The Color Purple: Did Spielberg Do A Good Job?

Oprah was miscast, and she can't act. That was bad.

The soft-focus lovey-dovey approach, the operatic Shug's joyful march to Daddy's church, the glossing-over of horrible, horrible in-race abuse - it is not a good movie altogether. Fairy tale of self-empowerment. But I'll watch it and enjoy it any time I do. It has great moments.

The only flaw to this movie is Oprah after the fight at the dinner table. Suddenly she is just normal and everyone acts like no one just pulled a knife on anyone at the table. It's jarring.

I thought he laid the sentimentality on a bit thick, as Spielberg is wont to do. Don't know that his being white had anything to do with that..

I'm trying to think of black film directors in 1985 and can only come up with Spike Lee, whose feature film debut was the following year and whom I never would pair with that material anyway. Can you think of anyone?

I've found most were upset with Spielberg in hindsight because they think he deviated too much from the source material.

Feminist frequently complain that he didn't focus enough on the lesbian incest while the author believes he's not even human

Oh, another flaw: Rae Dawn Chong's little "yeah" at the end when Cellie and Nettie (spoiler alert!) reunited. So out of place (and how come Squeak hasn't aged when everyone else did?)

Don't have to be black, you have to understand the source material. The Stepford Wives is seminal feminist novel written by a man and the classic film, directed by a man. The remake was a failure because the participants didn't understand the source material.

I've only watched the film once and the once satisfied my interest. Beautiful costumes and scenery but the performances are histrionic, a borderline minstrel show. I read the novel many times and understand it as a story of healing and people who grow into their worth after being ground down to nothing all their lives.

Well, the Academy didn't think Oprah was miscast.

I'm not an Oprah fan (thanks for Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, bitch!), but I thought she was good in this movie.

I’m afraid to rewatch this one because I expect it to be dated and racist for some reason. Does it hold up, or, like many things, is it offensive in retrospect?

Who are these people saying that Oprah was miscast?Umm, no, she most certainly was not. In fact, she should have won the Oscar that year.

I think it holds up r11, it's just hard to watch at times in terms of the the subject matter (incest, rape, domestic abuse, "slavery" of Sophia).

OP a forum largely populated by proud developmentally disabled white supremacists can provide no insight into anything other than their own very narrow and limited experiences.

the entire film was miscast including Danny Glover, Rae Dawn Chong and Whoppi Golberg. The film makers did not understand the source material.

Incest? Lesbian incest? Which characters ? I don't recall incest as a subject in the film or novel.

The book and movie does a lot of male bashing.

I loved this movie as a kid! Bite it!

[QUOTE] Incest? Lesbian incest? Which characters ? I don't recall incest as a subject in the film or novel.

Well, then you’re an incurious idiot. Did you miss the part where Celie bears two children from her step-father?

Mr. is crippled by a toxic, hate filled father who is critical of his love for Shug Avery. Mr grows up and becomes a friend to Celie at the end of the novel.

I can't recall all of the details of the film, I watched it once and was disappointed.

r18. You answered your own question in the limited manner you are capable of.

I loved the movie when it was released.

I read Alice Walker's book about it (The Same River Twice) and understood why she had issues with the film. I have not seen the Color Purple musical but I understand that it addresses some of those issues.

That said, Whoopi Goldberg was in no way miscast. She was PERFECTLY cast for Celie. The movie would not have worked as well as it did without her. And Oprah was well cast as Sofia. Yes, she was somewhat over the top, but that was Sofia - a strong, almost overwhelming figure.

Margaret Avery did a fine job as Shug - I don't think she was miscast, but she certainly didn't have quite the persona needed for Shug. (Her embarrassment came later with those horrifying FYC ads.) It would have been interesting to see Tina Turner in the role - but Tina turned it down and that may have been for the best, as it might have been hard for the audience to look at Shug and not see "Tina."

The movie misses a good third of the book, and that was the section where Albert and Celie have a level of reconciliation and Albert makes amends. That section, and the letters from Africa, were near impossible to film, which is why they were condensed to about 10 minutes of the movie. I understand why some black men's groups protested the movie, though, since it lacked that reconciliation. It would have been a better limited series or miniseries, for sure.

Spielberg was, in retrospect, probably not the best match for this. But not because of casting or direction per se. It was more the pastoral quality he gave to everything. It needed a bit more reality than this delivered. Perhaps if Spielberg had made this film after Schindler's List, it would have been treated with less of a gloppy sentimentality and more realism. But I do think a Black director would have made a positive difference - Kasi Lemmons comes to mind.

Oprah did well in this film. This iconic scene will always be remembered.

[QUOTE] [R18]. You answered your own question in the limited manner you are capable of.

Your stepfather raping and impregnating you is still considered incest in most places. I’m sorry if that’s a disappointment to you.

[...]

The Color Purple is heavy-handed and melodramatic.

Ultimately the story might have been served with a less Douglas Sirk-ian take on the book.

I recognized the act as rape. Child rape. Not incest. You have a fetish for incest.

[quote]Spielberg is talented, but he refuses to treat the audience like they have an ounce of intelligence. Even Schindler's List, a story that needed no additional sentimentality whatsoever, had to be loaded with Hollywood cliches to trigger an emotional reaction.

The worst was Saving Private Ryan which larded on a final scene at the graveside in case the audience didn't get the "death" part of war.

[QUOTE] I recognized the act as rape. Child rape. Not incest. You have a fetish for incest.

And you have a fetish for somehow not understanding that rape between a step-parent and their step-child is still recognized as incest in most places.

