The Phases in The Color Purple

The Color Purple is a multifaceted film that tackles different sheets of societal issues stemming from
blatant racism, sexism, classism, and religious prejudice. It is an evocative piece, situated in the early
20th century, that navigates on the issues of privation and discrimination faced by the black community,
specifically by black women at large.

The 1985 film steers on the story of Celie, an African-American girl raised in a rural community in
Georgia, who has endured a traumatic upbringing and brought these traumas as she went to adulthood.
As a teenager, she has come to realize the early abuse perpetrated by her father, Fonso, who turned out
to be not his real biological father. She was repeatedly raped by him and this prompted her pregnancy
for the second time at the age of 14, without the knowledge of her mother for Fonso has threatened to
kill her. When Celie gave birth for the second time, Fonso took away her child, as he did to the first one,
and sold them for profit. Celie has a deep bond with her sister, Nettie. When their mother passed away,
Celie was forced to marry a widower, Albert, who was also significantly older than her. To her
unfortunate apprehension, Celie got into an abusive marriage where she was abused and controlled by
her husband. She wasn't allowed to talk back and was only instructed to instinctively do chores and
blindly follow commands. She was indecently regarded as a maid for her husband and was constantly
beaten at the sight of her disobedience. The cruel treatment of Albert to Celie and his sexual interest in
Nettie led to the separation of the sisters and their non-existent communication that lasted for almost
three decades.

From the very title itself, the Color Purple already foreshadows the hardships and unfair tight spot of the
protagonist of the film. The color purple has been long associated with the concepts of affluence,
royalty, dignity, ambition, and power. In history, the color purple is a symbolic hue that only the rich can
wear for one simple reason, it was expensive. In previous times, it was costly to produce purple dyes,
and its rarity birthed to it as a color of elitism. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth from 1558 to 1603,
purple was forbidden to be worn by ordinary civilians and only members of the royal family are allowed
to be dressed in it. Another apparent observation is the rare presence of purple in global flags. Because
of its value, it was impractical to use the color on country flags and it is now significantly replenished in
historical discussions.

The opulent depiction of purple in history is greatly mirrored in the film with what is tagged as colored
people. Purple is associated with the notions of power and nobility and these are the same concepts
that are stripped from the people that the film flagrantly addresses. The film emphasizes racism
especially on the type of inferiority black people are subjected to in society. A specific scene of the
character of Sofia affirms this when she was slapped by the town's mayor for talking back to his wife. To
her fury, Sofia punched the mayor in the face, causing an unwanted commotion where she was publicly
beaten. She was shortly imprisoned but then released upon the judge's order under the condition of
being a personal maid of Miss Millie, the mayor's wife herself. This aggressive and barbarous treatment
of the black community was emphasized in the film that people who are not white are largely subjected
to the treatment of just being mere slaves and inferior individuals.

It was difficult to be black, but it was more difficult to be black and woman at the same time. This was
the centralizing perspective that the main character surfaced as the film unfurls to the different phases
of her life. Sexism was early addressed in the film with men taking women under their control. When
Celie was raped and forced to marry a widowed man, she endured a decade or more of domestic abuse
and manipulation, depriving her rights and freedom. Celie wasn't the only one to have this on sight for it
was a dominant practice in the early times where young girls are deprived of choices to enjoy their
childhood, enforcing them to marry older men and act as slaves. Women were blatantly depicted as
objects in a patriarchal society and this is a reality to black women not just in the early times but up to
this present time as well. In the United States, the Black Women Equal Pay Day sheds light on the fact
that "Black women working full-time year-round must work in the current year to earn what her white
male counterpart earned during the prior year."

The Color Purple also arrows the issue of classism. When Albert told Celie that she wouldn't go places
and would always return where she came from for she was ugly, ignorant, black, and poor, this also
evokes the reality that prejudice also occurs from the community itself where black people are also
responsible for this downgrading. In a hierarchal society, whites are on the top of the oasis while blacks
are trapped in the slums. The storytelling of the film is also acted by Celie in which she sorts of
addressed letters to God through narrations. The role of the church and the notion of spirituality is
shown through the film especially in the musical reconciliation of Shug Avery to her father who was a
pastor. In the place where Celie grew up, some scenes picture the Church as a meeting place of
convention and reflection. This was one of the ironies of the film where people are religious yet quick to
subject others to discrimination.

The film overall scores a significant piece that dwells on different issues while making use of the
emancipatory and revolutionary aspect of the film as an art.

Shih-Tsung L. (2017), "Why there is no purple in national flags?" Now News, China Post.
https://chinapost.nownews.com/20180118-203047/amp

Wingfield A. (2020), Women are advancing in the workplace, but women of color still lag, Brookings.
https://www.brookings.edu/essay/women-are-advancing-in-the-workplace-but-women-of-color-still-
lag-behind/