The Color Purple Film - Essay Example

?[The [The [The ‘The Color Purple’ Film Background The film The Color Purple originally writtenby Alice Walker was directed by Steven Spielberg and its screenplay was written by Menno Meyjes. The film was made in 1985. Structure/Form The film portrays the young Celie as an innocent girl who just smiles and smiles. Yet, this is not the end but only a beginning of emotional and physical hardships she will go through to find her identity. Through habitual rapes and abuses, Celie is completely dominated by Pa and loses the ability to control her own life. For example, when Pa beats Celie because he thinks she winked at a boy in church, she is even afraid to say that she had something in her eye, the truth. (Simon, 58) After giving birth to two children by her Pa, he instantly took them away from her and gave them to the wife of a missionary who was unable to have children (Simon, 58). Pa's cruelty continues to oppress Celie by forcing her to marry. Yet as fancy as the word marriage sounds, Celie is no more than a maid who does housework and watches over the children, than a wife. Their marriage lacks love, the one theme that Walker stresses throughout the novel. In one place, if the book provided great insight into the characters' mindset, the movie adds to this through visual means in the other place. The wardrobes and the setting were constructed wonderfully. Every detail looks like "The Color Purple" was actually filmed in the early 1900's. Its setting presents a dismal glance into the characters' inconsiderate lifestyles and the gloomy plot. It appears to have permitted the cast to articulate themselves in more details. In the absence of it, the film wouldn't have the same height of emotion that catches the attention of the audience. Most of the scenes suggest its emotional point through the set itself alone, whether it is melancholy, fury, pleasure, etc. One example of this would be when Celie was shown in the dreary kitchen. Reading about Celie doing hard labor in the book was one thing. Seeing her do the work was another. Through the movie, one could actually see what life was like for Celie. Of course, one with a creative imagination can fill in details without the aid of a visual. Theme of the film Color Purple The film capitalized on its ability to depict scenes visually. One problem, however, was that the plot of the novel was too long to fit into a reasonable time scale for a movie. This led to some important parts of the book being removed. One important part was missing in the end. In the book, Celie standing up to Albert was the turning point of the story, as it forced Albert to reevaluate his personality. The movie left this crucial transformation out. This would explain why black men were angered by the movie. (Denby, 56) Albert was shown in the immigration office, but he was never shown to have any remorse for the way he treated Celie, and that left his character incomplete. The film shows that Shug Avery made a tremendous impact on Celie's life. She taught Celie how to love, laugh, and live. Some parts of this novel are hard to read and understand because they are letters written by Celie but Walker does a very good job letting the reader know what the characters are feeling. The film goes after the componential features that made the book thriving. Among these features, the most prominent is well-built and well knitted character growth. Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey left no stone unturned in playing leading roles as Celie and Sofia. Danny Glover was also splendid, and along with these main characters, the supporting cast, too, did an evenly inspiring task. The plot is fabricated deep into the chain of events and the characters all through, while never holding back even a single drop of sentiment. Such stuff keeps the audience judging every prospective occurrence and counter checking every facet. Its levels of story lines make possible the series of events fascinating. It verifies that there's certain more to Celie's life than just her own tribulations. She transforms many lives in an excellent manner without grasping it. If we compare both genres i.e. novel and film, it transpires that although there were various criticisms of the novel when it came into market and afterwards, there have long been harasses against Alice Walker, the objections speeded up after the film's release. The film accessed the audience in various phases and every time stimulated a violent response. By October 1986 the film version of "The Color Purple" had made almost one hundred million dollars, and the rental of the videotape has been in the top twenty since its arrival. (Darnton, C6) It is safe to assume that more people have seen the film than have read the book. The far-reaching controversy can be attributed mainly to the film. Outspoken African-Americans viewing the film rather than reading the book criticized it for depicting black men negatively, as violent domestic abusers. (Bobo, 143) They tended to overlook the main issues for women in the story, sexual and domestic violence. Many believed that discussing these issues publicly would contribute to the negative stereotypes of violent black men. In turn, black women are expected to suffer in silence so that black men will not be viewed more negatively than they already are. (Collins, 1990) Some of the media tended to point the finger at all black women writers suggesting that their only intent is to manufacture a best seller instead of worthwhile literature. Mel Watkins, in an article headlined "Sexism, Racism, and Black Women Writers" in the New York Times Book Review outlined the problem that black men had with the novel and the film. He disapproved of Alice Walker and other black women writers who have composed what he exemplified as negative stories about black men for encroaching outside the recognized rules of icon producing in fiction. Watkins writes, “Those black women writers who have chosen black men as a target have set themselves outside a tradition that is nearly as old as Black American literature itself. They have, in effect, put themselves at odds with what seems to be an unspoken but almost universally accepted covenant among black writers." (Watkins, 36) Watkins goes on to explain further that the covenant as one in which black writers did not expose aspects of inner community life that might reinforce damaging racial stereotypes already perceived by racist antagonists. Contrary to black women's positive feedbacks for the novel and film, on the other