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In Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film adaptation of The color Purplethe characters Celie and Shug share a chaste kiss, but there’s not much else to hint at the love story that was integral to author Alice Walker’s novel on which the film was based.
The new musical adaptation of Blitz Bazawule by The color Purplereleased on Christmas Day, changes that, as Shug (Taraji P. Henson) and Celie (Fantasia Barrino) share more than a kiss, and the film makes it clear that the pair share a friendship as well as a romance.
Walker is thrilled that Shug and Celie’s relationship is finally being portrayed as she intended. “I really love that (the audience) has to shake off the reality of Shug and Celie becoming lovers, because I think we really needed help in that regard. We really needed to see that love is love. You know, people love who they love and they have the right to do so,” she said. The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview.
Oprah Winfrey, a producer of the new film and an Oscar nominee for her role as Sofia in the 1985 film, says that just the brief kiss the two characters had in the first film was a lot for its time.
“God, there was a lot of talk about that kiss in 1985, and it wasn’t even a kiss in 1985. It was like a kiss. It wasn’t even a kiss, it was a kiss,” Winfrey joked in an interview with THR for a recent cover story about the film. “And we thought, certainly now the nature of their relationship can be expressed.”
Walker said the first film’s producers, Steven Spielberg and Quincy Jones, who also produced the remake, did their best to depict the relationship honestly at a time when homophobia was even more prevalent than today.
“Bless Stephen and Quincy, they did the best they could; I mean they were very afraid because you know the homophobic culture,” she said.
Still, some things haven’t changed much. Henson expects there are some who don’t want to see same-sex relationships represented, and he’s already seen some comments on his own social media accounts about it.
“Now, a little prudish at my comment, someone said, ‘I hope they don’t explore that lesbian relationship.’ I was like, ‘Well honey, did you read the book?’ We didn’t invent these things. This is what she wrote. It’s real,” she said. THR.
Danielle Brooks, who plays Sofia, added that she believes there needs to be more depictions of same-sex relationships on screen, particularly for African Americans.
“People should look at themselves, I think the black community hides a lot and is very ashamed of their sexuality and doesn’t allow people to be free and be who they are,” she said. “We need more stories of black women seeing themselves and loving other black women if that’s what they choose to do. “I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
The color Purple opened with $18.1 million in 3,142 theaters on Monday, the second-best showing for a film opening on Christmas Day and the best since 2009.