Prince’s “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” music video culminates with an appearance by renowned educator Marva Collins. This talk will explore how the centering of Collins in this seminal work underscores the lyrics, “This kind of beauty comes is the kind that comes from inside.” 

In “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” Prince deconstructs the superficial beauty standards that the mainstream media and much of the public associated with his female collaborators. Collins’ presence emphasizes that beauty is much more than skin deep and shines a spotlight on a social cause that Prince had long privately championed. 

Chris Bournea (bor-NAY) is a writer and filmmaker based in Columbus, Ohio. He directed the documentary “Lady Wrestler: The Amazing, Untold Story of African-American Women in the Ring.” The documentary chronicles the accomplishments of trailblazing African-American women who integrated professional wrestling in the 1950s and ‘60s, such as Babs Wingo, Ethel Johnson, Marva Scott, Ramona Isbell and Kathleen Wimbley.

Bournea wrote and directed the feature film “Things Are Tough All Over,” a drama about a Chicago family struggling through the Great Recession of 2008. The movie will be released in 2025. 

Bournea co-wrote the nonfiction book “All Jokes Aside,” which chronicles the famous Chicago comedy club of the same name. The club served as a star factory in the 1990s, launching the careers of famous comedians such as Ohioans Dave Chappelle and Steve Harvey, Mo’Nique, Chris Rock, Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley, and many others.

Bournea is the author of the fiction series “The Chloe Chronicles,” about a young woman of color making her way in the cutthroat entertainment industry. He also wrote and directed the play “The Springtime of Our Lives,” a contemporary, urban take on Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet.”

Bournea is also a journalist who is currently a writer and editor for Ohio State News, The Ohio State University’s news site.