A Star-Studded Movie by Stephen Spielberg - Research Paper Example

?The Color Purple (1985) is a star-studded movie directed by Stephen Spielberg, heavily critiqued for its controversial content. The fundamental ideologies promoted in the film center on feminist studies and race studies. These concepts represent two of the main social commentaries of the movie: the experience of the African American woman and the inequalities against Blacks in America. The power of music is undeniable in the film for in the manufacture of effective cinema productions, directors harness music to invoke a mood, instill characters with certain feelings and foreshadow future events. Located in Georgia, a place peopled with many ex-slaves and their offspring, one observes the repercussion of Jim Crow’s segregational laws. However, in the midst of this oppression, examples of personal independence and freedom are showcased in The Color Purple. Purple stands as a color of majesty and spirituality. In this movie, men and women become dignified by the baptism of fire as they progress through life and gain recognition of their own worth and worthiness. In the film, The Color Purple (1985), the two main ideological approaches which emerge are Feminist Studies and Race Studies. Conforming closing to history in the 1930s, The Color Purple, is a bildungsroman portrayal of Celie and her transformation from a young, illiterate, sexually abused black girl in Georgia to a blooming woman, confident and emancipated. Color Purple is a “pivotal text in the tradition of the literature by black women writers who have taken as their theme a young black woman’s journey from silence to voice and authentic female selfhood” (La Grone 3). Legitimized African-American slavery permitted gross inhumanities and injustices to flourish. Through a lifelong process, the female characters receive liberation by learning to harness their strength. In this gender/racial conflict, women rise up and are actively engaged in the fight for their freedom as women. The Color Purple intensifies the feminist voice raised in protest against racial discrimination, sexual abuse and gender bias. Some of the women even wax militant and show themselves just as brave as the men, as they fight to achieve self-actualization. They earn acquire a newfound voice and power formerly denied to them. Placed in the 1930s in Georgia, USA, the film, The Color Purple, concentrates on the trajectories of women growing to assert themselves and rise above male oppression, inferiority, sexual abuse and racial stereotyping. Black America, still reeling under the blow of slavery, contends with deep-rooted racial prejudice. Also sexism, still in wide currency, denies the woman the equal rights of the male counterpart. Comprehending the feminist approach is key to uncovering the film’s full significance. Sofia, Celie, Nettie and Shug Avery are the main female characters who experience bitter trials at the hands of men and society in general. The film employs slavery as a metaphor to represent the institutionalized, patriarchal authoritarianism under which African-American women must suffer. In the 1930s, African-American women are more subjugated to male dominance because of their status as lower class descendants of slaves and women. As a consequence, the least preferred position was that of an African-American woman since she is the target of more discrimination owing to her race, gender and socio-economic standing. Albert, Celie’s bullying stepfather, denounces her with the words:  “Look at you. You’re black, you're poor, you're ugly, you're a woman, you're nothing at all!” (The Color Purple Film). Seeing that the key women are oppressed because of sex and ethnic considerations, feminist studies go in tandem with race studies in The Color Purple. The baneful effect of slavery and the strained, volatile race relationship between African Americans and White Americans are clearly manifested in The Color Purple. Slavery is an institution which generates income for capitalist America. In a country controlled by White man's interests, the Negro is unprotected since he is not mastered by a planter. Indeed, slavery is commonly known as The Slave Trade and this term underlines its economic and social connotations. In The Color Purple, instances of segregation recur subtly and consistently. Family ties, civil rights, justice and human dignity are trodden underfoot and give way to the prevailing racial prejudices. In the American economy, legal segregation supplants slavery so that whites and blacks remain separate. Blacks have to attend churches populated only by blacks. They are hardly permitted to enter public schools to be educated and the only viable jobs were menial, low-income positions such as house-servants and railroad workers. As one of the most prosperous, cotton-producing states in America, Georgia was a place in which many ex-slaves resided. One of the detrimental consequences of slavery is unemployment. With hundreds of thousands of slaves only skilled with techniques only valuable on the cotton plantation, the options were few. For women, the more accepted alternative was the domestication of their labor, working as maids for Caucasian Americans (ODonovan 162). In the Hell-No Scene starring Sophia (Oprah Winfrey) refuses to have her children work as a house servant for Ms. Millie, a White woman who requests it by replying, “Hell No.” Her act of refusal surprises the woman, enrages the mayor who in the end, commits her to prison. As an aggressive, ample and vociferous woman, Sophia quickly falls into disfavor with the whites who witness the violent scene. The attitude of the African-Americans toward Caucasian Americans is expected to be characterized by servile deference, obsequiousness and even reverence. On the contrary, Caucasian Americans had the upper hand and could abuse, arrest, rape and even murder African Americans with impunity. One attests to the tension-filled race relations as the infuriated mayor slaps Sophia. As a black woman, Sophia is supposed to do nothing – instead she retaliates by giving a reciprocating slap to the White mayor. The gravity of the topic of racism makes the air tense; therefore, for some relief, one appreciates the contributions of music. Nothing so effectively articulates and conveys the emotion of the human heart than music. Negro music was instrumental in becoming a voice for African-Americans by way of three genres: jazz, blues and bebop which all communicate Black joy, sorrow and worship. Blues music evolved from the folk songs of the African slaves in the pre-Harlem Renaissance period. Blues was an expression very peculiar to the Black experience in America for it manifests the simple joys and pleasures of life mixed with its pain, inequality and isolation. In The Color Purple (1985), Spielberg manages