Jessie Nelson (Dir). (1994). Corrina, Corrina. New Line Cinema


 Corrina, Corrina is the story of a widowed jingle writer and an educated African American maid. Manny Singer(Liotta) hires Corrina(Goldberg) to look after his house and his daughter after the death of his wife. Corrina's straightforward attitude and great sense of humor soon win the little girl over. Not long after Manny begins to fall for Corrina. The only problem is that this movie takes place around the 1950s when blacks and whites were not on equal ground. Soon after hiring Corrina Manny begins treating her like a close friend, such as by asking her to stay over for dinner. This, as well as other non-professional scenes, causes controversy on both sides of the fence as everyone else feels that anything but an employer/employee relationship is inappropriate for them. In the end love wins and Manny and Corrina choose to break from the societally-imposed stereotypes and pursue happiness. I chose this film because of its great humor and strong message that color and race should not stand in the way of true love.
 
 1) How would the movie have been different if it had been a white woman and a black man?
 
 2) Would society have looked at them differently if they had both been single and without children?
 
 3) Why as it so hard for Corrina's family to trust Manny even though he had done nothing to make them doubt him?
 
 4) Knowing that Manny was an atheist in the beginning and Corrina
 believed in God,why did the writer chose to add the issue of religious beliefs into an already controversial situation?
 
 5)Would the story have had the same impact if Corrina had not been so educated and culturally aware?

Rebekah Tinter


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