Purple's Not My Favorite Color

This was my first time seeing The Color Purple, and I was excited to watch it (despite its more controversial and serious subject matter compared to previous Spielberg films) because I finally had the opportunity to watch a Spielberg film that I had yet to see! Sadly, I was disappointed. Although I did not have high hopes for the film, since I had heard from many that it wasn't great, and although I tried to give it a chance as I watched, it just didn't grab me like I wanted it to. Most of the time I felt like everything was just a little too over-the-top, especially the acting from both Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg. (But I thought that Oprah did a great job!) Perhaps this is just because the film was made in 1985 when acting styles and forms of representation were very different; however, I still felt that this sort of pulled me out of the movie.

It's impossible to talk about The Color Purple without mentioning the controversy surrounding its release, namely the accusations of racism in portrayal of African Americans in the film. However, interestingly, Jaqueline Bobo writes about how black women in general had an "overwhelmingly positive response" to the film, according to interviews that she conducted. Given that they were the target audience, perhaps the claims of racism or misrepresentation are unfounded. Bobo does mention, though, that some black women said the film was "too pretty" and criticized it for not being gritty in its portrayal of Celie's African American slave lifestyle. But, as Alice Walker later pointed out, this was not really even a part of her novel, since the African Americans in the film are actually fairly well-off and although Celie went through some abuse and harsh times, she did not intend for a "gritty" atmosphere or environment for the story.

In any case, I think that this argument of Spielberg's film being "too pretty" is absurd, especially considering that Walker herself even said that this was not her intention. Not to mention, this also happened to be my favorite thing about the film -- that it looked great! As always, Steven Spielberg did an excellent job photographing the film and choosing a number of dazziling shots, specifically in his use of the sun for transitions and his showcasing of countless amazing landscapes, especially those in Africa. In fact, the only scene that I truly enjoyed in the film was the one with the cross-cutting between Celie about to kill Mister with the razor with the ritual cutting ceremony in Africa. Not only was the cinematography beautiful and fantastic, but also the editing, music, pacing, colors, everything was executed perfectly. I was glued to my seat waiting to see if Celie would go through with it, as Spielberg once again proves his mastery of creating suspense and playing with audiences' expectations. As a result, even though I disliked the film as a whole, this scene stuck with me, and I still think that it was very well done.