This winter, a new version of an old tale hit the big screen. “Annie” features a cast full of stars such as Quvenzhané Wallis, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. “Annie” is about a little girl who grew up in foster care her whole life after her parents left her with nothing to remember them except for a locket and a note. Her foster mother, cruel yet hilarious Miss Hannigan (played by Cameron Diaz in the remake), only takes care of foster children for the extra money that she gets every week. Miss Hannigan mistreats the children because she is sad that her music career never took off. To get away from the chaos of her household, Annie spends most of her days trying to find her real parents. Since the whole “Annie” franchise is based off of a musical, there are many musical numbers in the movie, including three new songs. One of the new songs, called The City’s Your’s, written by Sia, includes a surprising singing and dancing performance by Jamie Foxx’s character, Will, while he and Annie are riding in a helicopter. The movie enhanced the musical performances by making them more modern but still keeping to the beats of the original songs.

The new rendition of the hit musical not only does an impeccable job of capturing the magic of the musical, but it also breaks down racial barriers. In the beginning of the movie, a young girl with similar features are the old past time “Annie’s” stands up to give a presentation in class, after the new “Annie”, Quvenzhane, stands up to give her presentation. This shows the difference between the two Annies from the old movie, to the new one. The new “Annie” does have the big curly hair, and does come from a foster home, but the new Annie breaks the tradition of white “Annie’s” with red hair. The 2014 “Annie” helps America realize how far we have gotten with racial equality. With the recent events in Ferguson and racial tensions heating up, this simple remake of a classic movie helps everyone realize that although racial inequality is still around in 2015, we have made some progress (even if it is only little) in fighting racism in the modern day world.