The first look at the musical adaption of Alice Walker’s ‘The Colour Purple’ has been released and here’s everything you need to know about it if you’re a Colour Purple fan.
The film
The film will be a musical adaptation of the book, that will follow the events of the broadway musical. The musical originally ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2008, and returned from 2015 to 2017, winning two Tony Awards in 2016.
Photo Credits: The NewYorkTimes
The Cast
The star-studded cast includes Taraji P.Henson as Shug Avery, Halle Bailey as a young Nettie, Fantasia Barrina as Adult Celie, H.E.R, Colman Domingo, Danielle Brooks and much mo
For those who haven’t read the book:
The Colour Purple is an epistolary novel (written in the form of letters) that features Celie, a young black women in the American South who is born into poverty and segregation.
Celie lives a cruel life in which she is separated from her beloved sister and closest friend, Nettie, raped by a man she calls ‘father’, and trapped in a terrible marriage.
Later in life, she meets Shug Avery, a glamorous and confident singer who takes charge of her own destiny and encourages Celie to do the same for her.
Celie’s triumph comes as she learns to resist the concepts molded unto her to free herself from her past. She is eventually reunited with her sister Nettie, as a whole new woman.
Why is it important?
Though the novel is not based on a real story, the events within it were very real for its era. In the early 1900s, when the book is set, it was common for women to be treated as horrifically as Celie was, especially as a working black woman.
One of the major themes within the book is the subject of beauty and self-love. Within her marriage to her husband, Celie is made to believe that she is ugly as she is abused, and its something she carries within her without knowledge of anything better. That is, until she meets Shrug, who helps her to see the beauty within her, and Celie learns the very important lesson that beauty is not real until it is held within.
The colour purple itself represents freedom and courage to Celie, as well as transformation as she views it as the most beautiful colour in the world, and a colour for royalty. As a woman learning to love herself, Celie longs to wear a purple dress, which shows her growth as a person as she allows herself to long for something seemingly out of her reach.
If you liked this post then read Queen Charlotte: Why do the two sides not mix, ever? or Think piece: Is discrimination necessary in works of fiction? next.
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Liseli Thomas
liseli@blotmag.gmail.com
Liseli is a journalism student with a costly love for travelling and new books. She loves a good solo adventure but when she can’t be jetting off to a new destination, the next best thing for her is discovering new places through books. And if she’s not reading a book, she’s looking for her next read. Liseli is passionate about how our identities are represented within literature today.
Favourite genres: Romance and Sci-Fi.