school or an investment into a liquor store. However, Mama is unsure what to do with the money but she does know she wants to move the family out of their apartment and into a house they can call their own. Although everyone’s aspirations conflict, the film ends in a way that rekindles the love of the family. Personally, I did not like that this film was set in current day because I feel like the struggles
The cast for this film, overall, mimicked their roles from the script relatively well. I enjoyed that this particular film was able to capture the power and edginess set in the script as well. I also enjoyed that the 1962 film matched the book very closely, although it was not perfect I could easily fall along with the script. It is appealing to me that A Raisin in the Sun also touched on modern-day issues such as racism and poverty regardless of how long ago it came out. These issues also tie in to one of the entire central concepts we discussed in class: “The American Dream” and the idea that if it is not achieved, it can destroy someone (Walter). As a result, I felt as though I was able to relate to A Raisin in the Sun in some aspects such as racism, poverty, Chicago and family struggles which is why I truly enjoyed the authenticity of the original