#RomanceAwarenessMonth: Week 3
I missed week two. I was too busy doing hood rat tings with my faves in Noo Yawk! But now I'm back like I never left, lol. So this week I wanted to explore some dope romantic moments in TV/film and...well y'all...being perfectly honest? My television gets turned on once every fortnight, LOL. I used to be big into tv/movies, but within like the past five years that interest has waned mightily. So I employed the help of some of my faves to share some of their fave moments with y'all!
First up is my girl, B. Fel, author of Ready:
Double or nothing - Love & Basketball. I understand the odds of you reading this and hating the movie are high, but an important note: I didn't watch this every time it played on BET, and I'd probably watch anything with Gina Prince-Bythewood's name on it. This scene and movie set the tone for me in terms of love stories well before I knew I wanted to tell them. Bless my eight-year-old heart though, because I was shook when I thought Q was truly going to give up on Monica and marry Tyra Banks' character. Wonderful.
Grumpy Old Man - Living Single. Max and Kyle were my favorite couple on this show. You remember that episode where Kyle's upset about turning 30 and Max struggled to comfort him? As an adult, my favorite scene is watching Max, who sat on a washing machine with a red bow tied around her neck, give herself to Kyle while he sulked in a laundromat and said "Happy Birthday, cheer the hell up." It's their type of romance, that no one else would/could understand, and that's why I love it.
The First Adventure, S1, E5 - FIRST (web series). This episode is the sweetest, cutest ever. Basically, a camping trip Charlie tries to take Robin on goes wrong and he makes up for it by moving the campsite into his living room. As she's reading an excerpt from Alex Elle's book, he kisses her. And as Extraordinary Love by Stacy Barthe plays, they make love. This series made me want to create a web series of my own. The characters are vulnerable, developed, and basically everything you want to see while watching a modern black love story on screen.
Next is the homie Chencia, author of the JustOneNight.com series
My favorite romantic moment comes from the popular Bollywood film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. There is a scene where Rahul sees Anjali dancing in the street and being an all-around carefree brown girl and as soon as his eyes find her in the crowd, everything slows down. It's that moment that we see in films all the time to let us know that something significant is happening. It's as if time stops for Rahul as he sees the woman that he knows he can't live without. He is thunderstruck by her smile, by her liveliness, and that's when he realizes that she will be his wife.
Next up is my fave the uuuuber talented Christina C. Jones, author of 5011 novels, including her latest release Determining Possession
I’ve watched a lot of black ass movies. A lot of black ass romantic movies. So, choosing a specific favorite romantic scene is a hard task, but, BUT, I think I have it. The lovely Ava Duvernay has done a lot of great things for the culture, but I have to specifically point out the quiet romance of this scene in I Will Follow between Omari Hardwick and Salli Richardson. The movie itself is very quiet – some might even say boring – but for my little romance author heart, this was very much a high point for me. The simplicity of helping her move, playing on the swings, laying out on that old mattress… it’s #romancegoals. We’ll ignore that the “hero” is kinda trash and focus on the good stuff.
Here's a little clip from that scene. https://www.youtube.com/embed/zt9pWMHM7vg?rel=0"
And finally is my girl, International Al aka Alexandra Warren, author of over 16 novels including her latest release If Only for the Summer
So I have a TON of favorite romantic movie/TV moments, but the one that came to mind first was the scene in Brown Sugar when Dre calls during Sidney’s interview with the radio station, and then shows up to the studio with the checkbox yes/no/maybe love letter of our time. *swoon* . Friends-to-Lovers is such a tricky, complicated, and sometimes downright messy dynamic, but I loved Dre and Sid’s relationship and was SO happy when they finally stopped playing and got together. Also, shoutout to Angie Martinez for gassing them up. lol :) [Ed. Note: This movie is one of my all-time faves and low-key was the inspiration for a particular scene in my first novella!]