Stormy Weather: A Response

Andrew Stone’s Stormy Weather showcases the rise to fame of Bill Robinson and the love story between him and Selina Rogers. I really enjoyed this film due to the glamorous costumes, excellent dancing and singing, and overall the acting was spot on, to say the least. I thought the dancing and singing were really good; I think this film could almost be considered a musical. More specifically, the costumes that are nothing more than glamorous were stunning and unique, in my opinion. I also really enjoyed how Bill Robinson is seen talking about his life story with the children, and ever so often, the camera pans over to clips from days when he was first starting out with his dancing and singing career. Further, I liked the central theme in the film, which in my opinion, was that no matter where you start in life, you can do anything you set your mind to. Stormy Weather, in a way, reminded me of the 2022 film Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, directed by Kasi Lemmons. I have reason to believe the films have similarities because they both show the rise to fame of great artists. Whitney Houston’s film showcases how she first got also started in her singing career, similar to Bill Robinson’s dancing career. Both Bill Robinson and Whitney Houston’s films showcase a central theme: you can be whatever you put your mind to; you just have to be persistent and try. However, I found that Whitney Houston’s movie was more of a feature film lacking the musical/theatrical aspects of Stormy Weather. I really enjoyed how in Stormy Weather, we see a shift in African American representation in our film schedule. We further see that the representation is more positive, unlike our past films. Further, I thought that both Stormy Weather and Whitney Houston’s movie showed a positive representation and were all-around excellent films. I also want to point out that I am eager to see how our film schedule will showcase representation of African Americans that identify as LGBTQ+. I say this because Whitney Houston’s film was the first film I have seen to showcase LGBTQ+ representation in African American representation in film. Whitney Houston’s film showcases the representation of not only African Americans but the representation of the LGBTQ+ and its representation of the time. I am very intrigued by the way Whitney Houston’s movie showcased not only the difficulties she faced based on race but also the struggles she had sexually as such an influential artist of all time. I think both of these factors in Whitney Houston’s life truly showcase how she felt during the prime of her singing career and, more specifically, how the film was able to showcase how Whitney Houston went against all odds to achieve her dreams. One quote from Whitney Houston’s film that stuck with me and I found to be beautiful was: “Music is not a color to me; it has no boundaries.” I thought this quote was inspirational because it shows that, like Stormy Weather, no matter what, it is always essential to stop at nothing to achieve one’s dreams. Furthermore, I enjoyed Stormy Weather and found aspects to be similar to Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody.