“The Color Purple”: Oppression and Pain of an African American Woman Essay (Movie Review)

Introduction

The color purple is a movie about the oppression and pain of an African American woman. Adapted from Alice Walker’s novel by the same name, the movie delves into the life of a girl who was sexually abused by her father before being sold off to an irresponsible and cruel husband. Celie, the poor African American character who is the protagonist, has to withstand brutality from her husband. The only way to vent her pain is by writing letters to her sister. Through these letters, the audience gets to understand her inner feelings emanating from the predicament she was going through. But the sister does not respond, leading Celie to believe that she was long dead. We however learn that it is Albert, Celie’s husband, who has been confiscating the replies. The movie provides relief when Celie finally gets emboldened by her friendship with another of Albert’s mistresses. She finds the letters from her sister and later makes away to rebuild her life.

Main body

The movie elucidates several thematic and social concerns that are insightful for a psychologist. Oppression is skillfully woven throughout the movie to caricature the experience of a Southern American black woman (Sacco, 2009). Ironically, oppression against women does not just originate from white men as one would assume. Rather, sexual exploitation begins from the family, the father who is supposed to be a source of security for his children. As an adolescent girl, Celie has experienced sexual exploitation from her father. She becomes pregnant twice and the father takes oppression to a whole new level by taking away the two children for adoption by another family. To cap it all, he sells away her daughter as a wife to an old man. Celie has no choice over her life. She is a victim of an evil father who perpetuates cruelty with pleasure. But her predicaments are not to end with her father. The husband is very brutal and she has to endure such brutality for thirty years.

Separation from family is usually a source of great pain to whoever that bad luck befalls. Celie is separated from her sister Nettie with whom a strong friendship and sense of comradeship had emerged (Sacco, 2009). Notice the ironic twist of events that led to their separation. An old man by the name of Albert had sought Nettie’s hand in marriage. But the father became intransigent and instead offered Celie because she was better positioned to be a wife. To cap it all, he expressly stated that Celie was ugly enough to marry. Women have no choices over their spouses. The father can sell them at his whims away like livestock. This represents the highest form of insensitivity and oppression that pervaded American society at the beginning of the 20th century (Green & Palgrave, 2013). The separation of close sisters is a cause of pain for them as illustrated in their constant communication through letters. But the cruel husband to whom Celie was sold exacerbates the pain by confiscating Nettie’s replies and leading her sister to believe that she was long dead.

The most surprising thing about the movie is how sexual exploitation and oppression have been presented (Lupack, 1994). Conventionally, one would not expect the father to be a source of pain to the family. Ironically and surprisingly, it is the father who commits such heinous acts against his daughters. One would expect that oppression would be driven by racism considering the tense race relations in the United States then. Surprisingly, it is blacks’ oppression against blacks. The ironic twist of events in the movie is unprecedented. Celie’s pains are turned into joy when her father dies and it emerges that he was a stepfather. She is bequeathed wealth by her biological father and her fortunes turn around. Albert, her former husband, suffers a lot after separation from Celie and is rueful over his past deeds. To assuage his conscience, he spends his lifelong savings to facilitate Nettie and Celie’s reunion. The person who spent thirty years meting out cruelty on Celie finally becomes the one to bring her happiness!

The movie provides useful insights to a clinician. To start with, it offers an avenue to understand human beings. It opens one’s eyes to the possibility that pain can be caused by the family even more than other things. Through the movie, it becomes clear that human behavior is influenced by past experiences (Green & Palgrave, 2013). Wealth is also not the source of happiness as one would assume. Though Albert is rich, his family is rarely portrayed as being happy. Throughout the semester, I have learned several things about myself. I have learned that my behavior to a large extent has been shaped by the family I grew up in. I have learned to appreciate other people first before judging them.

Conclusion

I found the course fascinating at the same time. Through the course, I have had an opportunity to understand people’s behaviors and attitudes. I now appreciate human diversity more than I did before. For the next semester, I would suggest that the lecturer provide a broad spectrum of reading lists and illustrations. It is only then that we can have a holistic understanding of human behavior. Overall, I found the course very informative.

References

Green, T. T., & Palgrave Connect (Online service). (2013). Presenting Oprah Winfrey, her films, and African American literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lupack, B. T. (1994). Take two: Adapting the contemporary American novel to film. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State Univ. Popular Press.

Sacco, L. (2009). Unspeakable: Father-daughter incest in American history. Baltimore. Md: Johns Hopkins University Press.