The Movie Claudine (ID) 4/2

For Ms. Epps African American film/literature class, we are currently watching the movie Claudine. It shows the life of a young African American woman living in Harlem off welfare and with her six kids. She was married twice but each man left her to care for her children alone, and she works for a white woman on the other side of town as a maid. Throughout the film, Claudine meets a garbage man who works near her and they soon fall in love. Their relationship is in a struggle simply because she loves him but cannot marry him. She wants to show him around, but whenever she does, the welfare woman that shows up at her door is convinced she finally has a man that can financially support her therefore she no longer needs welfare checks which is not the case. Claudine feels exhaustion due to not knowing where her kids are ever up to, she is a single struggling mother, and her boyfriend has struggles of his own due to paying child support to two of his kids that he never sees. He does not want to be dragged into a marriage where welfare people will always be on his case, and Claudine does not want to feel like she is bringing him into a marriage that will take away his free rights as a man with no obligations. This movie was made in the '70s and depicts how life was in the '70s for people who were on the welfare system. What I've learned thus far is that people like the woman who constantly harassed Claudine are still around today, but instead it is not only the welfare system, but child services as well. Nothing ever really changes, it just takes turns for the worst.