to expose some African-American culture at a club called Harpo’s Juke Joint. The blues pianist accompanies Shug Avery with the song, “Miss Celie’s Blues” which she renders to Celie as a sisterly tribute. As the female protagonist of the movie, viewers are very much acquainted with Celie’s hardships: her inferiority complex, her stepfather’s incestuous abuse, the seizure of her children, her poverty, her loneliness and gloomy prospects. Equally Shug, although she has some more advantages than Celie, undergoes some wounding adversities. At the club, she is “belting out lusty lyrics, (the viewer) understands that a fundamental sadness pervades Shug's life-a grief that no music can fully drown” (Bernardi 305). At the Harpo juke joint, Spielberg pits the joy and sorrow against each other and unites the two since they are all found within Georgia. The ambience of uninhibited sexuality, wild laughter, revelry and drunkenness meet with a deep, soulful sadness in the heart of the Negro. The night life of Georgia offers an escape of the hard-pressed and African-Americans in the Blacks of Georgia. Black hedonism, orgies and dancing at the cabarets and clubs and dancehalls stand in marked contrast with black despair, melancholy and rife oppression surrounding African-Americans. The psychological effect of the music on Celie is marked, the sentimentality of the song reverberating to the point that Celie is touched for life. The song validates Celie’s self-worth in numerous ways. First of all, to have a song named after hers makes her sit up in wonder and amazement. Since the separation with her soul-sister, Nettie, she never thinks that someone could love her for who she is. Nevertheless, here is a beautiful and popular woman, Shug, who admires her, loves her and claims her as her sister. The lyrics affirm her as “sister, you've been on my mind/ Sister, we're two of a kind/ So, sister, I'm keepin' my eye on you…Have I got news for you, I'm something/ I hope you think that you're something too (Lyrics to Songs: Miss Celie’s Blues). In Shug, Celie sees someone who truly appreciates her after being told multiple times of her lack of beauty and reminded her nothingness. This song also prefigures the future reunion between Celie and Nettie who were forcefully distanced from one another by Albert. Somewhere, Nettie is still there with her. Black gospel is reminiscent of another power aspect of African American culture, the spiritual. In the song, “Maybe God Is Trying To Tell You Something,” Shug reunites and reconciles with her father amongst the singing of the Negro spiritual. The Baptist’s use of gospel developed through slavery when the converted Christian slaves would burst into religious songs focused on themes of tribulation and freedom. Shug has originated her singing career in the church before she launches out as a blues/jazz singer and performer. The rhythm, spirited chorus, congregational clapping and dancing induce hope and infuses the divine in the human heart. When she hears the church music, she feels fervent nostalgia and yearns to be joined again to her father. In the end, the music ushers in forgiveness, reunion and renewal. The mise-en-scene enriches the understanding of the themes of the plot narratives, underlines and clarifies the characterizations, invokes emotion with which the characters are wrestling. The mise-en-scene is “the theatrics of space as that space is constructed for the camera. This use of space – how it is arranged and how the action and the objects relate within it – generates exciting topics and commentary on film” (Gazetas). In The Color Purple, it should be noted that the preponderant themes, all contextualized in the African-American experience, explore slavery vs freedom, racism, friendship, feminism and sexual abuse. In The Color Purple the most glorious scene is the closing one in which Nettie and Celie reunite after more than 40 years separated. The types of camera shots used for this ending scene are the medium shot and long shot to include everyone coming together from different points. For the reunion clip, directors clothe Nettie in a royal robe of purple. Also the colors of the flowers in the field blossom purple. Although Celie is not cognizant of the surprise arrival, she wears a light purple dress (lilac). The glass wind chimes in the background, swayed by the wind, tinkle permeating the scene with an almost magical touch. The first sounds are the birds cheerfully tweeting. The reunion occurs in the springtime, a time of life, renewal and hope and the weather is beautiful. Elegantly dressed as an African princess, Nettie introduces Celie to her children born in Africa. The colorful scene conveys the message of bliss, rejoicing and celebration after the years of reproach and misery. Thd black and white contrast is implemented as a mise-en-scene technique to display the clash of opposing values. In the scene where the sisters, Celie and Nettie separate, Nettie is dressed in white while Albert the wicked stepfather is mostly dressed in black. These contrasting colors represent the polarity of the characters. Nettie represents innocence, hope, childish purity, friendship and light; while Albert, draped in black, signifies darkness, evil, terror and male oppression. The violent scene is close up, intensifying the climactic separation and makes more poignant this landmark in both girls’ lives. In conclusion, women rise to the challenge and prove themselves as good as men in being heroic and strong. African-American woman succeeds in healing after a bitter past of inflicted hurt. Restoration of relationships conclude the story triumphantly as the women become reunited and can enjoy one another’s company. The women have revolutionized themselves, turning a new leaf and can now bask in the fulfilled hope of friendship. Works Cited: Berlant, Lauren, “Race, Gender, and Nation in "The Color Purple “, Critical Inquiry, 14(4), 1988. Bernardi, D. The Persistence of Whiteness: Race and Contemporary Hollywood Cinema. Routledge Taylor & Francis, New York, 2008. Bobo, J. “Sifting Through the Controversy: Reading The Color Purple,” Callaloo Journal, 39, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989, 332-342. . Gazetas, Aristides. An Introduction to World Cinema. Mc. Farland and Company Inc. Publishers, London, 2000. La Grone, K. Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Rodopi Publishing House, Amsterdam/New York, 2009. Lyrics to Songs: Miss Celie’s Blues . Mann, S.A. “Slavery, Sharecropping, and Sexual Inequality,” Signs Journal 14(4), Common Grounds and Crossroads: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in Women's Lives, University of Chicago Press, 1989, 774-798. . ODonovan, S.E. Becoming Free in the Cotton South. Harvard University Press, London, England, 2007. . Smelik, A. Feminist Film Theory. Read More