The musical period drama filmThe Color Purpleis based on both Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name and the Broadway musical of the same name, whileSteven Spielberg’s dramatic filmadaptation is based solely on Walker’s novel. Both films explore the inherent conflicts of Walker’s novel to varying degrees, but the musical adaptation has a much lighter tone than the 1985 film. Spielberg’s original adaptation presents the struggles of the book’s central protagonist, Celie, a teenage girl who is subjected to a lifetime of physical and sexual abuse before finding true happiness, in stark, unflinching detail.
With a catchy, spry soundtrack, contemporary dance sequences, and various instances of humor, the new film presents a much more positive and uplifting version of Celie’s story than the 1985 film. In keeping with Walker’s novel, it generates a palpable level of tension that sometimes makes Spielberg’s film feel almost like a thriller.
Celie and Shug’s Relationship is Much More Open in the Musical
The Color Purple
One of the most controversial and criticized aspects of the 1985 film adaptation ofThe Color Purplewas the film’s portrayal of the relationship between protagonist Celie Harris, played by Whoopi Goldberg, and Shug Avery, a jazz singer and longtime mistress of Celie’s husband, Mister, an abusive widower whom Celie was forced to marry by her abusive father. In the 1985 film, Celie initially becomes enamored with Shug, played by Margaret Avery, through a picture that Shug sent to Mister. After a sickly Shug visits Mister’s house and is nursed back to health by Celie, they gradually fall in love. In a scene of great tenderness, Celie and Shug slowly kiss each other. Moreover, Shug instills self-confidence in Celie, who is ultimately inspired by Shug to reject Mister’s abuse and leave Georgia with Shug.
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While the 1985 film presents the relationship and implied romance between Celie and Shug very subtly through light displays of physical affection, to the point of obscuring the romance in relation to the film’s various other dramatic elements, the 2023 film presents the romance in explicit terms. Indeed, in the new film, Celie and Shug openly pursue each other both romantically and sexually and are seen awakening in bed next to each other. Moreover, the new film places Celie and Shug in a world in which their relationship is much more possible than in the universe of the 1985 film.
Celie Doesn’t Communicate With God in the Musical
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Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film adaptation ofThe Color Purpleattempts to capture the epistolary nature of Alice Walker’s novel by having protagonist Celie document her story through voice-over narration, through the various letters that Celie attempts to write to God. In the book and Spielberg’s film, Celie’s voice-over narration makes it seem as if Celie istalking directly to God, to whom Celie recounts the various emotional and physical traumas that she’s experienced, first from her father, who raped and impregnated Celie and then gave her children away to hide his abuse, and then her abusive husband, Mister, whom Celie’s father forced Celie to marry.
However, Celie’s narration, especially in terms of her attempted conversations with God, has been removed from the 2023 film, which contains few explicit mentions of God and instead has Celie express her deepest thoughts through the film’s numerous musical sequences.
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Mister Is More Fully Developed in the Musical
In the 1985 film adaptation ofThe Color Purple, Mister, the widower whom Celie is forced to marry, is a man whose abusiveness toward Celie is a byproduct of his own self-loathing, which is manifested most clearly when Mister,played by Danny Glover, attempts to rape Celie’s younger sister, Nettie, as Nettie attempts to go to school one morning. While Mister, who initially wanted to marry the younger Nettie due to his sexual attraction towards her, later attempts to achieve a measure of redemption for his abusive behavior by arranging for Nettie and her family, including Celie’s now grown children, to return to the United States from Africa, Mister remains a shameful figure.
However, in the new film, Mister,played by Colman Domingo, expresses a degree of remorse for his treatment of Celie before she leaves him. Mister expresses his sorrow in the new film directly to Celie and then, as he does in the 1985 film, provides the money for Celie’s children and Nettie to be able to return home. Moreover, while the new film doesn’t at all absolve Mister of his actions, the new film devotes more time to attempting to understand the inspiration for his hateful behavior than does the 1985 film, which, in keeping with the overall subtle approach of Steven Spielberg’s film, reveals this through implication and symbolism.
Celie’s Mother Appears in the Musical
In the novelThe Color Purple, Celie and younger sister Nettie’s mother, known as Mama, becomes ill and dies before telling Celie and Nettie that their abusive father, Alphonso, isn’t actually their biological father. Moreover, Mama dies in the novel after Celie has given birth to two children, a boy and a girl, by Alphonso, who then took the children from Celie and presumably killed them, whereas Celie is joyously reunited with her children in the 1985 film, in which Mama is long deceased as the film opens. However, while Mama is only referenced in the 1985 film through conversation and narration, Mama actually appears in the 2023 film, in which Mama, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, appears through flashback sequences and Celie’s visions.
