Shoppin’

Victim. Fighter. Strength. Beauty. Survivor. Friend. Neglected. Forgotten.

These words come to mind when I think of my own mother, and they are the framework that I used when developing the character of Velma, Shoppin’s protagonist. She is a woman who has been labeled by society as lazy,  useless and nothing more than a baby-making machine, whose children probably won’t live to see the age of 18. And if they do, they won’t amount to much. But if we search beyond our stereotypical judgments, we will find that she is so much more than that. She is a woman left to raise two children alone. She is a woman working three and sometimes four jobs at a time. She is a woman acting as mother and father when her “baby’s daddy” abandoned her. She is a woman who somehow found the strength to survive when society told her that she’d be doing them a favor if she laid down and died. She is a great and honorable woman, even though sometimes she must do “dishonorable” things to make it from day to day.

This film is so dear to my heart because Velma is so much like most of the women that I grew up watching. She is honest, loving and a true survivor. But she is also afraid. Afraid that the world she lives in will soon consume her, will make her its next victim. She is a woman who has built her life around her faith, and knows that God will not forsake her, even though many times it seems as though He already has.

For me, this film is a tribute to every single mother who has been forced to live in the poverty stricken communities across America.  And to my own mother who secretly cried in the dark, and smiled in the light. I saw those tears mama.  This story is for you.

Share on Facebook