Fielder Cooks Film I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings :: essays research papers

I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, a 1979 movie directed by Fielder Cook, is a world-renowned autobiography of Maya Angelou’s youth during the Great Depression. This movie has been reworked from Maya Angelou’s best selling novel and the story takes place in a bigoted town in Stamps, Arkansas where Maya and her brother, Bailey, grow up with their grandmother and uncle. The Angelous were African Americans, they had to deal with racism from the infamous Ku Klux Klan and the other Caucasians in town. Despite disdain from the Caucasians, Maya also has familial problems. She travels back and forth between her mother’s and grandmother’s house not being able to situate herself in either’s home. However, Maya perseveres. She begins school and excels in academics. The turning point of the movie is when Maya is sexually assaulted, consequently, she withdraws into total silence. It is with the help of her kind teacher that Maya is mentally restored to herself: enthusiastic, joyful and bright. She makes an emotional valedictory speech at her graduation where she expressed her feelings and emotions towards her friends, fel low classmates, teachers and life at Stamps. Her eventful time from her youth to her graduation serve to teach a person to define themselves, not for others to define a person. I enjoyed watching I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings because we learn the pains and lessons that Maya Angelou endured while she grew up. The movie is separated into episodes, in which suspense is created and kept as each episode finishes with a climatic scene. For example, Angelou slowly builds tension around the graduation by relating to the children’s excitement and the parents’ pride.