Operation
Before Nandy was kicked out of Albert's house, she said to Celie, who was only innocent and cautious in front of her husband, "You have to learn to resist." Celie's face was hidden behind the clean bedding at home, and she said helplessly. It explains the tragedy of her whole drama: "I don't know how to resist, I only know how to survive".
In 1985, Spielberg adapted Alice Walker's novel "Purple" and created the movie of the same name. "Purple" is an undoubtedly good film. At the beginning, Alice Vaux Pielberg was very skeptical of her ability to direct, and the film also received mixed reviews at the time. The fact is that in the 1986 Oscar nominations, "Purple" received ten nominations, but unfortunately it did not win any awards.
Some people commented that this film is comparable to "Gone with the Wind" and gave him a high rating. The story itself is an intriguing and epic record of the awakening of female consciousness. It encompasses a huge historical background and fully demonstrates the contradictions between gender, race, and people in the southern lands of the United States in the early twentieth century. . The movie also promotes truth, goodness and beauty in the theme, encouraging women to find themselves and get out of the shackles of gender. But I have to say that from today's point of view, he still has some shortcomings in art: Spielberg, who has always been good at directing entertainment blockbuster films, also has the shadow of commercial films in his treatment of literary and artistic films. This makes this movie in an awkward position between entertainment and art films. The performance of the actors also bears heavy performance traces. At the same time, in the narrative, it is difficult to get rid of the suspicion of excessive sensationalism in this film.
The story mainly tells the "tragic and stubborn life" of the black woman Xili. Xili's life was destroyed by men and saved by women. She has lived in a repressive environment since she was a child, and she has no say in the patriarchal culture. It is the true portrayal of those women who have been "repressed and resisted, suffocated and sought, isolated and confided in total silence" in the long history.
Xili was sexually assaulted by her stepfather and gave birth to two children. The child was taken away from birth, and her father sold her to Albert, who originally wanted to marry her sister Nandy. Albert is a violent farmer. He had many children with his ex-wife. He was raised by his father to become an ignorant man at the center of male chauvinism. He would only give orders at home. It's a mess in life. Xili is his wife in name but actually his maid. She couldn't find any joy in the sex between the two. She described Albert as "only venting his dissatisfaction on himself."
Albert tries to get his sister Nandy. During Nandi's temporary stay at Albert's house, he tried to approach Nandi many times. But Nandy is different from her sister Xili, she knows how to resist, and she rejected Albert's assault. For this reason, she was forced to separate from her dear sister. The two were heartbroken. The strong sister Nandi teaches Xili how to read, hoping that one day the two can communicate by letter. This was Celie's first change, although it was full of pain, because Albert never gave her Nandy's letter. With hope, she watched the days go by, sitting by the window every day reading Dickens' "Orphans in the Mist". She is like Oliver Test, "become a victim of the system", but because she is in it, Celie is unconscious.
Celie's second transformation was to meet Sofia, the fiancée of her stepson Harper-a noisy, assertive, and sturdy woman. Having mastered the power at home, it made Harper, who had grown up watching Albert and Seely, feel painful. He felt that he had lost his dignity as a man. Albert asked him to beat his wife, "As long as you beat her, he will be quiet." But Harper was beaten by Sophia who was blatantly bruised and swollen. In the end, Harper asked for help from his stepmother, Celie. She also asked Harper to fight Sofia.
Angrily Sophia pointed at Celie's nose and shouted, "I have been fighting men all my life. My father, my brother, and women are so insecure in this world. You asked Harper to hit me! You should knock on your husband's head first, and then think about heaven!"
The movie plays down the description of the love between the jazz singer Xia Ge and Xili, leaving only the touch and kiss of the two before Xia Ge left Albert's house. Xia Ge is a charming and romantic woman. She deeply grasped Albert's heart and asked Albert to be a cow and horse for him. This shocked Xili, who had been working as a "maid" at home, deeply. Xili didn’t love Albert at all, so she didn’t mind Xia Ge’s intervention. On the contrary, Xia Ge’s optimism and her comfortable lifestyle deeply affected her. Attracted by Xili, Xili fell in love with Xia Ge. She let Xili really see another possibility for women-her world is not only limited to the kitchen and living room, she does not rely on any man. Albert and Celie shared the same bed, but both dreamed of the same woman.
Xili has been dominated by men for most of her life. She suggested that Harper go to beat his wife Sophia to gain power at home, which is also a manifestation of her unknowingly in the patriarchal culture-this is exactly the same as Beauvoir’s attempt in "Second Sex" Illustrated "gender theory". The composition of any gender is not innate. No one is born as a woman. "A woman is not a completed reality, but rather a process of formation." Xili has lived under the words of men all her life. She herself is not only "aphasia", it can also be said that she is a victim of a man to vent his emotions. Her character has been shaped into a housewife who is submissive. Swallowed.
