“The Color Purple” was originally a novel by Alice Walker, published in 1982, focusing on the story of Celie, and her journey into liberation and womanhood in the early 1900s, after her father separates her from her sister Nettie and marries her off to an abusive man (Albert). The novel takes on a writing style that shows Celie writing letters to God, where she highlights her struggles with the abuse that she’s experienced.
Steven Spielberg then made this novel into a movie, 3 years after its publishing date, featuring Whoopie Goldberg as Celie, Oprah Winfrey as Sofia, and Danny Glover as Albert. The film received a lot of critical acclaim, with 11 Oscar nominations and 2 Golden Globes wins. From this, Alice Walker’s novel and Spielberg’s adaptation of the novel turned into a Broadway musical in 2005, which then leads to the Color Purple (2023) being a movie of the musical.
The Color Purple (2023) casting had included many familiar faces, such as American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson from Fox’s hit TV show ‘Empire’, Danielle Brooks from ‘Orange is the New Black’ as well as singer Halley Bailey, who played Ariel in the 2023 remake of Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’. The new adaptation even had a cameo from Whoopie Goldberg, who plays Celie’s midwife. As well as this, Oprah and Steven Spielberg both played a part in the production of this new adaptation, which involved a budget of $100 million.
Because The Color Purple (2023) is a musical adaptation, having a cast of professional singers like Halle Bailey, Fantasia, Ciara, H.E.R and Tamela Mann helped to deliver the emotions of the first movie in a musical and fun way. Having musical numbers such as “Keep it Movin’” performed by Halle Bailey or “Hell No!” performed by Danielle Brooks helped to make the storyline of domestic abuse digestible to both newer and younger audiences, as the original film didn’t shy away from showing emotional scenes that show Celie being assaulted by her husband Albert; physically, verbally and sexually, or Sofia being racially abused in public. The songs helped to create a liberational feel throughout the whole film compared to the 1986, where it starts to have more positive tones halfway through the movie, where Celie meets Shug Avery and they form a friendship.
The new film seems to do more alluding to the hardships that Celie and the others has faced instead of addressing them head-on. For example, the fact that Celie had a child by her father was only alluded to in the new movie; it’s only made clear that she had a baby at a young age. In the original it’s made abundantly clear that the baby is her father’s, and that once Celie leaves, her little sister Nettie becomes the primary receiver of sexual abuse.
My one critique of this musical, as well as the original movie, is the erasure of Celie finding love. In both the musical movie and the original movie, a kiss is shared between Celie and Shug Avery as they confide in each other. Spielberg interpreted this to be a platonic kiss, and admitted that keeping Shug Avery’s and Celie’s love for each other in the movie would prevent it from getting a PG-13 rating. But in the novel by Alice Walker, Shug Avery and Celie sleep together, making it clear that their relationship was romantic rather than platonic. To me, the erasure of this storyline diminished the ideas in the novel that Celie finally ends up loving her true self and becomes liberated, and realises that she doesn’t need a man by her side in order to feel happy or liberated. I imagine that these ideas are quite close to Alice Walker’s heart herself, as the author is bisexual and was romantically linked to folk singer Tracy Chapman. It is however not the first time that LGBT erasure has occurred, as this has happened in shows such as Gossip Girl or Riverdale. I believe that keeping Celie’s sexuality would’ve helped to attract more audiences and would’ve helped more women feel more seen, especially because of the Gay Liberation Movement that occurred between the 1960’s and the 1980’s.
Overall, I think The Color Purple (2023) is definitely worth watching. Although themes of sexual abuse and domestic violence are quite uncomfortable to watch, this new adaptation depicts it in a way that is less intense compared to the original movie, which I think is important as the musical highlights that many women are still victims of sexual abuse and violence today. The musical helps to give a new outlook on forms of abuse as it helps women in these situations to remain hopeful as well as seek out help, or to find a sisterhood. Because my only critique was that the musical left out the storyline of Celie finding liberation in her sexuality, I give this film 4.5 out of 5 stars, and highly recommend it to anyone who’s thinking of watching it.