Another movie...
Oct. 10th, 2005 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebe
...that makes me cry like a little girl? The Color Purple
I read the book by Alice Walker when I was very young. It was pretty much one of the first 'adult' books I remember reading. Being a good little Jehovah's Witness at the time, I remember thinking "I probably shouldn't be reading this," especially after I stumbled on to the graphic scenes of rape, lesbianism and masturbation. There was a lot of misspelled words, too, which seriously bothered my hyperactive devotion to proper English at the time.
But at the same time, it was...mesmerizing. Walker does such an excellent job of making the world so internal, claustrophobic, *earthen*. She dealt with all of these high-art themes in the most basic of ways, from the limited vocabulary of Celie in her letters to the unblinking descriptions of even the most harsh situations she has to deal with. It was the first fiction I read where I became aware that even though it was a story, it was Truth. It not only could have happened, it did. The names and places and even the sequence of events may have been different, but someone out there lived this. I credit Alice Walker for 'taking me out of the ghetto' and getting me interested in many different views on life I wouldn't be normally.
The movie is Spielberg's first big foray into Serious Dramatic Fare, and here you can see the prototypes of lots of Spielbergian tearjerking tricks. :) But beyond that, he's remarkably true to the spirit of the original. What struck me as the best part was the speech and intonation used by Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, particularly. My aunts and grandma in Baltimore? They still talk that way. It's been such a long time since I've read the book, I'm not sure if the Nettie - Africa subplot is a complete movie fabrication, but it makes for one of its most affecting parts. Whoopi Goldberg was incredible, one of the best casting choices ever. Right role, right time. :)
In other news, I've gotten a pretty bad cold. Wheezing, coughing, sinus headaches, the works. My chest is starting to hurt in the same manner it did last year when I got bronchitis and pleursy, but I'm weirdly hypochondriacal about it. I hope it goes away sometime this week; if I feel as bad as I do today, tomorrow, I'll call in and hook an IV of tea to my arm. Oh, and bathe in Vick's VapoRub.
On the upside, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
toob says, all this intense coughing is going to help with the abs. ;)
I read the book by Alice Walker when I was very young. It was pretty much one of the first 'adult' books I remember reading. Being a good little Jehovah's Witness at the time, I remember thinking "I probably shouldn't be reading this," especially after I stumbled on to the graphic scenes of rape, lesbianism and masturbation. There was a lot of misspelled words, too, which seriously bothered my hyperactive devotion to proper English at the time.
But at the same time, it was...mesmerizing. Walker does such an excellent job of making the world so internal, claustrophobic, *earthen*. She dealt with all of these high-art themes in the most basic of ways, from the limited vocabulary of Celie in her letters to the unblinking descriptions of even the most harsh situations she has to deal with. It was the first fiction I read where I became aware that even though it was a story, it was Truth. It not only could have happened, it did. The names and places and even the sequence of events may have been different, but someone out there lived this. I credit Alice Walker for 'taking me out of the ghetto' and getting me interested in many different views on life I wouldn't be normally.
The movie is Spielberg's first big foray into Serious Dramatic Fare, and here you can see the prototypes of lots of Spielbergian tearjerking tricks. :) But beyond that, he's remarkably true to the spirit of the original. What struck me as the best part was the speech and intonation used by Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, particularly. My aunts and grandma in Baltimore? They still talk that way. It's been such a long time since I've read the book, I'm not sure if the Nettie - Africa subplot is a complete movie fabrication, but it makes for one of its most affecting parts. Whoopi Goldberg was incredible, one of the best casting choices ever. Right role, right time. :)
In other news, I've gotten a pretty bad cold. Wheezing, coughing, sinus headaches, the works. My chest is starting to hurt in the same manner it did last year when I got bronchitis and pleursy, but I'm weirdly hypochondriacal about it. I hope it goes away sometime this week; if I feel as bad as I do today, tomorrow, I'll call in and hook an IV of tea to my arm. Oh, and bathe in Vick's VapoRub.
On the upside, as
toob says, all this intense coughing is going to help with the abs. ;)
