The Color Purple returns
Popular, iconic tale re-releases in theatres for one day only this Sunday.
KEITH L ALEXANDER
“ALL my life I had to fight.”
“You told Harpo to beat me.”
“Us never part makidada.” Thirty-five years after The Color Purple was released in movie theatres, these classic lines are as welcoming as a family reunion, a cookout or a black college homecoming.
While the film has been celebrated by diverse audiences, for many African Americans this historical drama, which follows a Southern black woman across four decades, has developed bone-deep resonance. On social media, scenes have become memes and memorable lines have turned into catchphrases.
Last year, when any unknown Democratic candidate announced they were running for president, another popular line from the film – “Harpo, who ‘dis woman?” – was posted on social media above a link to a news story, announcing the new entrant’s candidacy. And last February, Beyoncé sent an Instagram birthday greeting to her Destiny’s Child bestie Kelly Rowland that quoted the hand-clap rhyme between sisters Celie and Nettie – “us never part… makidada”.
In 2015, rapper Kendrick Lamar referenced one of the character, Sofia’s most popular lines, “All my life I had to fight”, on the introduction to his resistance-themed anthem Alright.
In recognition of the movie’s continued salience, Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies plan to re-release the original film in theatres this Sunday for one day only, giving moviegoers another chance to see it on the big screen.
“The cultural impact is undeniable,” said Latesha Williams, co-founder of the card game Black Card Revoked, which ask questions about African American popular culture and incorporates nearly a half dozen queries about The Color Purple.
In the game, the film is tied with the 1995 Ice Cube comedy Friday for most movie references.
“The film is in every black person’s collection,” Williams, 36, said.
“People get that being African American comes with its circumstances – good, bad, beautiful, painful, ugly and amazing. And this film captured all of that, at times with humour.”
When The Color Purple was released in theatres in 1985, about eight of my friends and I hopped a local bus to a neighbourhood theatre in Pittsburgh.
The show was sold out, and we had to split up to find seats. I sat in the second row, with my neck craning up for nearly three hours staring at the screen. Two of my buddies sat on the sticky floor in the back of the theatre.
I was just 15 then, and it was my first time seeing so many black people on the big screen. I was mesmerised watching Whoopi Goldberg’s Golden Globe-award winning performance as Celie, as she aged from 20-something to an elderly woman. Her movements dramatically slowed, her hair greyed, but her brown face was just as smooth.
That transformation reminded me of my grandmother and the circle of ladies she met with weekly to quilt, gossip and laugh out loud.
I remember snickering watching Oprah Winfrey’s debut film performance as Sofia, Celie’s stepdaughter-in-law. My immaturity and youth caused me to laugh during a scene in which the wind blew up her skirt, exposing her legs and underwear.
Sofia had just been knocked unconscious by an armed white man because she had responded “hell no” to Miss Millie, a white woman who had suggested Sofia work as her maid. The pain, brutality and degradation were lost on me then.
After the movie, I recall how unusually quiet my friends and I were on the bus ride home that evening. We had never seen a film so disturbing, fascinating and amazing all at the same time.
More than a decade later, I saw it again through more mature eyes. The film registered to me as a story of survival, strength, love of self and others, family, and forgiveness. Multiple, interwoven storylines, complicated characters and unforgettable dialogue were all based on the poetic novel by Alice Walker, who had earned a Pulitzer Prize for fiction before director Steven Spielberg, producer Quincy Jones and others cinematised her work.
The movie was immediately popular, staying in US theatres for 21 weeks and grossing more than $142 million worldwide, but it wasn’t without controversy.
Some chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called for a boycott of the film when it opened because its leaders thought the movie depicted black men negatively. Still, The Color Purple garnered 11 Academy Award nominations, including first-time nominations for its stars.
I watched the Oscars that night on TV only to see the film shut out of every category, while the Robert Redford-meryl Streep romance Out of Africa, which also nabbed 11 Oscar nominations that year, won the most trophies.
Comedian and radio show host Rickey Smiley was also a teenager when the film was released. Smiley, 51, said the film’s characters and theme don’t age.
“You learn something new every time you watch it. But for me, the main lessons were restraint and discretion,” he said.
Smiley said watching Celie suffer abuse without lashing out and instead waiting patiently until things turned around was poignant.
Smiley calls the movie Hollywood’s “I Won’t Complain” film, referring to the gospel song that celebrates God’s power through life’s hardships.
“It makes folks in church feel some kind of way and want to take off running. That’s what this film does,” Smiley said. “You watch it and once it gets to your favourite scene, you want to take off and start hollering.”
The movie and its underlying story, focused on the travails of Celie, who was physically and sexually abused by men most of her life, has had staying power – even spawning two Broadway musicals – because it inspires those who have felt invisible, powerless or marginalised, film historians say.
But for many African Americans, the film also celebrates that quiet, strategic strength so many use to survive. | The Washington Post