The Color Purple: Controversy At 25

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: On Location in North Carolina

On Location: The Color Purple

The State of Things
w/ Frank Stasio
WUNC-FM

Director Steven Spielberg took one look at Anson County, North Carolina and decided it was the perfect setting for the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Color Purple.” That was in 1985. Twenty-five years later, the little purple flowers that were planted by Spielberg’s production team still bloom in Anson County and the film that catapulted the careers of lead actresses Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey remains significant for its beautiful cinematography, powerful performances and controversial depictions of African-American life.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the film, “The Color Purple,” host Frank Stasio talks to a panel of guests about the movie’s production, its connection to Walker’s written narrative, and how it challenges audiences with complex themes of race, family, gender and sexuality. Joining the conversation is Lu Ellen Huntley, an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a member of the family that owned the Anson County farm where the movie was filmed; Michael Connor, theater coordinator at Livingstone College who appears in the film; Charlene Regester, associate professor of African and Afro-American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of “African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900-1960”; L. Lamar Wilson, an English PhD student and Composition Teaching Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill; and Karla FC Holloway, James B. Duke Professor of English and a professor of law at Duke University.

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A 'Precious' Debate

“Precious,” about a disadvantaged young woman played by Gabourey Sidibe, left, has sparked controversy over its meaning.

To Blacks, Precious Is ‘Demeaned’ or ‘Angelic’
by FELICIA R. LEE
Published: November 20, 2009

A reinforcement of noxious stereotypes or a realistic and therapeutic portrayal of a black family in America?

“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” the new film about an obese, poor, illiterate, young black woman who is sexually and emotionally abused, has sparked this heartfelt and at times heated debate about its meaning in the two weeks since its limited release.

Now, as it opens nationwide in 100 markets this weekend, the conversation about which black stories are told, and how, is bound to intensify, thanks to post-screening discussion groups; the cultural influence of two of the movie’s executive producers, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry; and the Oscar buzz the critically acclaimed film has already begun generating.

“In some ways, it’s ‘The Color Purple’ all over again, with people writing and talking about what this film represents,” said Mark Anthony Neal, a professor who teaches black popular culture at Duke University. He was referring to the 1985 film based on the novel by Alice Walker, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Ms. Winfrey.

Read full article @ The New York Times