FILM REPORT – THE COLOR PURPLE
Joram Berwald, H5A
Ernst van Neerbos, H5A
Index
Preface p. 3
General Questions p. 4
Specific Questions p. 6
Opinion Ernst p. 10
Opinion Joram p. 11
Preface
The Color Purple is a 1985 American coming-of-age period drama film. It is directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Menno Mevies. It is based on Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple. The Color Pruple is about Celie’s life. Celie was sold as a young girl to Mister (Abert). Albert doesn’t love her, he loves Shug. Celie is separated from her sister, her two kids got taken away from her. She gets beat up and is more Alberts maid than his wife. Celie thinks her sister is dead but things turn around once she got a letter from Nettie via Shug. Celie gets hope again.
General Questions (Joram)
1. What is the title of the film?
The color purple
2. Try to give an explanation for this title.
The color purple is because of the purple flowers in the film. Shug said: ‘’ I think it pisses god off when you walk by the colour purple in the field and don’t notice it.’’
3. Where and when does the story take place / What is the setting of the film?
The story takes place in Georgia in 1909.
4. This film
a. Is based on real events
5. What was the theme of the film? Explain your answer by describing 2 events from this film.
One of the themes is violence. There’s a lot of it in this movie. The black American women are mostly the victim of violence in this movie. The men tries to exert their dominance over women, by beating them and raping them. Celie for example has no value in the eyes of Albert. He has sex with her even though she doesn’t want to. If Celie does anything wrong she gets tortured.
6. Who are the two main characters in this film? Also give the names of two other characters who played an interesting or important role, according to you.
The two main characters are Celie and Albert. Sofia also played an interesting role, because she was a very strong women that wasn’t fast intimidated. Shug Avery was a character that was important in the story. Shug should’ve been the mother of Celie. Shug had a big influence on Alberts behaviour. He was mean to Celie but he loved Shug and so he behaved when Shug was near. Shug Avery was the one that made Celie realise that there is someone that still loves her. Shug was the only one who gave her love.
Celie was to afraid to stand up for herself. She did not talk to much. Until she got fed up with Albert and when Shug was on Celie’s side. Albert was a very dominant person who did not like contradiction. He had enough money but kept it for his self. He was a women abuser and a massive jerk. The relation with his father wasn’t good. Sofia was the girlfriend of Harpo, until she got into jail for slapping miss Millie the wife of the mayor. Sofia was a strong women with enough money. Shug Avery was a soul singer and had a lot of men to choose from. She had the nasty women disease. Her relation with her dad was real bad. Because she went against the habits of the Christian religion. And her das was a priest.
Albert obviously plays a negative role. He gets visualized as the abuser. That tortures women. Celie has a positive role. She is just an innocent women and is the victim.
7. What was the most important event in the film?
The moment that Celie stood up for herself. This changed the whole victim/ruler role.
8. Describe two other events that you thought were striking.
The beginning of the film was the most striking. Celie was giving birth. And the father came in and told Celie: ‘’aren’t you done yet?’’ and took the baby away. This was really intimidating. A really negative atmosphere. This caught your attention instantly at the beginning of the film.
Also the event where Celie meets her sister Nettie in years was pretty striking. This was a moment that everything looked getting on its place. Because Celie was back with her family and Albert got cured from the bad things he did. He was the cause, that Celie met her family again.
9. Write down what was new to you in this film, in other words, what did you really learn from this film?
I learned from it how the situation for black female was back in that time. I do know now how it went back in the 90’s. For example how a women married a men. The women didn’t had much to choose.
Specific Questions (Ernst)
1. In the winter of 1909 Celie becomes a mother for the second time.
A. How old is she at that time?
She was 14 years old
B. Who fathered her children? What is the cause of this?
Her father was the father, he raped his child.
C. How does her father react to the situation shortly before she delivers the baby?
He says: “aren’t you done yet?”
D. What are the babies’ names and where will they ultimately end up?
Adam and Olivia, they ended up with the dominee who took them to Africa.
2 Nettie, Celie’s younger sister, is being admired in church by a (grown) man. He wants to marry her. Nettie’s father is against this marriage. What is the real reason he doesn’t want her to marry him?
He thought Nettie was too young to marry him.
3 Instead of marrying Nettie, Albert is allowed to marry Celie. Describe the way Celie is introduced to Albert.
She needs to step forward and turn so she can show herself to Mister.
4 Albert has 3 children from a previous marriage and needs a wife for his household. Describe Celie’s new life in Albert’s house. Being married to Albert means…
She is more his maid than a wife to him.
5 One day Nettie visits Celie. Celie asks permission from her husband whether Nettie can stay. Nettie is allowed to stay.
A. What is the real reason of Nettie’s visit?
She was being molested by her father.
B. What is the reason that Albert makes her leave?
Mister wanted to rape her but Nettie kicked him in his balls.
6 In 1916 Shug Avery, a well-known singer, visits the area in which Albert and Celie live. She is the love of Albert’s life. In what way is Albert depicted in this scene?
A little desperate, he doesn’t know where all his clothes are, Celie is handing him everything.
7 Albert’s son Harpo is in love with Sophia. Describe their relationship.
Sophia wears the pants in their relationship. When Harpo tried to hit her, Sophia hit him in his face and he got a black eye.
8 A drunken and ill Shug Avery is brought into Albert’s home by Albert and Harpo. It’s the first time for Celie to actually see Shug.
A. Comment on Celie’s state of mind and on Shug’s reaction upon seeing Celie for the first time.
She wanted to see her eyes before she would help her.
