Film Review on The Color Purple
The Color Purple ,based on a literary classic by Alice Walker,is a great film directed by Steven Spielberg.This film tells a story about some black women in the 20th century.Celie is not a good-looking girl,and she is raped by his stepfather and gets pregnant when she is young.And the baby is sold finally.Later,she is forced to marry Albert — a man who abuses her a lot. Celie has a younger sister-Nettie,who is forced to leave this land finally because of their stepfather’s horrible actions.After marrying Albert,Celie meets Sofia and Shug who are both tough and brave women,especially Shug.Shug is a very independent and strong woman ,and she is the one who gives Celie much courage and inspiration to leave Albert and pursue a life that she wants eventually.In the end of this film,Celie gets rid of those chains of being controlled and being abused.
The Color Purple is a film about incest, physical abuse, overt racism and sexism of black women.Black people have liberated from slavery in the 20th century,but they have no idea about how to live their spiritual life.In this film,they work hard for a better life.But they lack education and they do not know how to build their life.They are lost in their spiritual life and it is hard for them to find a way out.In short,they are using other blacks — black women, as slaves.
In this film,the word — “father” has huge symbolic significance.They deprive those poor black women’s right of freedom and happiness.Or maybe we can say it is a deprival of their dignity.“Father” is the symbol of “system”.And in this film,after failing to rape Nettie,“Mister” separates them and Nettie has to leave that place.
“Systematization” is a good word to describe the way those black women live their life in this film.As i have said,Celie is not a beautiful girl and people insult her a lot.She has gotten used to life like that.She is a member of the “system” and she believes that it is right.When she observes the struggle of Sofia,she tends to help punish her and try to keep the stability of this “system”.In this“system”,women are born to surrender to men and make them happy.But Sofia’s struggle makes Celie reflect — what is her own faith?the God?her sister?or something else?Celie gets confounded.But that is the beginning of Celie’s awakening.
Shug is a victim of this “system”.She is so different and attractive.Celie admires and respects her,while Shug treats Celie with kindness and patience.They are connected by their shared sadness of life.Shug is the one who makes Celie awaken fully.To defend Shug,Celie spits at Mister’s father,which symbolizes the real awakening of Celie.
What do the African-Americans really need?This film tries to give an answer — family.The oppression is from family and love is the only thing to save people — love from family.
This film can also be seen as a reflection of “diaspora”.Diaspora means that a large group of people in one nation migrate from their homeland to a new place.Those African-Amricans are a part of that.For those people,it is hard for them to identify themselves and find a right position in the society.They feel overwhelmed always.
They always try to keep some things from their homeland.meanwhile,they try to enter the mainstream of the society,which makes them stay at an embarrassing position from time to time.What they are looking for is a sense of security and a feeling of home.Those people feel the hard parts of life and those females always suffer more.Life is always harder for them.
In this film,those black women are all victims.And maybe we can say,to some extent, they are victims of this “diaspora”.Fortunately,some of them awaken in the end.And i believe that people can always find a better life for themselves.
Some people think that this story is a gift for human beings from Alice Walker.And this film provides a new way for people to struggle against those oppression.And it tries to present a mild method to deal with all those problems in a family,a nation and even in this world.