hand, black male disapprovals of both started to achieve much more media space in years to pursue the release of the film. The main controversy continued to be protests from black males on the treatment of the black male characters throughout the book and especially the visual depictions of characters in the film. (Wesley, 90) In January 1986 ‘The New York Times’ reported that the film was the prevailing topic of talk on the radio and TV shows, in print media columns, at public forums and churches throughout the country. The article reveals that the uproar was always about the portrayal of black men and the dissection it had created between black men and black women. (Shipp, A13) The Color Purple is a very potent film that narrates the story of Celie, a poor black woman residing in the old south. The film opens at her childhood and action proceeds to her old age. She was abused and raped by her father as a young woman and afterwards was propelled to marry an evenly abusive man, Albert. The various people in Celie's household may seem strange in their actions to an outsider. However, if one examines the actions of the characters, their behaviors can be explained, and sometimes justified, by the systems theory, symbolic interactionism and finally, developmental theory. If analyzed on theoretical basis, it transpires that the systems theory tries to elucidate how groups of individuals intermingle as a system. Furthermore, it is apparent that there are also subsystems within this system. Nevertheless, a transformation in one member will impinge on all of the other contributory members in that specific set system. The huge system in the family is perceptibly the family itself. It consists of Celie, Albert, and his children. Beside this, there also exist subsystems. The "marital" subsystem is Celie and Alber and the sibling subsystem includes all of Albert's children. The greatest example of this theory comes when Celie finally leaves Albert. After Celie left, Albert's home became a total wreck. The theory of symbolic interactionism explicates the conducts of individuals based on the insights they have of themselves and of others. From quite tender age, Celie was persistently maltreated and abused. This proved to be the very reason of having very low self-worth on her behalf and also formed her thoughts about "normal" interactions between men and women. She thought it was very normal for men to abuse women so when Harpo asked her what he should do about his wife's attitude, she said, "Beat her". She did not mean harm to Sophia, Harpo's wife, but she thought that it was the normal action that a man should take, based on her pat experiences. It was not until she met Shug that she realized that she did not have to endure so much abuse. The developmental theory explains that humans follow a pattern of change and growth through their life span. People must go through developmental tasks in order to grow. Celie was forced to marry at a very young age and was forced to mature much quicker than many girls. Her experiences taught her much about whatever she could. She learned to cook, clean, and sow, among other things, which ensured her place as an "effective" wife at the time. (Harris, 139) The system theory, symbolic interactionism, and the social exchange theory explain the actions of the characters in the story very well, within a sociological perspective. Celies's family was a system with many subgroups and she was probably the most important member of the family. Her perceptions of life, which where imprinted on her from a young age, shaped her actions. She went through a process of growth through her life that eventually leads to her liberation. For the most part, the Johnson family was very dysfunctional. Celie, probably the central part of the family, was frequently ill-treated and opted to leave. Shot Mr. Glover one way or another has been made a very compassionate villain - but Adolph Caesar, as his father, mugs so extremely that he appears to have strolled in from another movie. And Margaret Avery formulates Shug affectionately compelling, though without the sort of sensuality that Miss Walker mentions. Undeniably, the exclusive bedroom scene between Celie and Shug performs as a blameless, responsive encounter between two very pleasant people, and it finishes with a shot of wind chimes. Sound The music of the film was composed by Quincy Jones. As far as sound track is concerned, the noticeable features are these that it is based on Jazz/Rhythm & Blues. Historically speaking the background of Jazz/Rhythm & Blues (Shortly called R & B) is a kind of ancient popular African American music that was originated during the decade of the 1940s. Editing The film color purple was edited by Michael Kahn. He has edited and gave finishing touches to scenes quite perfectly and in an artistic and professional manner. Conclusion Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" and afterwards its film adaptation by Steven Spielberg's have raised gigantic and hot debate between media and African-American community. A great part of this controversy covers even the extensive belief that both the novel and the film portray black male characters with a partial and unconstructive approach. They are typified as stereotypical tyrant, abusers, rights usurpers and rapists who are just there to dictate and oppress women in their life. This is, if analyzed thoroughly, not the first time Walker has been charged associated with gender and racial controversy pertaining to the black male characters depicted in her novels. Walker, in her own defense, has stated several times that women all too often are abused by the men they love. She adds that all of the characters in her novels, male and female, represent people that she has known throughout her life. Works Cited Bobo, J. (1989). Sifting through the controversy: reading the color purple. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 143 Darnton, N. (1987). Color of purple to re-open nationwide. The New York Times. 9 January: C6 Denby, D. (1986). Purple people-eater. New York. 13 January: 56 Harris, T. (1984). Black American literature forum. St. Louis: St. Louis University Press. 139 Shipp, E. R. (1986). Blacks in heated debate over the color purple. The New York Times. 27 January: A13 Simon, J. (1986). Black and white in purple. National Review. 14 February: 58 Watkins, M. (1986). Sexism, racism and black women writers. The New York Times Book Review. 15 June: 36 Wesley, R. (1986). The color purple debate: reading between the lines. Ms. September: 90 Read More