Watched the 2023 Colour Purple after seeing the original…
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Watched the 2023 Colour Purple after seeing the original 1985 version recently... definitely have some thoughts
I knew it was a musical going in and I **adore** musicals, that wasn't the problem, the problem was the tone, especially in the beginning
Why is the music so upbeat, for starters? I was expecting songs like a really heartwrenching I want song from Celie about escaping her dad with her sister, or grieving her babies, or just... something about her pain, but the songs are boppin and about how good God is and stuff like that, and it just feels like it undermines the horror of what is going on, glossing over it with flashy musical numbers instead of using the music to enhance our understanding of our characters' emotional states
This applies even in non-musical scenes, too - compare the birth of the baby in both films
In the og it's in a freezing cold barn at night, the dad comes in and asks if she's "done (screaming in pain) yet", and when the baby is born, Celie begins crying "no..." and grabs up for her baby as her dad takes it away - the grief, the longing, it's all there and so raw
In the musical Celie is very emotionally stable, she's clearly sad about her baby being taken away but she gives it willingly to her dad with no struggle or emotional conflict we can see, then just asks Nettie why her dad keeps doing this to her... not to mention instead of it being in a freezing barn, it's in a beautiful cosy bedroom with a lovely kind midwife there... the tone is just so different, and in a way I feel strongly diminishes the story
Also take the scene where Celie finds her baby in the shop... in the og you can feel her desperation so palpably, following the lady with her baby around even when she tries to leave, asking lots of questions and to hold her baby for one last time, it's gut-wrenching
In the musical... she sees her baby, smiles, goes over and is like "hi, I'm your mama", then gets chased out of the shop where she smiles seemingly in relief that she's seen her baby again... she comes off content, not like she just had her baby ripped away from her again, no longing, no grief
I think the first film starting in such a bleak horrific place made the ending hit *so* much harder, especially given we felt Celie's grief for her children so strongly, them finally reuniting is so much more of an emotional payoff
I do think the tone of the musical improves and gets much more honest about the horror of the situation when Sofiya gets arrested, but too little too late for me sadly
Also, this is an unfair comparison because the og was directed by Spielberg, but man is the cinematography worse here >.< It's not bad, it's perfectly fine, but I really miss those figures in the flower field, all the sillouhette shots of them playing the Makidada game in front of the sunset, and how those images come full circle at the start and end of the film
Also, sorry, why's the family reuniting in '23 this big public spectacle at a party, not the quiet personal moment it was in '85? Again, tone...
The performances in 2023 are really good, but the ones in the 85 version are absolutely haunting and in a league of their own imo - in 85 when child Celie and Nettie are seperated, it's one of the most distressing scenes I've seen and it's all on their acting, in '23 it's sad but not anywhere close to the same level in my opinion (similarly, the dinner table scene in '23 feels like it goes from 0 to 100 in intensity immediately, in '85 it has a slow but deadly build and it's so much tenser and more cathartic for it)
Fantasia is really good in the role, but Whoopi felt like she was living it - Fantasia has the anxiety, the misery, and the hope and joy, but she's missing a palpable sense of exhaustion and jsut being profoundly beaten down that Whoopi carried in every scene
The 23 version also has so much more God dick sucking which gets really annoying... could REALLY have done without the whole "show your abuser forgiveness or you won't go to heaven" at the funeral thing, and sure the og film tried to give a bit of a redemption arc for Mister, but it's really downplayed and feels almost obligatory as the logic for how Nettie, Adam and Olivia got through immigrations wouldn't fly... here instead of just watching the reunion from afar and fucking off, he holds Celie's hand as she goes up to meet them and is somehow *included* in "my family home" as Celie says? Fuck *all* of that, I hate it
I ALSO really hated Celie telling Sofiya that she told Harpo to beat her because of "jealousy"? In the original that situation was tragic as Celie grew up so surrounded by violence she knew no different, it was an example of hurt people can hurt people... in the 23 movie it just makes her come off a dick
