The Color Purple marks its 25th anniversary this week with a Blu-Ray DVD release, prompting comparisons about the points of controversy it shares with contemporary films For Colored Girls and Precious.
The Color Purple: Controversy At 25
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
When The Color Purple was released in December of 1985, Whoopi Goldberg was most known for her one-woman Broadway show and Oprah Winfrey was just a fledgling talk show host in Chicago. The film, based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same title, went on to earn 11 Academy Award nominations including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Goldberg (Celie) and Winfrey (Sophia) respectively. This week the film will be released on Blu-Ray for the first time.
Though we often look back lovingly at The Color Purple, noting in particular the beauty of the cinematography, and its role in helping create mainstream interests in “Black” cinema—the film earned nearly $150 million—its release was shrouded in controversy. The Color Purple courted contention very much the way recent releases from Lee Daniels (Precious) and Tyler Perry (For Colored Girls) (films that, like The Color Purple, were male directed screen adaptations of literary works originally produced by Black women) did.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
The Color Purple: Controversy At 25
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21
When The Color Purple was released in December of 1985, Whoopi Goldberg was most known for her one-woman Broadway show and Oprah Winfrey was just a fledgling talk show host in Chicago. The film, based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same title, went on to earn 11 Academy Award nominations including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Goldberg (Celie) and Winfrey (Sophia) respectively. This week the film will be released on Blu-Ray for the first time.
Though we often look back lovingly at The Color Purple, noting in particular the beauty of the cinematography, and its role in helping create mainstream interests in “Black” cinema—the film earned nearly $150 million—its release was shrouded in controversy. The Color Purple courted contention very much the way recent releases from Lee Daniels (Precious) and Tyler Perry (For Colored Girls) (films that, like The Color Purple, were male directed screen adaptations of literary works originally produced by Black women) did.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
No comments:
Post a Comment