Better In Your Head?--THE COLOR PURPLE

 

Spoiler Alert: I have tritanopia.

THE BOOK-Written by Alice Walker, released 1982

THE MOVIE-Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Menno Meyjes, released 1985

THE STORY-Celia writes to God. Life in the American South for a young, poor black girl doesn't hold much promise...but things can always change. Maybe God is the one man who won't let her down.

MIND THE GAP-Perhaps no novel utilizes the epistolary technique as well as The Color Purple. Alice Walker collected a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize, and when Hollywood called, she answered in the affirmative--after assuring 50% of the production team would be of African descent. 

Black leaders and creatives protested TCP as racist, misandrist propaganda perpetuating the stereotype of the violent, oversexed Black Man. Rather than a coming-of-age tale, or a celebration of emotional independence, or a lesson in female friendship, detractors saw the tropes present in every great white horror story. I can see how a proud man reading Walker's work might take umbrage.* Seen in artistic context, however, her male characters are not ludicrous, libidinous buffoons who handle problems with a vicious physicality. Her world is not intended as a macrocosm, and should not be dishonored through such a misunderstanding. The Color Purple is a deceptively cerebral approach to numerous touchy subjects. Besides racism, misogyny, domestic violence and rape, Walker explores how men and women have been tricked into mutual distrust. How the weakest soldiers yell the loudest. How shit rolls downhill, and you always see the same types of people in the valley. How the heat of violence runs highest in situations where income is lowest and options are fewest.

Lastly, the men of TCP are layered. Harpo is ill-equipped, rather than ill-willed. Samuel is described as "thoughtful and gentle." Mister, rancid and rotten Mister, received a believable redemption. 

One of the best-acted films of the 1980s. Whoopi Goldberg's superb transition from comedienne to dramatic actress hasn't been equaled in the decades since. Danny Glover accomplishes the minor miracle of humanizing bastard Mister. He wrestles his demons so dexterously, it's hard to imagine an improvement. Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery both earned Oscar nods for portraying Sofia and Shug--my two favorite characters in the book. Mind, Avery's acknowledgment is mysterious. The script stripped Shug of her wild and weary appeal, downgrading a hurricane to a thunderstorm.

The score, courtesy Quincy Jones, is extravagantly laughable. A scene of a father explaining the pros of wife-whuppin' to his son is accompanied by the sort of music I'd expect to hear over footage of a plump child tip-toeing to the fridge after midnight.

The Bible is the most dangerous piece of media ever created.

BETTER IN YOUR HEAD-The difference between a break and a sprain, a spark and a flame. Complexities still scared Spielberg in 1985, and the casual moviegoer hovered around his ear like The Great Gazoo. Sure, he was handcuffed by the era, but eliminating the lesbian subtext that elevated Walker's story and for the film to was, is, and ever shall be lame. The whole thing's just too safe. The novel opens with a young girl telling God she's been raped by her "Pa." The movie opens with two young girls frolicking in a flowery field. Occasional compositional miracle aside, the sentimentality suffocates. There is none of the reflection that set the paper aflame.

*Suppose lotta folks aren't keen on white audiences ogling their pain, be it a multi-million dollar Hollywood production or a ten-minute iPhone video.