Coincidence, or not?
I thought the movie was thoroughly enjoyable and all the many "unique" characters likeabla and charming. I wouldn't mind living in such a world.
The daughter is named Zora and the young boy who loves her but she only sees as a "friend" (don't that stink?) bears the name "Tea Cake". Zora is played by an absolutely gorgeous young lady named Nia Long and Tea Cake is played by the ever wonderful Will Smith. Whoopie Goldberg and Ted Danson are icing on the cake.
Now as an Italian-American of a certain age group I am quite accustomed to young boys acquiring "street names" which they sometimes carry with them into their adulthood. So I never gave the name "Tea Cake" a second thought; until now.
Just recently I became aware of a novel called "Their Eyes Were Watching God" which was written by a famous African American author named Zora Neale Hurston. One of the key characters in this novel was a fellow named Vergible Woods who also goes by the name of "Tea Cake". I can't help but think that the characters named "Zora" and "Tea Cake" were a tribute to Ms. Hurston and her novel. Nothing wrong with that. It's just something I happened to observe by accident and think it's pretty cool. I love catching little things like that especially since I have not seen this mentioned anywere else.