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Contemplation of the sanitization of COLOR PURPLE (spoilers)
Posted by: lordofspeech 11:44 am EST 12/19/15
In contemplating the show, I realized I had the same problem with it the last time. By cutting so early from the information about Celie being repeatedly raped by someone she thought was her "Pa" to the "Make a Joyful Noise" number and the cutesy gossipping of the church ladies, we were never allowed to experience the impact, and, indeed, the significance of her life's hardship. In the show as written, the word "rape" is never even used in conjunction with her childhood until late in the play, near the time when she gets the phone call where it's revealed to her that the man she thought was her father was actually her step-father. We're never allowed to have the experience of the tragedy she came from until just when it's about to be dispelled in a happy ending.

This is a cheat, regardless of how authentically the lead actress may have succeeded in playing its reality. The cheat is born of playing safe on the writers' and producers' part. (Even though they must be acknowledged for doing their best.)

The step-father and "Mister" are monsters. We don't get to experience that. Also, why doesn't Celie have a big number early in the show where she could share her pain and/or rage with us? This would have been a viable option and would've enhanced the material, taking us inside the process whereby she became so closed off. Celie is not a dumb animal. But she is treated that way by the writers. Even Oliver Twist in "Oliver!," though he's never known tenderness, expresses his longing for it in the song "Where is Love?"

Celie should have been given a number where she chooses to seal herself off from feeling....a song with a title like "Never make a sound" or "I promise not to dream" or "Waitin' for to Die."

The musical's creators were, I think, afraid that if they allowed the audience to experience Celie's wounding, they'd be unable to bring the audience out of it, that we'd never be able to accept "Mister's" rehabilitation, that we'd be too shocked. Their solution was to move so very quickly through it that they ultimately robbed the audience of the full catharsis which Celie's redemption through her love for Shug and her re-opening to spirit could've provided.

This is what's missing in the writing of the show, and it's big. Its evidence can be seen in that Mister's attempted rape of sister Nettie got giggles from the audience at first, and in other instances throughout.

Alice Walker's point of view does come through, but never so much as in the original novel. Because of the creators' fear of telling it like it is. Really.

My opinion.
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Next: re: Contemplation of the sanitization of COLOR PURPLE (spoilers) - Seth Christenfeld 01:07 pm EST 12/19/15
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