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don’t get me wrong i am VERY excited for the color purple musical film it’s gonna rock so hard but also. im gonna need the trailers to stop being like “look at this cute sister story <3 <3 <3” because halle bailey is probably gonna be in like 15 minutes of the film total and the rest of the film is just. every trigger warning possible. and i feel like people should know that going in
actually why did i say “the rest of the film”, the halle bailey scenes will ALSO need like twelve trigger warnings
people telling me they didnt know this well ok time to spread the word i guess. the color purple has just about every trigger warning possible, mainly including: repeated sexual assault (biggest plot point), child sexual assault, incest (major character backstory), spousal abuse (physical, psychological, etc), police brutality/racism, time-period-accurate sexism and homophobia
it is a good musical!! it’s a good book!!!! but goddamn i feel like people should uuuuhhhh know this before going in to see it considering it’s SO fucking heavy
All this. I watched the original movie when I was a bit too young for it (my mom allowed it because it was an important film to Black folks) and it hurt to watch those scenes with Mister just as it hurt to realize what Celie and Nettie’s father (well, stepfather) was doing to them even when it wasn’t shown.
Honestly, seeing Halle Bailey and realizing she was playing Nettie made me resolve not to see this, and I wasn’t in much of a hurry to see it, anyway. Not because I don’t think it will be good, but because of all those trigger warnings above.
That said, the story is an important one, and those hurtful moments aren’t there to titillate; in fact, in the original movie you see them through the female gaze and NOT the male gaze. You are never confused about the kind of men Mister and the stepfather are. You are never made to feel that Harpo is right in the way he treats Sophia OR that Celie’s advice to Harpo on what to do is okay. You are mired (I use this word purposefully) in the viewpoint of the least enfranchised characters in this work in a way that engenders empathy, not pity or condescension.
But that makes it hard to watch.
I have not seen the entirety of the original film in decades. I will watch specific scenes, and I especially love the God Is Tryna Tell You Somethin’ bit from near the end (watched it yesterday, in fact). But I will not watch the whole thing, and I never EVER everrrrrr again want to see the scene where Mister attempts to “seduce” Nettie; that gave me nightmares as a kid.
And somehow the thought of all this set to music? Even appropriate music? Just….. no. For Me.
For folks who can watch and want to, I think it’ll be moving and beautiful. Just be aware of what you’re getting into.
… how did I not realize that this was… a musical? o.O As important a book as this was to me, I … wow. I don’t know about that.
The musical got a revival in the mid 2010s and iirc won a couple of Tonys.
The ads are downplaying the musical aspect, probably because of how poorly some Broadway musicals turned movies have done.
The Color Purple is not a light hearted romp, even though there are some moments of Black joy. It’s potentially triggering AF and I would advise
a, don’t take children
b, read the synopsis at the very least and the book if you have time
c, take tissues
I actually didn’t know there was a musical at all, that’s on me. I have been looking forward to this movie, and have seen a ton of the trailers, had no idea.
Which is just underlining the point above, I think.
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