B. What positive consequence for Celie will Shug’s stay at Albert’s home have?
Mister gets his attention off of Celie, she doesn’t get back .
C. Although tough at first sight, Shug suffers within. What is she suffering from?
Her father loves her, but he doesn’t know it which is really sad.
9 Sophia gets into jail. What is the cause of this?
She punched a white mayor, everybody saw it.
10 Sophia gets out of jail in 1930. She looks terrible. In fact her sentence is about to restart. Explain this.
She got out of jail and she had to become miss Millie’s maid.
11 It’s Christmas time. Sophia is supposed to see her family and friends after many years. Describe what happens from the moment she meets her family.
Everybody is very pleased to meet her, Sophia cries, then Millie thought she was getting attacked by the people that wanted to help her with her car. When she calmed down she took Sophia with her.
12 After some years Shug returns, she is married to a man called Grady. In the evening he and Albert start drinking and leave the house. What three discoveries do Shug and Celie make?
1. They find a secret hatch.
2. A lot of letters meant for Celie
3. A lot of Albert’s money.
13 The discoveries lead to the fact that Celie finally finds the strength to stand up against Albert. Name 2 very clear events that show this.
1. She closed the door very hard when albert asked her if he could have a drink
2. She was going to kill albert while she was shaving him but Shug stopped her.
14 Celie leaves Albert and curses him. What is her curse?
“Until you do right by me, everything you even think about will fail.”
15 Celie is informed of her father’s death and is surprised.
A. What is she surprised about?
Her dad wasn’t her real dad so her kids are normal kids and not incest kids.
B. What does she inherit?
A house, land and a store.
16 For the first time in his life, Albert does something good for Celie. This may have to do with Celie cursing him.
A. What is his good deed?
He pays for the crossing of Nettie, Adam, Olivia and Tashi
B. In what way are the consequences of the curse depicted?
He was an alcoholic, his house was a mess, his land was unordered and he was alone.
17 Comment on the English spoken during the film.
It’s mostly general American English but they don’t change the sound of some verbs in the past, they use is instead of am, he form as I form.
Opinion Ernst
The beginning of the movie is already very harsh when the “father” of Celie asked if she was already done with giving birth to her second child. I can’t imagine how it must have been for just a little girl to have given birth to 2 children at the age of 14 years old.
Celie is living a really difficult life. She is with the cruel man who bought and married her who actually loves another woman and he doesn’t care if Celie knows it, she was separated from her sister who was the only person who really loved her and she has lost both of her children. Still she goes on although at some point in the movie it seems like she is really dead inside and that there is no hope left, she also thought her sister was dead for a long time. When she finally gets a letter from Nettie via Shug she gets hope again, she finds more letters in the house and finds out where she lives and how her life is going. Celie had hope again. I thought that was one of the most amazing parts in the movie, how she got from kind of depressed to hopeful all by a few letters.
One of the things that really stood out to me in this movie was when Ms Millie asked Sophia if she wanted to be her maid and Sophia reacted with “Hell no” and it was like the biggest problem in the world. Then when Ms Millie her man, the mayor, interfered and pushed Sophia she punched him. It’s obviously an act out of self-defence and if it was in the time that we live in everybody would agree with me and the mayor would have a big problem, but instead Sophia gets knocked out by the sheriff and locked away for a long time. She sees her family again after 8 years.
Definitely the best part of the movie was when Celie finally stood up for herself at dinner. I loved how amazing her acting was, it was like she really hated Mister like an unimaginable amount. Then it got even better when that inspired Sofia to get back to way she always was, a strong women. Then after a while you could really see how Celie’s curse affected Albert’s life and how Celie improved her life a lot. She had a lot of money, judging by the clothes she was wearing. How Albert breaks the curse with getting Nettie, Olivia, Adam and Tashia in the US is beautiful. Celie finally gets to see her sister again and Albert is enjoying the moment in the distance.
Opinion Joram
I liked this movie more than the first one. This movie had more emotional content in it. You get to know how the black female history was back then. It also shows how important love is and how much happiness love can bring.
Alice Walker does a great job of showing the personality of the characters through the language they used. Celie uses incorrect grammar such as “they is talking” as opposed to ” they are talking”. This was one thing that really caught my attention. This was more because she didn’t ever had proper education. Nettie talks way better because she was educated. First of I thought the weird grammar was because of the region where they lived in.
In one instance in The Color Purple, Shug Avery tells Celie, ‘’I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it’’. The color purple must be marveled at for no other reason than that it exists. Celie is like that color purple. She does not think her existence has any worth, but she eventually comes to an understanding that, ‘’I may be black. I may be ugly. But I’m here’’, and that is enough. So beautiful. So deep and stirring. The color purple has complex characters and complex themes, but Walker has dealt with them in a simple, honest manner. It is not a depressing film at all. In the end, we are left with the wisdom that ‘’we are in world to love each other’’, and that’s why I recommend it.
I respect Celie’s acting the most in the film. It must be really hard to transfer the right emotion to the watchers. Her facial expressions were just magnificent. For example when she found the letters and had to get herself ready to leave Mr.’s house. That hole moment you were able to read of her face.
The only thing that bothered me a bit, was the moment that Celie and Nettie came together again. This made the story less realistic. It was a too ‘’beautiful’’ ending.
I still think you should see the film, because you can learn a lot from it and it gives you a good impression of the situation in the Southern United States in the beginning of the 20th century.