Family Movie Night

 

by Karyn Bowman

 

Over the weekend Whitney Huston passed away. 

 

She had a glorious voice along with a talent for acting. And a taste for drugs that would ruin her voice and destroy her life. 

 

I admit that I am torn about Whitney. Many of us who are her age remember coming up with her songs in the background. We sang along with those songs, hoping to hit all of the notes without our voices cracking. Singers across this country listened to her and imitated her style. This past Sunday, as I sang in the praise choir, I hoped that my voice soared as hers did.

 

Similar to Adele, Whitney’s talent shined bright by the time she was 20.

 

When she turned to acting, was it any surprised that the woman who put so much emotion in her songs was able to find those notes in her acting?

 

Most people remember The Bodyguard as her break-out film, perhaps more for the song ‘I Will Always Love You.’ Here she plays a singer who gets a new bodyguard in Kevin Costner. Of course, he protects her well and they fall in love. 

 

Image from IMDb.com

For many women, it is in Waiting To Exhale that Whitney shows depth as a successful TV producer who is having an affair with a married man. Her character must deal with  pressure from her mother to find a ‘good’ man while trying to find one that loves only her. It was well balanced performance.

 

The last movie that she is known for is The Preacher’s Wife.  Whitney is a pastor’s wife and choir director. Her husband is seldom home because he is constantly ministering in their poor neighborhood. He is also dealing with a developer who wants to buy the church grounds. He asks God for help and gets it in the form of Denzel Washington who promptly falls in love with the wife.

 

There is one movie to be released, Sparkle, that will always be known as Whitney’s last movie.  There was also a rumor going around that Simon Cowell was thinking of asking Whitney to be a judge on his X-Factor talent judging show.

 

As great as her talent was, here is my problem with Whitney. I never felt her sincerity. I never felt as if she was just being herself. To me every interview was a chance to spin the story her way. You could see her thoughts process as she answered questions. She wasn’t being contemplative; she was trying to pick the answer we would most likely believe.

 

The other issue for me is the wasting of her talent. Whitney stopped being current in the late 90s when she disappeared into heavy drug use. Those years were tough and when she made her come back, it was clear to me her voice was gone. How many of us envied that voice? How many of us wondered why she could not take care of a magnificent instrument?

 

Whitney’s death is sad but it needs to be a reminder, just like Amy Winehouse or any other artist who has died too young. There is only one person in charge of your talent, your instrument, your life. You make the decisions to use it, to waste it, to find ways to destroy it or to let it go on for decades.

It is you who must take the time to listen to people who actually care about you when they are concerned about your drug use. It is you who must learn to say no to the drugs, the joy of the drama and the insecurities that drive you. Remember how you propelled yourself onto that stage/film set/studio? Use that drive to keep your life on track and not dead before the age of 50.

 

 

  Until next year, see you in the rental aisle.