Line #34 Film/PurpleRain


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Prince_Purple_Rain_3306.gif]]
2
3	->''"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life..."''
4
5	''Purple Rain'' is a 1984 movie starring Music/{{Prince}}. He plays The Kid, lead singer for Minneapolis rock band The Revolution, and we see him navigate his relationship with the singer [[Music/Apollonia6 Apollonia]], [[CallingTheOldManOut deal with family trouble]], and compete against [[OpposingSportsTeam rival band]] Music/TheTime.
6
7	The film is generally seen as SoBadItsGood, but [[Music/PurpleRainAlbum the soundtrack]] [[BreakawayPopHit is critically acclaimed.]] It went Diamond (meaning it sold 10 million copies) and is considered to be one of the best albums of all time.
8
9	A semi-sequel, ''Film/GraffitiBridge'', was released in 1990. [[FanonDiscontinuity Most fans like to pretend it never happened]].
10	----
11	!!Tracklist for the [[Music/PurpleRainAlbum soundtrack album]]:
12	# "Let's Go Crazy" (4:40)
13	# "Take Me With U" (3:54)
14	# "The Beautiful Ones" (5:14)
15	# "Computer Blue" (3:59)
16	# "Darling Nikki" (4:14)
17	# "When Doves Cry" (5:53)
18	# "I Would Die 4 U" (2:49)
19	# "Baby I'm a Star" (4:25)
20	# "[[TitleTrack Purple Rain]]" ([[EpicRocking 8:41]])
21	----
22	!!Purple Tropes:
23	* TheEighties: Oh, yes.
24	* AbusiveParents: The Kid's father Francis L. regularly abuses him and his mother.
25	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: The song "The Beautiful Ones"
26	* ArmorPiercingResponse: When The Kid and Apollonia fight a second time, he falls on top of her and prepares to hit her again. Apollonia just tells him "Go on. Go on." This stops The Kid making him realize he's becoming just like his abusive father and now his relationship with his girlfriend is no different from his abusive father's relationship with his mother.
27	* AutobiographicalRole: At any rate, Prince is playing an AuthorAvatar in a film {{inspired by}} his own life story to that point.
28	* ButchLesbian: Lisa, who wears short-sleeved shirts and a short spiked haircut.
29	* {{Camp}}: Chock-full of it. There's even a scene with The Kid talking through a hand puppet!
30	* CoolBike: The Kid tools around on a modded 400A Honda Automatic. As the page image indicates, it certainly fulfills the "cool" part.
31	* CreatorBreakdown: Invoked. The Kid goes through a lot of this.
32	* DateRapeAverted: What the Kid prevents from happening when he sees a drunk Morris Day and Apollonia being drunk together. He picks her up and drives off with her on his motorcycle.
33	* DomesticAbuse: Almost every time, The Kid returns home to find his father physically abusing his mother, prompting him to intervene.
34	* EasilyForgiven: The Kid is a jackass to his band and to Apollonia throughout the movie. One awesome ballad later, all is forgiven!
35	** He does sing Music/WendyAndLisa's song and publicly gives them the credit but still...
36	** The fact that the guy's father [[spoiler: nearly killed himself the night before]] obviously engendered sympathy points in that regard.
37	* EpicRocking: "Purple Rain" and "When Doves Cry"
38	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Kid. Explained (kinda-sorta), in that his father was said to be a talented local musician who was never able to crack the big time [like Prince's real life father], and The Kid is viewed as headed down the same path.
39	* FaceOnTheCover: Prince on a motorcycle, both on the album cover and film poster.
40	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: ''I Would Die 4 U'' fades into ''Baby I'm A Star'', and are performed concurrently in the movie.
41	* ForcefulKiss: After rescuing Apollonia from Morris, The Kid plants one on Apollonia causing her to smack him and the two getting into another fight.
42	* ForeignRemake: In 2014 Christopher Kirkley took the ''Purple Rain'' story and migrated it to the West African world. ''Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai'',[[note]]literally, "Rain The Color Of Blue With A Little Red In It" since there's no specific word for "purple" in the Tuareg language[[/note]] originating in Niger, is pretty much ''Purple Rain'' [[RecycledInSpace in the desert]].
43	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A rough-draft version of the infamous symbol Prince later changed his name to appears on the overpass during "When Doves Cry."
44	* GrayRainOfDepression: The song "Purple Rain".
45	* HideYourLesbians: In the film, Lisa and Wendy were originally supposed to share a kiss after the "Purple Rain" concert, but excessive meddling omitted such lesbian activity from the final cut of the film.
46	* {{Jerkass}}: The Kid. Let's see: he treats his band like crap, acts like an asshole to his love interest and generally prances around being an InsufferableGenius. Small wonder people prefer the soundtrack CD...
47	* JukeboxMusical: It's basically a bunch of musical sequences (it even starts with "Let's Go Crazy" being played) with a {{melodrama}}tic plot in-between.
48	* KickTheDog: Morris' "How's the family?" after [[spoiler: The Kid's father tries to kill himself]]. Even Morris felt remorseful moments after saying that.
49	* LoveTriangle: The Kid/ Apollonia/Morris Day.
50	* MomentKiller: [[spoiler:"I'm joining Morris' group."]] Even the music stops playing minutes after this.
51	* MoodWhiplash: A lot of this goes on in the film.
52	* MsFanservice: Apollonia sure spends a lot of time underdressed, or in skin-tight leather, or tiny dresses...
53	* NonActorVehicle: And given Prince is basically playing himself, it works. The rest of his movie career, on the other hand...
54	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Prince's character is known as The Kid.
55	* TheQuietOne: Brown Mark is the only member of the Revolution who never speaks in the film.
56	* SexyManInstantHarem: In the nightclub, Morris is surrounded by a group of attractive women.
57	* SpringtimeForHitler: Meta-example. The Kid playing "Darling Nikki" is supposed to be a self-indulgent disaster that leaves the audience cold. Editing magic was needed because the extras were going crazy for it.
58	* TelevisionGeography: A cab ride from the Greyhound Station to the First Avenue nightclub comes to $37.75, when in reality they're across the street from each other. Given Prince, his band members and the director were Minneapolitans it's probably an inside joke.
59	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: While certain parts of the film are inspired by the real life of Prince and the various other musicians appearing in it, most of it is completely fictional. For example, the Kid is shown to have a white mother and black father, when in real life both of Prince's parents were African-American. The relationship between Prince and Wendy and Lisa (nor between him and Morris Day) wasn't as antagonistic as shown here, and the song "Purple Rain" wasn't written by the two women, but rather by Prince alone. One part Prince always acknowledged to be true to life, though, is that his father was indeed physically abusive towards his family.
60	* WhosOnFirst: "The password is what?"
61	* WouldHitAGirl: The Kid's reaction to Apollonia's announcement that she's joining Morris' girl group is to slap her.
62	* YeahShot: The film ends with the Kid climbing atop a row of speakers and dramatically looking over his shoulder at the audience as the screen freezes.
63
64	----
65	->"''TAKE ME AWAY!''"

Context Film / PurpleRain