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I knew it was a musical going in and I **adore** musicals, that wasn't the problem, the problem was the tone, especially in the beginning
Why is the music so upbeat, for starters? I was expecting songs like a really heartwrenching I want song from Celie about escaping her dad with her sister, or grieving her babies, or just... something about her pain, but the songs are boppin and about how good God is and stuff like that, and it just feels like it undermines the horror of what is going on, glossing over it with flashy musical numbers instead of using the music to enhance our understanding of our characters' emotional states
This applies even in non-musical scenes, too - compare the birth of the baby in both films
In the og it's in a freezing cold barn at night, the dad comes in and asks if she's "done (screaming in pain) yet", and when the baby is born, Celie begins crying "no..." and grabs up for her baby as her dad takes it away - the grief, the longing, it's all there and so raw
In the musical Celie is very emotionally stable, she's clearly sad about her baby being taken away but she gives it willingly to her dad with no struggle or emotional conflict we can see, then just asks Nettie why her dad keeps doing this to her... not to mention instead of it being in a freezing barn, it's in a beautiful cosy bedroom with a lovely kind midwife there... the tone is just so different, and in a way I feel strongly diminishes the story
Also take the scene where Celie finds her baby in the shop... in the og you can feel her desperation so palpably, following the lady with her baby around even when she tries to leave, asking lots of questions and to hold her baby for one last time, it's gut-wrenching
In the musical... she sees her baby, smiles, goes over and is like "hi, I'm your mama", then gets chased out of the shop where she smiles seemingly in relief that she's seen her baby again... she comes off content, not like she just had her baby ripped away from her again, no longing, no grief
I think the first film starting in such a bleak horrific place made the ending hit *so* much harder, especially given we felt Celie's grief for her children so strongly, them finally reuniting is so much more of an emotional payoff
I do think the tone of the musical improves and gets much more honest about the horror of the situation when Sofiya gets arrested, but too little too late for me sadly
Also, this is an unfair comparison because the og was directed by Spielberg, but man is the cinematography worse here >.< It's not bad, it's perfectly fine, but I really miss those figures in the flower field, all the sillouhette shots of them playing the Makidada game in front of the sunset, and how those images come full circle at the start and end of the film
Also, sorry, why's the family reuniting in '23 this big public spectacle at a party, not the quiet personal moment it was in '85? Again, tone...
The performances in 2023 are really good, but the ones in the 85 version are absolutely haunting and in a league of their own imo - in 85 when child Celie and Nettie are seperated, it's one of the most distressing scenes I've seen and it's all on their acting, in '23 it's sad but not anywhere close to the same level in my opinion (similarly, the dinner table scene in '23 feels like it goes from 0 to 100 in intensity immediately, in '85 it has a slow but deadly build and it's so much tenser and more cathartic for it)
Fantasia is really good in the role, but Whoopi felt like she was living it - Fantasia has the anxiety, the misery, and the hope and joy, but she's missing a palpable sense of exhaustion and jsut being profoundly beaten down that Whoopi carried in every scene
The 23 version also has so much more God dick sucking which gets really annoying... could REALLY have done without the whole "show your abuser forgiveness or you won't go to heaven" at the funeral thing, and sure the og film tried to give a bit of a redemption arc for Mister, but it's really downplayed and feels almost obligatory as the logic for how Nettie, Adam and Olivia got through immigrations wouldn't fly... here instead of just watching the reunion from afar and fucking off, he holds Celie's hand as she goes up to meet them and is somehow *included* in "my family home" as Celie says? Fuck *all* of that, I hate it
I ALSO really hated Celie telling Sofiya that she told Harpo to beat her because of "jealousy"? In the original that situation was tragic as Celie grew up so surrounded by violence she knew no different, it was an example of hurt people can hurt people... in the 23 movie it just makes her come off a dick
#video #movies
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