Zora Neale Hurston’s novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” is a story about a young African American woman’s search for herself through different relationships. The compelling nature of the story struck Oprah Winfrey so much that she decided to turn it into a movie, but as is common, the film leaves out some key points. In Winfrey’s "Their Eyes Were Watching God," the sexualization of Janie’s character and her relationship with Tea Cake, and the minimization of relationships and African American community cause the film to lose meaning.  The idea of a community is essential to Hurston’s novel, and she portrays Janie’s relationships very intensely. As Janie is growing up in the African American community, Hurston makes sure to portray that throughout her novel. In both the novel and the movie, it is obvious that Janie is heavily influenced by those around her. From her grandmother raising her to her multiple husbands, she is not alone in her journey. For example, in the novel after Janie’s grandmother sees her kissing Johnny Taylor, she slaps her then hugs her as she is “suffering and loving and weeping internally for the both of them” (Hurston 14). After they finishing hugging, Janie’s grandmother tells her to “sit in her lap lak [she] used ta” (Hurston 14). In the film, however, after her grandmother slaps her, the two just hug for a while. Although the long hug depicts some sense of closeness, it pales in comparison to the dialogue offered by her grandmother. Hurston illustrates the compassion her grandmother feels toward Janie in what seems to be a beautiful portrayal of tough love. Similarly, her grandmother begins to shed wisdom on Janie by telling her, “de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out” (Hurston 14). She also tells her that black women are “de mules us de world” (Hurston 14). This wisdom from her grandmother reveals to Janie and the reader the hardships that she has been through as an Af