precis

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy2.lib.depaul.edu/stable/2931568?&Search=yes&term=purple&term=color&term=movie&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2528the%2Bcolor%2Bpurple%2529%2Bmovie%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3D%2528the%2Bcolor%2Bpurple%2529%26hp%3D25%26wc%3Don&item=1&ttl=839&returnArticleService=showArticle



Shifting Through The Controversy: Reading The Color Purple


Both works (book and film) present a negative portrait, proclaim some critics, of black men in particular and the black family in general. The primary difference in the critisim of the contemporary film is that the outrage over the works is not unamimous. Black women and black men, for the most part, are split, and at times, at odds over the effect of the works on the condition of black people in this country. The narure of the debate over The Color Purple and the way it affected how the public received the film and produced a reading of it are the subjects of this investigation. The film reached an audience in several stages and each time induced a strong reaction. When The Color Purple is referred to as controversial the inference is that the content of the work is incendiary rather than that the reaction to it has been negative.

marriage was produced is relevant for this assessment of the film The Color Purple in that the 1920s film and the 1980s film were both caught up in "power relations" between several disxoures, at a particular historical moment, "over the conditions under which the film was to enter the public domain." The black woman's discourage, as spoken by the black women, has been less publicized than have the other two untill recently. The broader debate over The Color Purple is about the authority of black women writhers to set the agenda for imagemaking in fiction and film.