The film basically tells the independent story of African-American women in the early twentieth century. The beginning of the film is a warm and bright picture. The young protagonist Xili and her sister Nanti play in a sea of purple flowers and sing hopeful nursery rhymes. But as soon as the camera turned, Siri stood up with a big belly, and her stepfather interrupted her happy time. I've always felt that the beginning and end of a film are very important structures. The beginning of this film is a paragraph that explains the tone of the whole film. It tells us that this will be a story about suffering, but it is still full of hope, just like a girl's smile and a sea of purple flowers. Stepfather rudely told Celie: Your smile is the ugliest in the world. But Xili was still smirking. This is a film that reflects feminist ideas, and Siri in the film is not like women in traditional films of this type. She presents an independent or strong posture at the beginning, and then uses feminist ideas to attack men. rights society. Siri starts out ignorant, timid and helpless. In the background of the society at that time, especially in the black society, women are naturally enslaved and trampled vulnerable groups. Black women have no status or even human rights. Just like Celie, they were raped by their stepfather, became pregnant, and had to work and abuse after giving birth to a child. Even marriage was like a transaction. It seems that the most sacred task of a woman is to give birth to a child. And she thought her stepfather was her biological father at first, so after such a huge incest, black women have to endure and silently attribute everything to fate (as can be seen from her monologue to God). She and her sister Nanti are such weaklings, willing to suffer all kinds of oppression. But fortunately, the author gave this woman room to grow up, Siri slowly awakened and discovered the divinity from Sophia and Shago, and on the contrary, Sophia and Shago also slowly discovered the divinity in Siri, Including selfless love and forgiveness.
The character of Xili embodies two qualities, the love and tolerance as gentle and selfless as blue, and the red passion after meeting Xia Ge, she is a purple character. When looking at the data, I saw this passage:
Five or six years ago in China, there was a "petty bourgeoisie bible", that is, "Class" by American cultural critic Paul Fussell. The book was very influential in the United States, and the book made a generalization of the class to which "Purple" belonged. Fussell believes that "purple" is a color belonging to the poor class, often made of synthetic fibers, and is a favorite color of black women (I don't remember the original words, it means this). Fussell also advises the American public who are looking for style in their lives to wear clothes - don't use purple, that's abhorrent. I'm not here to prove that Fussell is suspected of being racist, I just want to point out that he digs out the discrimination suffered by purple, and the corresponding counterpart is naturally black. What's more, "purple" is also the closest to the skin color of black Americans. (The discourse authority that Foucault denounces and rebels against is here with great power.
The passage is a political interpretation of purple. In fact, in my opinion, the purple color here is undoubtedly a symbol of noble personality. Just like Siri. In my opinion, the discrimination and oppression of women by men and the oppression of black people by white people are the same to a certain extent. The highlight of this film is that it combines black themes with women's themes without seeming too hard. . The root cause of discrimination and differential treatment is the difference between the two and the lack of self-confidence of the stronger one. The innate sense of superiority of whites led to the discrimination of blacks, and the same men believed that their male characteristics were powerful, and therefore came to conquer women and enslave women. And being the weaker one will always feel inferior and give in because of this. But if women can make a revolution like black people, and can realize their independent advantages like black people, instead of affirming themselves by pleasing men, perhaps the process of feminism can be more rapid and powerful. There is a very dazzling character Xia Ge in the film. She is independent and confident because she is smart, beautiful and capable. Of course, she used to be despised by her family, but fortunately she has a strong heart. The audience applauded her. Only when she found and affirmed the various things about Siri, did Siri take an important step in her life. The film has a climax, which is Xia Ge singing "sister" in the bar, which is also an important passage reflecting Xia Ge's character. She heard her pastor father sing a hymn, and the two sang softly, and she finally chose to forgive her family. Xia Ge is an independent woman, the same Xi Li also forgave her stepfather, but she has a sense of self-liberation, because she forgave after learning that her stepfather is not her biological father, she seems to have found her heart for her incest. Just liberation. And Xia Ge chose to forgive rationally, because she knew that sinners also have souls.
There are many female characters in the whole film, but these two are typical purple characters with double power to face suffering. As a female author of the original, it ends with a happy ending. Siri and Nante meet, and both of them are reborn. Sing the nursery rhyme of clapping hands again, all suffering will pass, and women will be happy in the end.
If many feminist films are talking about equality between men and women, I think this film may be talking about a kind of harmony. I have always felt that the analysis of feminism alone is a kind of disrespect for women. Many women call themselves feminists, and to a large extent they put themselves in an unequal position. I think the relationship between men and women needs to be harmonious rather than distinguishing between them. What is feminism? I think it's just an academic term. Women can be equal only when they integrate into the world. Just like the race issue mentioned above, where is the distinction between people of color and black people only if they don't classify themselves specially , will achieve equality. Women must not express themselves as a special group. Maybe in the future, the world will be full of purple logos, and there will be no special women. Only then will it be true harmony?
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