The Color Purple - The story of Celie
The Color Purple is a film that was directed in 1985 by Steven Spielberg. He based it on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel which was written in 1982 and won the award in 1983. The Color Purple is about Celie (played by Whoopi Goldberg), who is a young African-American girl and it shows the problems that African-American women faced during the early 1900’s. These problems included issues such as poverty, racial and sex discrimination. Celie eventually transforms herself as she begins to build self-esteem and find her self-worth with the help of two very strong female friends. Read further on this page to find out more.
In The Color Purple, Celie was abused by her father as a child at home. By the time she was just 14 years old, she already gave birth to two children by her father, who she finds out later in the film is actually her stepfather. She is forced to marry a widowed man in town who she called “Mr. Blank.” She didn’t want to who made her feel unworthy of love and that she didn’t deserve to be happy. He beat Celie, had non-consentual sex with her, forced her to take care of his children and do all of the chores around the house. This was from beginning to end of the relationship. In The Color Purple, Celie developed a relationship with his ex and got very close with her. In the book, it was made clear that this was a lesbian relationship but the film did not make that a strong issue. Celie also forms a relationship with Sofia (played by Oprah Winfrey) who is a very strong woman who also endured abuse by men in her life. The two form an inseparable bond and this helped Celie search for and build her confidence and self worth and become empowered.
The Color Purple was nominated for 11 Academic Awards which included Best Picture, Best Actress for Whoopi Goldberg, Best Supporting Actress for both Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey, Best Adapted Screenplay and for Best Song. It also received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture (Drama), Best Director (Steven Spielberg), and for Best Supporting Actress. It won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama (Whoopi Goldberg). Let it be noted that The Color Purple was the debut for both Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. The Color Purple was a very successful film as it brought in over $141.7 million all over the world. In 2005, a Broadway musical of The Color Purple opened on Broadway in New York City as well.