An Evaluation of the Three Most Prominent Scenes in the Film The Color Purple

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In in 1985, Steven Spielberg directed a film adaptation of the Alice Walker’s award winning novel, The Color Purple. The story follows young black woman by the name of Celie throughout the duration of her life. It follows her through the births of her two children, both of which were taken from her. It continues on as she loses what little family she had considered herself possessing, and it watches as she tries her best to gain the support of those around her in order to build that family back up once again. Spielberg’s film is now considered one of the most controversial and iconic films of the century, and it is widely accepted that there will never be another film that will come close to mastering all of the things that Spielberg did. This film opened a lot of eyes and sparked a lot of controversy. It made a lot of people begin to wonder precisely what she was trying to do with a text so incredibly controversial. A few of the scenes in this film were actually considered so incredibly ‘inappropriate’ that they were censored out of modern television premiers. Stephen Spielberg’s film contains three scenes so incredibly prominent that they managed to forever make cinematic history.

During one of the earlier portions of Spielberg’s film, Sofia very disobediently refuses to become Miss Millie’s maid and in doing so, creates one of the most incredible moments of the entire film. The tension between Miss Millie’s husband and Sofia during this portion of the film is absolutely unreal. It begins with Sofia standing near her car when Miss Millie arrives and starts raving over her children, talking about how adorable black children are, and out of the blue, a few moments later, she looks toward Sofia and asks if Sofia would care to be ...

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...produced. This text won both considerable praise and considerable criticism for the unique, controversial themes presented. A majority of the viewers were completely disturbed by everything from the treatment of the women to the complexes ingrained in the heads of the mails. Walker and Spielberg are still highly admired for their powerful portraits of black women in a time of such crushing oppression. This text offered another way to view the world in both a social and political aspect. This text is still considered one of the most controversial, and will remain that way. This film is one of the few that actually provokes thought in its viewers. The Color Purple will never be completely accepted because society does not like to publicly acknowledge things that could make anyone feel even the least bit disturbed, an oddly ironic reason, this text being considered.

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