Jamilah
Behavior
Leader
Leadership could be both behavior and personality combined, however I choose to put it in behavior because I feel like Jamilah doesn't make her personality based around being a leader. It's more her actions demonstrate her leadership. She portrays a lot of leadership skills and traits throughout the movie. One primarily being the coach of the SBB step team. Even though she was only doing it to get into Harvard it takes a lot of skill and patience to pull it off.
Another example of Jamilah demonstrating leadership behavior is at the very beginning of the movie when she was performing with Theta. After the performance she starts to criticize her friend to help her improve her skill. Her friend states: "I'm a Theta now I don't care what people think", Jamilah responds with: "exactly you're a Theta now. Start caring."
User
Jamilah is a user because through the entire movie she is constantly using people for her own benefit for example: Using SBB to get into Harvard. Another example of Jamilah being a user is how she joined Theta to prove she's apart of black culture and not another "white washed" girl.
Personality
Smart
Jamilah is a hard worker shes dedicated to continue the family tradition of attending harvard. Her parents not giving her an endorsement didn't stop her from pursuing going to harvard and finding out other ways from receive an endorsement.
Nerdy
Jamilah shows her nerdy side of her personality when she goes to the zombie or "Walking dead" convention with kevin. They even get all dressed up with zombie makeup. Through out the movie they make a lot of references to the walking dead and Jamilah enjoying pop culture.
Ego
Jamilah has a big ego for most of the movie because her life is very successful however this soon changes when her life crumbles apart. Pride and ego are two very overlapping personality traits so certain examples can overlap. For example when SBB confronts her for using them she blames them for her "life" being ruined because shes unable to accept that she ruined her own career by being reckless.
Pride
She has a lot of pride, this is demonstrated a numerous amount of times in the movie. When she doesn't apologize and constantly tries to prove her point even when in the wrong, this has ties to her huge ego. Usually when people start to feel very successful they forget to humble themselves and to always remember someone is better then them and to respect others. Jamilah forgets this and it is clearly shown. Jamilah felt unstoppable because she has a good job, a lot of friends, is a good stepper and is on track for Harvard, along side her boyfriend. Her life slowly starts to crumble and by the end of the movie she is far more humbled and less egotistical.
When Dean Bearman finds out she was partying and there were photos of her drunk, he is forced to fire her. However instead of Jamilah apologizing because she is clearly in the wrong she tries to justify what she did because she "wasn't in the twerk pyramid" and because she was mad at her parents.
Another example is when Saundra confronts Jamilah and calls her an "asshole" and told her how Theta rejected her because she was too "whitewashed" Jamilah still refuses to apologize and walks out instead.
An example of Jamilah having too much pride and not being able to apologize is when Dean Bearman fired her because he saw the pictures of her partying. She blamed SBB for ruining her life. She had to much pride to take ownership of her own actions. Even after all the white girls tell her how they feel she still doesn't do the right thing and apologize.
Motivation
Law School
Jamilah's main motivation throughout the movie is attending Harvard University for law and becoming a lawyer. Her passion and motivation to go to Harvard is what sets off this whole movie.
A sub motivation that falls under the category of her wanting to go to law school is helping the Sigma Beta Beta learn how to step so Dean Bearman wouldn't take their charter away ie: kick them out of university. Since her parents wouldn't endorse her, she had to get an endorsement from someone else so her and Dean made a deal.
Stepping/Friends
Stepping is her way of releasing stress and her stepping sisters motivate her to keep pushing and persuing her goals.
Beth, one of her closest friends ends up motivating Jamilah by telling her the same thing Jamilah told Beth at the party, when Beth wanted to deactivate her sorority. Jamilah stated: "weak people quit" Beth said this to Jamilah when she was leaving and going back home and giving up all she worked for. Beth telling Jamilah that weak people quit motivated her to go back and this caused SBB to come second place in the competition.
Parents
For half of the movie her parents motivated her to go to law school because they both went to Harvard and she thought they would endorse her. However she soon finds out that she won't be getting endorsed. At the end of the movie we find out her mom was jealous of her success, but at that point she has lost her passion for Harvard and decides to do something else.
Dad
Her dad is a lot more easy going and more supportive then her mother. Her mother seems to control him a little bit because of how they were conversing during their dinner. He says "sorry I have to live with her" meaning her word is final.
Mom
Her mom is very hard on her and even jealous. She admits at the end of the movie the reason she didn't want to endorse her is because she was jealous she was so successful at a young age.
