Synopsis
This story follows the uphill battle of the Williams family trying to make Venus and Serena great. We focus mainly on Richard Williams (Will Smith) who wrote a 78-page plan for Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton) to make sure that they become exceptional tennis players. It starts in the rough streets of Compton as Richard tries to find a coach willing to train the two girls for free because he’s unable to pay them. The movie greatly depicts the Williams family’s struggle to make it and shows times when they could’ve lost everything by giving in to their emotions. Richard is shown as very eccentric while his wife Brandi Williams (Aunjanue Ellis) is the solid rock that grounds him and the family.
Interpretation
King Richard delves into the topic of ego throughout the run of the film. Richard is shown as a man who never got any respect from anyone his entire life, but with his children, that will change. Brandi and Richard have done everything in their power to raise children deserving of respect from those around them. Then Venus started winning. This caused everyone to start bragging which Richard particularly hated. With the plan still succeeding Richard started to develop his own ego. Enough to tell Brandi “You would be a single mother living in an apartment if it weren’t for me.” The movie highlights these two instances as cautions. Richard went as far as forcing the whole family to watch cinderella in order to realize the value of humbleness. Then he later falls into the same trap. By the end of the movie, we get another display of the ego in the face of true adversity. Where we learn that even if our best isn’t good enough we should still be proud that we tried our best.