Barrett’s theory of “gender performance” once discussed that “people’s homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual behavior does not come from a certain fixed identity, but is like an actor, a constantly changing performance”; He believes that "no one gender is truly'social gender', but other performance repetitiveness is the true basis."
Although Barrett’s "gender performance" theory is considered to be radical Foucault, when we discuss the love between Xili and Xia Ge, it is true that we cannot use the perspective of "gender identity either or the other". The relationship between the two.
Their behavior cannot be simply defined as "homosexual" or "heterosexual." For Xili, Xia Ge is the sun that gave her hope. She has never received any comfort from men. This has also caused Xili’s mistrust of the opposite sex. In contrast, she is People of the same sex can get more true feelings and love—Nanti’s kindness and warmth, Sophia’s perseverance and Xia Ge’s optimism and demeanor. But at the same time, Xili and Xiago both had a physical relationship with the man Albert. Xia Ge publicly stated that she enjoys the sexual relationship with Albert. She is open to her own sexual relationship. As an individual, she never requires herself in a binary structure of gender and sexual relationship. "Homosexuality and heterosexuality must use one side as the frame of reference. Homosexuality is'non' heterosexuality, and heterosexuality is'non' homosexuality."
In the 1970s, the film theory community produced the term "gaze", which originally referred to the relationship between watching and being watched, but was later widely used in literary theory. Lacan expanded the concept of the word, "He emphasized that seeing and being seen as a way of self-identification is an internal psychological process that starts from the subject and then returns to and changes the subject, and this process is greatly influenced by the other. Influence, the subject is consciously or unconsciously invaded by the other and becomes the object of the other’s desire. In Foucault’s eyes, gaze is power, and the gaze of others brings about a kind of discipline, power Oppression rather than a simple understanding of the subject."
In society at that time, black women were at the bottom of the "gaze" chain. They are also subject to discrimination based on gender and race. Most of them are as difficult as Celie to protect their rights. Occasionally there is someone who stands up and resists like Sophia. He has to be pressured by public opinion from all walks of life in the society. Finally, they are crushed by the ruthless reality of society. Fire is not enough to start a prairie fire. The mayor's wife pretended to be a posture, saying that she "loved people of color the most", and when she saw Sophia's children, she ignored their wishes like petting kittens and puppies. Seeing the energetic Sophia, she actually made the shameless request of "Come to my house as a maid". When Sophia rose up to resist, the ugly face of the mayor's wife was immediately exposed. The white people around were still in a state of confusion for a second, and the next second they surrounded Sophia and spit dirty spit stars on her. The innocent Sophia was forced to go to jail, and when she returned, she was desperate, just like Celie who was kneeling at Albert's feet at the time.
Both women are victims of the patriarchal culture. (The mayor’s wife is a bad driver has a very serious gender stereotype) but the mayor’s wife looks at Sophia with white arrogant and colored glasses. She Ignoring that in the general environment, regardless of race, they are the common goal of women-to fight for dignity, voice, and equal status for themselves.
Literary works are a kind of artistic reality. As the eighth art, movies often need to build a world higher than life. At the end of the story, Xili found herself, and she opened a tailor shop that specializes in selling pants she made. It is well known that women wearing pants are a symbol of feminists in Western society. Amazingly, this pair of pants suits both a strong woman like Sophia and a lean man like Harper. This is a symbol, implying the rise of Xili and "The Color Purple"'s criticism of gender inequality and even gender dichotomy. Sophia also regained the stubborn soul of the past on the day Celie decided to leave Albert. This can be said to be a happy ending.
Will it really go so smoothly in real life? Most Celie does not have a sister who knows how to resist like Nandy, they will not have the opportunity to read; if they have not met a stubborn and unyielding woman like Sophia, they will not realize that there is another way of living in this world; When I met Xia Ge, I could only endure the venting of his husband's lack of love in them, and would not understand that he could still be loved.
It is not difficult to understand why Charlotte Bronte wrote those generous and angry sentences in her book. Virginia Woolf would say: "The role of mother and wife restricts the development of women." In the long history, Xili who has not awakened is the truth that is annihilated in time. With better luck, they will become the "woman behind" a certain successful man. Most people just endure day after day. One day's consumption of firewood, rice, oil and salt, with eyes closed, and a kick on both legs, will last a lifetime.
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