Also, here is the grammatically correct way to write one of your previous posts since you seem to have grammar comprehension issues as well:

“You answered your own question in the limited manner of which you are capable.“

[quote] I recognized the act as rape. Child rape. Not incest.

In the book, Celie's understanding - for many, many years - is that the man who rapes her is her father, or as she says in the book, her Pa.

It's only through the series of letters that Nettie writes to Celie that Celie (and we, the reader) learn that the man that raped Celie was not her father - "Pa is not our Pa." Celie and Nettie's biological father was lynched when they were small children, and the man they knew as Pa was their stepfather.

No. You wrote the subject matter included lesbian incest. Neither the book nor the film adaptation included this theme.

I read the novel many times and never read incest, specifically lesbian incest in its plot. All the rest of the ugliness of humanity is represented in The Color Purple.

R30 I don't know who your comment was directed at but I am not the person you seem to have a dispute with in this thread. My post at R29 was what I know to be true from the book.

The incest or perceived incest was with the stepfather.

The lesbian relationship was between Shug and Celie, two unrelated adults.

I have not read the novel in years and have seen the film once. So I asked which characters committed incest and the account responded in its limited way. This being datalounge, lesbianism is conflated with violence of rape and the taboo of incest!

R32:

If you look back through this thread, YOU are the person who first brought up “lesbian incest.” With a question mark after it. You, and you alone introduced the topic. God knows where you picked that up. No one even knows what that means and no one ever claimed there was any in the film or book.

So, you can blame yourself for the confusion.

R34 No, I never said lesbian incest. Block me and then go to "ignored" and look at my posts. You're confusing me with someone else.

I actually read the book and would never say lesbian incest, because that didn't happen.

Yeah, sorry you're confusing R15 and myself.

I'm not them. I also know how to spell WHOOPI GOLDBERG correctly.

Spielberg did his job masterfully,extracting memorable performances from all of the principles; Goldberg, Winfrey, Caesar, Glover. As Spielberg admirably demonstrated, the race of the director is completely irrelevant; what counts is his vision and consummate talent. Spielberg's The Color Purple is a testament to both, an outstanding and memorable piece of cinema.

If I were Celie, I’d be pissed after waiting for 30 or so years to be reunited with my children…then to find that they simply couldn’t be bothered to greet me in English!

I love this film. Although the sets look like a Disney ride version of rural life. Every little object is placed just so and perfectly (too perfectly) performs its role. It’s like a fantasy world.

Especially the country cute farmhouse with the amazing porch… the spacious and airy country kitchen… The quaint, perfectly appointed country store in town… and yes, the adorable speakeasy location that looked like it was hand-built on a Hollywood sound stage

R2 I think that is the point. They/ she is so desensitized to violence that she just carries on, its what makes it so powerful. I think that juxtaposition of emotions was deliberate. It is truly messed up and disturbing which I think is why you had a reaction to it, but I thought it was deliberate.

R15 then you didn't catch it in the book. It was much more subtly alluded to in the movie. It is definitely in the book.

R26 "laws vary by state, but generally, a person commits incest if he marries or engages in sexual intercourse with a person he knows to be, either legitimately or illegitimately:

His ancestor or descendant by blood or adoption; or His brother or sister of the whole or half-blood or by adoption; or His stepchild or stepparent, while the marriage creating the relationship exists; or His aunt, uncle, nephew or niece of the whole or half-blood."

OK, since there are only two related women in the story, the poster must mean Celie and Nettie scissored in the book. I read it over 30 years ago, but I don't recall it. Could be there, I just don't remember it.

Celie and Nettie didn't scissor in the book. For the vast majority of the book, Celie believes her sister Nettie is dead, and when she does learn Nettie is alive, Nettie is in Africa.

There is one lesbian relationship in the book and the film (though more indirectly hinted at in the film) and that is between Celie and Shug, two unrelated women.

I don't know what the poster who thought there was lesbian incest was thinking, but it isn't THIS book. Whether it's some other book they may have been reading, who knows. But it is NOT this story.

The “lesbian incest” person is a troll.

R45 I was guessing that had to be the case.

The film was a bit uneven in parts. It seemed rushed in the end

I love the movie and think all the actors did fine jobs. My 2 favorite lines were delivered by Old Mister.

"Celie, you has my sympathy. Ain't many womens 'low they husband's ho to lay up in they house".

"Git these chickens out the house befo' they lay eggs all ovah the damn place!".

It was a horrible fucking movie. I bought it years ago and I still haven't been able to sit through it. A white man should never write or direct a movie about slavery. It is inherently racist. Only blacks can touch that. It needs to be written by Tyler Perry and they all need to be transvestites.

Sir, this is the Arby’s drive-thru.

[quote] A white man should never write or direct a movie about slavery

Maybe you should watch it. That movie took place in the 20th century, not slavery times.

[quote] the entire film was miscast including Danny Glover, Rae Dawn Chong and Whoppi Golberg.

You're crazy if you think Whoopi Goldberg was miscast as Celie. Even Alice Walker herself wanted Whoopi as Celie.

Speaking of Danny Glover. Did I miss the memo on him and Harry Belafonte?

Dumb ass trolls

It could have been a good movie about slavery but it was a huge failure.

My favorite line from the movie.

I also heard Chaka was asked to play Shug. Would've been interesting to see her take on it. I know she would've blown Miss Celie's Blues away.

Chaka circa Color Purple era...

YOU SHO’ IS UGLY!

Aww.