Color Purple

1036 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: THEMES OF LOVE

Isadora James once said “A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.” In The Color Purple relationships among women are used to represent a symbol of love in a world filled of male violence. This quote is a great description of Celie’s relationships in the book because her female relationships are so much more than just friends to her. Both Alice Walker, the author of the 1982 book, and Spielberg, the director of the 1985 film, portray the theme of sisterhood. Female bonds take many different forms such as sisters, sexual partners, and friends. Throughout the movie “The Color Purple” director, Steven Spielberg portrays strong female friendships through the use of photography, movement, and mise en scene.
In the scene titled Miss Celies Blues, Shug Avery lovingly serenades Celie. Through the use of mise en scene and photography Spielberg builds a theme of sisterhood. For example, Shug Averys’ red-colored dress is brilliant and shimmery. The viewers’ eyes are automatically drawn to her. Through the use of color dominance and her position in the middle of the crowded room, Shugs character depicts popularity and power. In contrast, Celies character isn’t dominant in the scene because she wears dark clothing and is sits in the shadows until Shug approaches her. When Shug sings to Celie, the lighting is very prominent, giving her a glow that shows her importance. This lighting establishes that Shug is popular and important, while Celie is forgotten and neglected. Through movement was also able to show the characters importance. When Shug begins her song, she walks toward Celie and also toward the camera. Her deliberate slow walk towards Celie shows her intent to give her love and atte...

... middle of paper ...

...lf.

Works Cited
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Orlando: Harcourt, 1982. Print.
The Color Purple. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover.
Warner Bros., 1985. Film.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Color Purple.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC.
2003. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Color Purple Theme of Love." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University,
Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
The Color Purple Miss Celie's Blues. YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
.
"So Why did Steven Spielberg Softened the Lesbian Scenes in The Color Purple?"
Maybe it's just me. Blogspot, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

so-why-did-steven-spielberg-softened.html>.
Good Reads. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
tag/sisterhood>.

Show More
Related

  • An Evaluation on the Different Scenes within the Movie Color Purple

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Shug enters Celie’s life it becomes a pivotal moment in the movie Color Purple. Shug enters Celie life at a time when all Celie is, is a shell of who she should be. Celie is looking for some way meaning to life. Some way to escape the life she lives in. Shug becomes her escape. Unknown to Celie, they are similar. They are both facing struggles and challenges. Celie found a reason to fight. She realized that world held wonderful things...

    Read More

  • Comparing The Color Purple and Macbeth

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Celie's mother, in the beginning of the novel The Color Purple, is a very small but effective setting character. Her character flaw was irresponsible parenting because she did not protect her daughter. With this lack of protection, Celie did not have any female role models when she was growing up. Therefore, Celie was not able to become knowledgeable about life and have good female company. Another effect this flaw had on the protagonist was that she had no one to teach her how to understand herself. Celie was unable to realize all of the wonderful qualities of being and becoming a woman. Because she could not appreciate being a woman, she was unable to appreciate herself, and therefore had a lack of self confidence.

    Read More

  • Shug Avery Quotes

    453 Words  | 1 Pages

    As a solo singer, Shug is viewed as a strong individual who has created a name for herself. Once Celie gets to know her better as a person she learns that not only is Shug a self-sufficient woman, but also a woman who is unafraid to go against the current and battle societal normalities. Shug's way of carrying herself rubs off onto Celie allowing her to become more independent. Through Shug's career she teaches autonomy and vigor that she and other women can hold against the patriarchal system.

    Read More

  • Symbols In The Color Purple By Alice Walker

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, by demonstrating the importance of the color purple, Celie opened her eyes towards God and then became more self-aware of all the small elements that God set to make her feel joyful, like the color purple. Then, many years pass in the book and Celie truly understand what Shug meant by the color purple in the field. She understands that “[her] ability to find a sense of self-worth, is symbolized by her attainment of color purple.” [Kerr, 177]. Celie’s life did not start on the right foot. She lived and saw a lot of things that killed her deep inside. The color purple in the story was not only an original name for a book that Walker wrote. It means something important in the story. This wonderful color, associate with royalty and prestige, follows the total progress of the young black girl who was, in some words, dead inside, that end up being a lady that now lives of freedom, love and happiness. In other words, the small surprises that, according to Shug, God puts in our life, made Celie stronger and increases her

    Read More

  • Color Purple Oppression

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Color Purple shows the intersectionality of oppression and the issues women had to deal with such as their sexuality,gender,race. One of the biggest problems this book was facing was Sexsism. In the beginning of novel, one of the main characters, Celie reveals to the readers how she has no control over her life. Celie’s mother dies due to a heart break. Her father which is also the father of her two children who she refers to as ”Pa” abuses her on a daily base. She writes many letters speaking to God. She shows that she doesn't respect her husband because she really never refers to his name. The Color Purple faces issues such as sexsim. The power of women was distorted and challenged. Black feminism cues that sexsism, classism,

    Read More

  • The Color Purple Comparative Essay

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    The overall message of the book is that woman should stand up to men if they are being oppressed by them. Celie learns that she can be who she really is instead of shying away from reality. "Celie, she say, Do you love me? She down on her knees by now, tears falling all over the place. My heart hurt so much I can't believe it. How can it keep beating, feeling like this? But I'm a woman. I love you, I say. Whatever happen, whatever you do, I love you” (Walker 250). A woman named Shug is brought into Celie’s life and they have a deep love and respect for one another. Shug really cares about Celie and she helps Celie learn how to love herself. Feminism is a key theme of The Color

    Read More

  • Alice Walker’s The Color Purple And Kate Chopin’s The Awakening

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    The second most important relationship that develops in Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple”, is the relationship between Celie and Shug. Even before Celie meets Shug she is envious of her; she starts with just word of mouth, then a picture, until finally they meet. Shug represents everything that that is frowned upon in the patriarchal society. She is fatherless, sexually promiscuous, and a very talented singer. She is a strong, independent, and free woman, and because of this she is outcast from society. Walker writes “He talk bout [Shug] a strumpet in short skirts, smoking cigarettes, drinking gin. Singing for money and taking other women mens. Talk bout slut, hussy, heifer and streetcleaner”(44). Shug represents the ultimate freedom to Celie, she is able to control Albert and she is not owned or controlled by any man.

