In Celebration of writer, poet, feminist and social activist Alice Walker’s birthday (born 1944), we at Birds’ Eye View will be watching The Color Purple (1985)
Alice Walker is especially known for novels, poems, and short stories that offer great insight into African American culture and often focus on women. For the novel The Color Purple (1982), she became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Walker also wrote the novels Meridian (1976) and The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970). An avowed feminist, Walker coined the term womanist to mean “A black feminist or feminist of color” in 1983.
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
THE COLOR PURPLE
This film follows the life of Celie, a young black girl growing up in the early 1900’s. At the age of 14 she was impregnated by her father, this movie follows her hardships in the next 30 years.
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldberg), an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie’s abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing “Mister” Albert Johnson (Danny Glover), things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. Based on the novel by Alice Walker.
TO RENT, STREAM OR BUY THE COLOR PURPLE