The Forced Color Purple Hate.
As with all of my thoughts on here and elsewhere, these opinions are coming from a realest. Not a self-hating black man, not a simp or queer “male presenting” person who wishes they were born one of the white girls from “The Mean Girls” movie.
Now that I’ve sort of introduced myself let me reiterate that the online hatred of this Color Purple remake is primarily forced anger from black folks who think anger = productivity and productivity = righteousness.
The workaholic in me praises the idea that staying proactive is always the right thing to do, but let’s be real, criticizing a story you’ve had all of your life to openly criticize, but only chose to do so now because you have a rep to uphold in your internet click is not using your time wisely, therefore I decline to acknowledge your productivity is proactive.
The Color Purple’s Timeline.
The Color Purple is a novel written by Allice Walker that was published in 1982. Two years later in 84' the movie started to be made and was released in 1985. The first broadway play adaptation of the novel was made in 1997, then again in 2004 and another one in 2015. The musical now has a film adaptation that released Christmas day, 2023 https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/a45631155/the-color-purple-timeline/
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The point in bringing up The Color Purple’s history is to remind y’all second and third life having internet pseudo-intellects that this isn’t a brand new story. You could’ve “outraged” this story when it first came out or anytime before 2023. Like many, my introduction to The Color Purple was either through reading the book for the first time or watching the first movie, the “classic” version if you will. To my understanding despite the graphic nature and unpleasant scenarios of this story, The Color Purple was still a beloved story within the Black Americans household.
Certainly not all, I get that, but prior to outrage culture, this was a story loved by many black folks, hence why I believe a fraction of the harsh criticisms hurled at this movie is forced outrage because that is what outrage culture is. Remember, anger = productivity, to them and productivity = righteousness.
I See You.
I see the arguments. Some make sound points, others sound stupid. As a black man with pride and love for himself and his brethren, I don’t like to see us portrayed as monsters. But I also understand the time period in which the story takes place in and pretending like we haven’t caused harm within our families and community is not how we truly move forward as a people.
Let’s also nip the homophobic responses in the bud right now. For the Lil Boosie’s of he world who said you couldn’t “get with” this story because you saw two grown women kissing, once again, this happened in the book and in the original movie and the homophobic detractors know this. This once again goes hand and hand with what I was saying about those partaking in outrage culture. Folks looking for reasons to express anger because they believe they are actually doing their civic duty as an “activist.” You ain’t saying nothing other than “I went to watch a movie created by a Queer author with my anti-queer ass just to anger myself.” Good luck trying to explain to anyone with some sense that that is something a sane person would casually do.
There are critiques about Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple both as an individual and creator and here is where the critics start to sway me. If the rumors are true and Alice Walker really did disown her daughter for any of the reasons I saw being stated as facts, that’s not a good look for her and in no way shape or form am I arguing that she is a great person or that all of her wrongs should be forgiven, forgotten or overlooked because she made the masterpiece that is The Color Purple.
Walker is accused of severing ties with her daughter, Rebecca Walker for getting pregnant by a black man and choosing to be a stay at home mother, or what some might consider a “traditional woman.” Why would a black woman disown her black daughter for getting pregnant by a black man and not aborting the black baby? Feminism, that’s why. The same feminist movement that empowers black women who follow it to be the right hand of white supremacy.
Alice Walker is also being accused of stealing Rebecca’s girlfriend at the time who was singer Tracy Chapman. All of this is news to me. This info certainly was not told to me in school, where I first read The Color Purple. Also, I’m not checking for Alice Walker like that. As much as I like The Color Purple, neither the story nor Walker’s writing made me want to read more stories by her.
A lot of this info I read while researching Alice Walker’s controversial past does seem dicey and hearsay. The individual who stated Walker abandoned her daughter for getting pregnant by a black man did not provide any sources to back that claim. What isn’t alleged through all of this sea of hate is the rift between Alice Walker and daughter, Rebecca Walker https://www.npr.org/transcripts/92373475
Only three things were confirmed upon doing research. 1) The Walkers are beefing. 2) Momma Walker’s fanaticism with feminism proves my theory about the feminist movement as a whole, not just “modern feminism,” which is a mistake I’ve made in the past. That theory being feminist don’t want autonomy, they want authority. 3) Alice Walker definitely fits the bill on the types of individuals that I was referring to in this piece https://medium.com/@ernestsandefer/lesbians-of-color-cedac3c52d7b
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How can I break all of this down and still like The Color Purple? Because I had no idea Ms. Alice Walker was this messy prior to reading the book or watching the movie. It’s almost like you with your favorite R. Kelly song(s) only difference is I’m not making excuses for Alice Walker nor am I continuing to support her work.
Even if it’s just a rumor that she disowned her daughter for birthing a black boy, or for stealing her daughter’s partner, what holds true is she stopped being a mother to her daughter because her daughter decided she wanted to be a different kind of woman than her own mother, a feminist. A movement that touts freedom of choice for all women yet chastise women for making choices feminist do not make.
So yes, I can say The Color Purple is a classic and think the woman who created it is a horrible person. Just like how a number of y’all were telling me you can acknowledge Robert Kelly was likely singing about teenage girls, yet you still enjoy or enjoyed the music.
I’ll burn my copy of The Color Purple when you stop stepping in the name of love.