    Read More

  • The Color Purple

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...novel Celie’s traumatic experiences have had a great impact on the entirety of her life. Once married she constantly lived in fear being incapable of love and unable to control her misguided sexual emotions.

    Read More

  • The Color Purple

    387 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the book The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, Tashi is convinced that she doesn't want to go to America because no one will like her. Tashi has her doubts but Adam convinces her to come. I am not here to analyze the motives of the character's decision to go/not go to America, rather I will evaluate the historical factuality of her fears of going to the US Her fears are very realistic for any African woman coming to the states. She would have the same experience looking at modern magazines knowing how the public portrayal of woman is.In the 1930's most white people were very racist against Black people. People feared those that were different. They feared the tribal customs of Africans such as scarification marks, and saw them as savages. Tashi's fear is that "...because of the scarification marks on her cheeks Americans would look down on her as a savage and shun her." Tashi's fear is perfectly valid for any African coming to America in the 1930's because some people would shun her. In the '30's Black women made themselves look whiter because black skinned black people were not popular. Dark people tried to look naked, therefore Tashi feared that "Adam will be distracted by one of these naked looking women and desert [her]." With a bunch of naked women running around, any man would be distracted. She fears that he will leave her for a "more attractive" woman, but that is dependent on whether Adam really loves her. Any woman would have fears like that before marriage.Because of the Glitzy Glamour in today's magazines that solicit anorexic, pale women, she would have the same doubts and fears about coming the US. Her fears would be even more enhanced because most women in the '30's are unattractive compared to today's women. Modern magazines and old magazines are similar because both show women that are prettier that the standard women.

    Read More

  • Strength Grown by Celie

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    With Shug being a famous singer, Celie had admired her from before they had even met. When she entered Celie’s life, she then became the most inspirational person to Celie. Throughout the novel, Shug taught Celie how to become a person who explores her spirituality and help recover her family history. This all leads to Celie getting a sense of self identity. An important part in the book is when Shug tells Celie that she has never been sexually pleased. “Here, take this mirror and go look at yourself down there…” (Walker, 77). This for Celie is similar to an infant looking at themselves in the mirror for the first time. In Celie’s case, she is able to claim her body as hers for the first time in her life, (Lister, 67). In some ways, Shug was also a mother figure to Celie. She gave Celie love and affection in ways that she had never gotten before. “Us sleep like sisters, me and Shug.” (Walker, 146) The affe...

    Read More

  • The Color Purple

    529 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book, The Color Purple, Alice Walker used several symbols and personifications to describe Celie's insecure and painful life. From the view of a reader, the title of the book, "The Color Purple" represents the pain and the bruises that had been given to Celie through her pitiful life. Dear God, Nettie, dears stars and trees show Celie's insecure personality, also Alice Walker personalized the stars and trees to be involved with Celie's communication. By reading through the book, readers would understand the discriminations of men and women's social statuses at that time when the story was taking place, and Celie is just one of those young ladies who has a fateful life.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Colorism In The Color Purple By Alice Walker

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    In one of her most world known books, “The Color Purple”, she predominantly puts her focus on the empowerment and strong building of African Americans. She shadows every vulnerable piece that each of the female characters portray and exposes Celie to feel that the only way to persevere is to remain silent and invisible. The Color Purple is narrated by the main character, Celie. Celie is a victim of sexual, physical and verbal abuse. Her letters to God, in which she begins to pour out her story, becomes her only outlet. She has a difficult time trying to find out who she is and her voice. She feels that she has no power to assert

    Read More

  • Abuse of Women in Alice Walker's Color Purple

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    Verbal and physical abuse is a constant in Celie's life.  The man she married makes her raise his two children from another marriage, despises her, and physically and verbally abuses her.  Celie is continually told she is skinny, ugly, and got nothing.  When Shug first meets Celie she says, "You sure is ugly" (Walker 48).  Celie is miserable with Mr. ___, a man who wanted to marry her sister Nettie.  Nettie comes to see her sister at Mr. ____'s house and tells her before departing, "Don't let them run over you.  You got to let them know who got the upper hand" (Walker 18).

    Read More

  • Theme Of Oppression In The Color Purple

    1414 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Alice walker’s “The Color Purple” she uses foil characters such as Celie and Shug to express the polar opposites that are inevitably found when abuse occurs. Celie represents submission and low self value. Shug on the other hand represents Independence and intolerance. Both characteristics coincide bringing forth friendship and change.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of The Color Purple

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alice Walker vividly explains the difficult, yet realistic, life of blacks in their communities. She writes of how the black men, who at this point in time are inferior to the white men, use their wives to provide them with feeling of importance. Women, in this period of time, were viewed as workers, housekeepers, and objects. “Celie’s object status is evident in the beginning when she is given to Albert [Mr.___] in the place of Nettie [Celie’s sister] … she is also a substitute for Albert’s true love Shug” (Tucker 84). In The Color Purple the relationship between Celie and Mr. ___ undergoes many changes. Throughout the novel, you begin to visualize the unpleasant relationship they have and you start to see how this will ultimately transform Celie into the strong individual she really is.

    Read More

More about Color Purple

Open Document