Oprah Winfrey butchers a classic in her production of Their Eyes Were Watching God to the point that the main characters and relationships become unrecognizable from the book. Throughout the entire film, Oprah changes key aspects of the character by weakening, strengthening, or removing all moral fiber from the characters. It also alters all the major relationships in the film to further show these changes in character. In this way, Oprah transforms Their Eyes Were Watching God into something completely distorted from the original. Oprah significantly changes Joe's character in her production of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Throughout the film, Joe's character is continually undermined by his actions and the things he allows Janie to do. Joe controls every aspect of Janie's life and the people of Eatonville in the book. “Jody depends on the exercise of power for her sense of self; he is happy and secure only when he feels he has power over those around him... He needs to feel like a 'great voice', a force of 'irresistible masculinity' before which the whole world bows” (Analysis). This places him at a higher level than the rest of the citizens and guarantees him his leadership. In the film, however, Joe doesn't control or assert himself as much over the people of Eatonville. This lack of power over the people in his life consequently weakens his character. Due to the weakening of his character, Joe loses a key aspect of his personality in the film. Oprah changes Tea Cake in the film through the weakening of her character, the loss of her "bad boy" persona, and her increased dedication to Janie. During the hurricane in the film, Tea Cake continually weakens significantly after she fails to pull herself out of the water and... middle of paper... Zora N. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 75th Anniversary Ed. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2006. Print.Kikaya, Feza. ""Their Eyes Were Watching God" receives mixed reviews." SilverChips. March 9, 2005. Web. April 24, 2014. “LitCharts: Their Eyes Were Watching God: Themes.” LitCharts. LitCharts, 2008. Web. April 24, 2014. “SparkNotes: Their Eyes Were Watching God: Major Character Analysis.” SparkNote. SparkNotes LLC, 2014. Web. April 24, 2014. “SparkNotes: Their Eyes Were Watching God: Themes, Motifs, and Symbols.” SparkNote. SparkNotes LLC, 2014. Web. April 24, 2014. Their Eyes Were Watching God. Dir. Darnell Martin. Perf. Halle Berry. Harpo Film, 2005. DVD.