On The Color Purple:
This is one of the most important movies I have watched yet. The biggest reason is that it stars and ugly, black female. That is the character that this story is all about, the poor, black, ugly woman that almost no one has any love for. Its a story about resilience and being true to yourself, told through the perspective of Miss Celie. The world has never made life easy for Celie, she was raped by her father, her kids were taken away from her, she was sold to her neighbor as a wife, raped by him, beaten by him, separated from her sister by him and kept in a prison by him. But as soon as Celie gets the right chance, she leaves him. That is the happy ending that makes the story of her struggle so beautiful, she stays hopeful and finally escapes in the end.
Oprah Winfrey plays Sofia in this movie, a big, black woman who has fought her whole life. She as fought the men in her life and she has fought the oppression from the whites in her life. That is just who Sofia is, she is a fighter. The most dramatic scene in this movie is a job offer. The governor's wife is admiring Sofia's black children and is so enthralled by them that she asks Sofia to be her maid. The governor's wife is an ignorant woman, Sofia does not need a job. Sofia responds: "Hell no" as Sofia, the fighter she is, would. It was rude, but so was the job offer in reality. The governor's wife proceeds to tell on Sofia to her husband. To take a break in telling this story, keep in mind of the social classes of the 1920s. Black women are still called 'girls', or worse, and this 'girl' just disrespected the most important woman in town. So the governor asks Sofia what just happened and she still said: "hell no". The governor smacks Sofia. Sofia has had to fight all her life, and its almost as if every punch she has thrown has been a lead up to this moment of revolution. She knows the consequences of the action that is about to happen, but the decision has already been made, it always has been. Sofia punches the governor and basically a riot breaks out. The entire town surrounds Sofia and yells and pushes until one man pistol whips Sofia, knocking her out. Sofia wakes up in jail and stays there, only to be released years later as the governor's wife's maid. The irony of this situation is too much. The most ironic part of all is that if she had never fought back, her actions would have been more of a revolution. She would have never been forced to be anyone's maid had she not thrown that punch. All the punch did was given the governor and the town a reason to oppress this woman further. Sofia is just such a passionate woman, but somethings in life are ultimate.
The governor's wife is a whole new kind of ignorant. She is ignorant of her own ignorance. She thinks she is helping, she tries to help with the education of black children and offers Sofia a job as a maid, but in reality she is afraid. The governor's wife's fears are highlighted on Christmas. Trying to do her maid a favor, the governor's wife drives Sofia out to her house to spend the day with her family, only to make a fool of her self driving home. The men of the family try to help the governor's wife drive her car, but she thinks they are attacking her because they are surrounding her car. She freaks out and the whole situation is too much stress for her, so she 'needs' Sofia to drive her home. This is so cruel, but the governor's wife is ignorant of how evil she is being. It is very frustrating to watch.
The Sofia character is similar to Private Peterson in A Soldier's Story. This character is a stark contrast to the classic Sidney Poitier character who keeps his cool. I think that the reason for this change in characters is due to the changing times. Given, there is still the Sidney Poitier-esque character as a protagonist, the emergence of the Malcolm X to his Martin Luther King is because people can accept a fighter now. Next on the list is actually Do the Right Thing today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment