Like a honey bee
Like a waterfall
All a part of me
Like the color purple
Where do it come from?
Now my eyes are open
Look what God has done.
The Color Purple is a 2023 historical musical drama based on the novel of the same name; it is specifically an adaptation of the stage musical with some elements from the 1985 film version. Produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Quincy Jones (all creators involved in the 1985 film) and directed by Blitz Bazawule, it stars Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks (reprising her role from the 2015 Broadway revival), Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.
Like the novel and prior adaptations, the film centers around Celie (Barrino as an adult, Mpasi as a girl), an abused woman in early 20th-century rural Georgia. Though she is forced to bear her father's children, trapped into marriage with an abusive man, and separated from her beloved sister, the support and community Celie eventually receives in the coming years help her find the strength to be her own woman.
The film was released in the United Kingdom on November 20, 2023, and was released in the United States on December 25, 2023.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. The mayor's wife Miss Millie is still condescending and indirectly causes the incident that leads to Sofia's unjust arrest and subsequent trauma behind bars, but her reduced role makes her motives more ambiguous. Rather than using her influence to get a judge to order Sofia to work as her unpaid servant, Millie offers Sofia a paying job upon release just until she gets back on her feet. Whether she's still lording over Sofia but is being more subtle about it, or feels responsible for the conflict her husband escalated and that giving Sofia a job is the least she can do, is left up to interpretation.
- And Starring: Barrino is named at the end of the cast list with the "And" credit.
- Big Damn Reunion: At the end, Celie is reunited not only with her long-lost sister Nettie, but also with her children who were taken from her as babies. She also gets to meet her daughter-in-law and grandkids. Naturally, it brings them all to tears.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Sophia is dressed in bright beautiful colors until her incarceration and release, after which she's seen in drab gray. But the colors come back as she rebuilds her spirit, culminating in her being dressed in white at the Easter dinner in the finale.
- Curse Escape Clause: When she leaves with Shug, Celie essentially curses Mister, "until you do right by me". For the next few years, everything is looking down for him, from the crops on his land failing to his strained relationship with Harpo. It isn't until he starts working on re-uniting Celie with Nettie that things are starting to look up again for him.
- Food End: The film ends with all the characters at Celie's Easter luncheon, celebrating God's blessings.
- Grew a Spine: After several decades of taking Mister's abuse, Celie (encouraged by Shug and Sofia) finally speaks up and then leaves Mister for good.
- Logo Joke: The normally blue Warner Bros. logo is given a distinct purple tint in the trailers.
- The Makeover: While staying at Mister's house, Shug gives the docile Celie a pretty dress and puts lipstick on her. The latter is shocked at how good she looks.Shug: Now we're talking.
- Nice Girl: Celie, despite her horrible life, stands by her friends and is generally peasant and willing to forgive.
- Nonindicative Name: Harpo's girlfriend Squeak. In the '85 movie, the nickname comes from her squeaky voice, but here, she speaks normally, giving no indication of why she's called that.
- Remake Cameo: Whoopi Goldberg, who starred as Celie in the 1985 film, appears as the midwife delivering Celie's baby in the opening scenes.
- Teen Pregnancy: Celie gets her children at a very young age.
- Time-Shifted Actor: As is tradition, Celie and Nettie also have child actresses play them in their youth. Here, adult Celie is played by Fantasia Barrino and young Celie by Phylicia Pearl Mpasi.
- Truer to the Text: Some things from the novel that were left out of the 1985 version are present in this version, such as more detail on Nettie's life in Africa as well as making Celie and Shug's relationship more explicit.
- Working on the Chain Gang: The first half of "She Be Mine" is the young Celie doing an Imagine Spot of her walking through a field being toiled by prisoners.
- Yellow/Purple Contrast: To help highlight the work's prominent purple Color Motif, yellow appears alongside it in the promotional material, such as the official poster.
