epic@houem.UUCP (Susan) (12/27/85)
This is a warning to all who may think, from reading all the great reviews, that The Color Purple is worth seeing. IT IS NOT! The book is great, but everything meaningful has been deleted to make a pointless, confusing, lifeless movie. Skip the movie. Buy the book. ________ S. Sobel
upstill@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Steve Upstill) (12/30/85)
Oh, but it IS worth seeing. Flawed, yes, but definitely worth seeing, especially for the 40% or so of Americans who NEVER read books and can benefit the most from it. By the way, I was talking with a friend of Alice Walker's this weekend, and I asked her, "So what does Alice REALLY think about the movie?" She said she was very distracted and disturbed during the first viewing at what had been left out, but that she had seen it four or five times now, and really "loves it." She loves Spielberg, too, saying she was amazed at how intimately he knew the book. Steve Upstill
lip@gcc-milo.ARPA (Seth Lipkin) (12/30/85)
In article <427@houem.UUCP> epic@houem.UUCP (Susan) writes: >This is a warning to all who may think, from reading all >the great reviews, that The Color Purple is worth seeing. > >IT IS NOT! > >The book is great, but everything meaningful has been >deleted to make a pointless, confusing, lifeless movie. > >Skip the movie. Buy the book. As someone who did NOT read the book, I would like to say that I found the movie anything BUT pointless, confusing, and lifeless. I thought it was touching, interesting, and beautifully filmed. Judging from the tears flowing from almost every member of the audience, I would guess that they agreed. If "everything meaningful" was deleted, then I'm sure the book must be fantastic. See the movie. THEN read the book. ----------------- Seth Lipkin General Computer Company harvard!gcc-milo!lip
ellen@reed.UUCP (Ellen Eades) (12/30/85)
> This is a warning to all who may think, from reading all > the great reviews, that The Color Purple is worth seeing. > IT IS NOT! > The book is great, but everything meaningful has been > deleted to make a pointless, confusing, lifeless movie. > Skip the movie. Buy the book. > S. Sobel I'm afraid I am going to have to disagree with this even though I really empathize with the comment about meaningful things being deleted. It's quite true that a major portion of the book's two subthemes (Celie's love affair with Shug and Nettie's experiences in Africa) have been excised from the movie. However, this does NOT make the movie "pointless, confusing, lifeless". The movie is not 100% true to the book; it's Spielberg's interpretation. However, he does a damned fine job and I had to admit after seeing it that maybe "Temple of Doom" is not indicative of his style all the time (bleaahhhh). I am not going to give a lot of spoilers but I will say that the movie touched me deeply (I got a headache from crying for three hours nearly straight). The Color Purple IS worth seeing. I don't know if I can stand to see it again, but I think everyone should try to see it. On another note entirely, however -- the preview I saw was, ironically, for the movie version of Jean Auel's novel "Clan of the Cave Bear." I say "ironically" because Auel's novel has been attacked by some who feel it presents a very derogatory view of people of color (blonde, blue-eyed, intelligent heroine alone amongst the dark and stupid Neanderthals). Well, no one said movie theaters had a lot of sensitivity. Ellen Eades -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Who's been repeating all that hard stuff to you?" "I read it in a book," said Alice. - - - - - - - - - - - - - tektronix!reed!ellen