Akeelah and the bee (2006)

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Akeelah and the Bee (2006).jpg


Rating: PG (Some Language)

Genre: Kids And Family, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Doug Atchison

Producer: Laurence Fishburne, Sidney Ganis, Nancy Hult, Daniel Llewelyn, Michael Romersa

Release Date (Theaters): Apr 28, 2006  Wide

Box Office (Gross USA): $18.8M

Duration: 1h 52m

Production Co: 2929 Productions, Cinema Gypsy Productions, Lionsgate Films, Out of the Blue... Entertainment, Spelling Bee Productions Inc.

Akeelah and the Bee is a drama genre film released in 2006. This movie is directed by Doug Atchison and starring Keke Palmer. The story tells about a girl named Akeelah, who struggles in a spelling bee championship because she is stereotyped based on her ethnicity. Her struggle as a black kid. She is being helped by the teacher, Professor Larabee.

Plot

Akeelah is a bright student at South Central Los Angeles. One day, she sees a National Spelling Bee championship on TV and she is fascinated. However, due to her skin color, she has to keep herself low. She has to keep her intellect secret because as a black person, the achievement is disregarded by other students. However, she has the gift of being a very good speller.

After a reluctant English professor decided to serve as his mentor, the real chance of national success came. It's Dr. Joshua Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), who is on leave after the death of his daughter. Training it is a way out of a shell of its own. And for Fishburne, it is a reminder of his work in another film, 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' (1993), in which he trains a child prodigy.

Her will to join a spelling bee championship is not supported by her friends nor her own mother. After the death of Akeehlah's father, her mother values ​​homework above anything else, including silly after-school activities like spelling bees. Since then, Akeelah has been training in secret. Even after she wins several bees, her mother still against it.

Racism Issues

Pros

Akeelah who really likes the spelling championship gets pressure from her brother that the participants in the spelling bee are usually white children. Her father died on his way home from work after being shot by an unknown. This reminds us of how many cases of Black People’s lives are taken without any proper reason but awful injustice. She lives in a violent and unsupportive environment. Due to Akeelah's hard work and help from Dr. Larabee, Akeelah successfully wins the spelling contest. The older brother of Akeelah also attempts to break out of the societal stereotype and join the Air Force, while his younger brother falls into the wrong category slowly.

Cons

On the other hand, there is also some racism which is shown for black people such as when Akeelah has to hide her intelligence and interest in spelling bees. Appearing as a genius can make Akeelah bullied at an all-black school. This shows bad stereotypes about black people. It's a tragedy in some predominantly black schools: Excellence is being punished by other students, perhaps as an expression of their low self-esteem. Another example of racism is the scene where Korean boys Akeelah fight. The Korean child's father is shown judging him personally about almost being defeated at Scrabble by Akeelah: "If you can barely beat the little black girl ..."


Reference

  1. Lee, Melissa (April 27, 2006). ‘Akeelah and the Bee’ spells heartwarming… well, it should'. The Tufts Daily. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  2. Fahkrian, Andra(2016). THE AMERICA’S CHRONICALLY GAP SKIN-COLORS, THE BOURGEOUIS, AND THE BEE’S TENSION AS DISCOVERED IN AKEELAH: THE LOGO-THERAPHY APPROACH. Sultan Agung Islamic University Semarang
  3. Ebert, Roger (April 27, 2020). Akeelah. A-k-e-e-l-a-h. Akeelah. RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 22, 2020.