The Embodiment of The Color Purple’s Womanism in Its Film Adaptation

By Mao Fangcai

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

3 April, 2017

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deep appreciation to my teachers, parents and friends who gave me great support and help during writing this thesis.

I want to first express my thanks to Mr. Li Ping for his patient instructions and guidance. In the preparation of the thesis, he offered me a lot of constructive advice which helps me to complete the paper writing.

And a hearty gratitude to all the teachers in School of Languages and Cultures for their diligent teaching which I have benefited a lot in the past four years.

Finally, I want to thank my parents and friends who always support me and accompany me to overcome difficulties.

The Embodiment of The Color Purple’s Womanism in

Its Film Adaptation

Mao Fangcai

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology

Abstract: Alice Walker is an American writer. Her novel The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for Fiction in 1983 which made Walker’s womanism known by the public. Three years after its publication, the famous Hollywood director Steven Spielberg adapted it into a movie. Movie and novel are both forms of art, but due to their different carriers, the results are also different. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the film adaptation by analysing the differences between the film and novel in the embodiment of the womanism and why the director makes such adaptations.

       First of all, this paper points out the differences between the novel and the film in the manifestation of anti-sexism, anti-racism, Afro-centralism, humanism and animism, then analyses the causes of these differences. In convey the idea of anti-racism, the film does a good job, but the rest four subjects are more or less deviated from what womanism advocates. These differences are due to the author and director’s different life experiences, gender, and race. And the director changes some rebellious ideas in the novel to meet the public’s aesthetic.

       Through comparative analysis, this paper points out that the film The Color Purple does not vigorously promote the womanism expressed in the novel, but in the aspect of disseminating womanism ideology, it makes more people aware of the existence of social inequality.

Key words: Womanism; The Color Purple; Film Adaptation

小说《紫颜色》中的妇女主义在改编电影中的体现

摘要：艾丽斯·沃克是一位美国作家。她的小说《紫颜色》获得了普利策文学奖与国家图书奖，也让她所推崇的妇女主义广为人知。在《紫颜色》出版三年后，好莱坞著名导演史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格将小说改编为电影。电影和小说都是艺术的表现形式，但由于其载体不同，所呈现的效果也相异。本文旨在于通过分析电影在体现小说中的妇女主义时的差别及其原因，来评价改编电影。

首先，本文逐一指出了小说《紫颜色》和电影《紫颜色》在表现反性别主义、反种族主义、非洲中心主义、人文主义和泛灵论的差别，并分析造成差别的原因。得出导演在表现反种族主义方面与原文中妇女主义的宣扬十分契合，而其余的四个主题导演在拍摄时或多或少丢失了原有的妇女主义所传达的主张。这些不同之处是由于作者和导演的生活经历，性别以及种族决定的。而导演也是通过改变了一些极具反抗性的思想来迎合大众的审美。

通过比较分析，本文指出单从忠实于小说所表现的妇女主义这一方面来考虑，电影《紫颜色》并未大力宣扬妇女主义，但在传播妇女主义思想这一方面来说，它使得更多的人意识到了社会不平等现象的存在。

关键词：妇女主义；紫颜色；电影改编

Contents

Abstract i

摘要 ii

1. Introduction 1

1.1 An Introduction to Womanism 1

1.2 An Introduction to The Color purple 2

1.3 Purpose and Significance of the Thesis 3

1.4 Structure of the Thesis 5

2. Sexism and Racism in the Novel and Movie 5

2.1 The Embodiment of Sexism in Men’s Behaviour 5

2.2 The Embodiment of Sexism and Anti-sexism in Women’s Behaviour 7

2.3 The Embodiment of Racism in the Novel 9

2.4 The Embodiment of Racism in the Movie 9

2.5 Causes of Adaptations 10

3. Afro-centralism and Naturism in the Novel and Movie 10

3.1 Focus of Afro-centralism 10

3.2 Focus of Naturism 11

3.3 Causes of Adaptations 12

4. Animism in the Novel and Movie 12

4.1 People’s Attitudes toward God in the Novel 12

4.2 People’s Attitudes toward God in the Movie 13

4.3 Causes of Adaptations 13

5. Conclusion 14

References 15

1. Introduction

1.1 An Introduction to Womanism

Womanism was put forward in the early 1980s, at that time, more and more black women began to realize that white’s feminism only concentrate on “the pursuit of education, rights and sex in the social life of the middle class, heterosexual and white women.” (Sun amp; Cheng, 2004:61), the appeal from Third world, lower class and colored women was totally overlooked by white feminists. Therefore, to speak for these neglected women, scholars such as Alice Walker and Clenora Hudson-Weems developed womanism on the basis of feminism. Alice Walker gives the definition of womanist in her non-fiction book In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens: Womanist Prose, “A black feminist or feminist of color.” (Walker, 1983: xi)The word womanist comes from womanish which is the opposition of girlish. “From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, “You acting womanish,” i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior.” (Walker, 1983: xi) Walker also defines other characteristics of womanist in this book, “Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female.” (Walker, 1983: xi) “Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves live and food and rounded. Loves struggle. Loves the folk. Loves herself. Regardless.” (Walker, 1983: xii) In other words, Walker believes that womanists are responsible, optimistic and fond of life and nature, she also pays special attention to the unity of human nature. To set womanism apart from feminism, Walker writes “Womanist is to feminist as purple to lavender.” (Walker, 1983: xii) It defines that womanism is against sexism, racism and classism and demonstrates the inclusiveness and universality of womanism. As Montelaro remarks: “This contrast of hues in Walker’s definition is consonant with her political intention to demonstrate the crucial difference between the terms ‘womanist’ and ‘feminist’: according to the semantic analogue she constructs, an exclusively white, bourgeois feminism literally pales in comparison to the more wide-ranging, nonexclusive womanist concerns represented by the rich and undiluted color purple.” (Montelaro, 1996:14) Being a black woman writer, Walker’s womanism also focuses on Afro-centralism, most of her works depict the traditional consciousness, religious belief and dressing of black. “Womanists are proud of African root of black people and have a great respect for the values, life patterns and customs of the black people in Africa, they regard these as a kind of defense against the oppression of white culture.”(Wang, 2001:36) The ultimate purpose of womanism is to realize the harmonious coexistence of all human beings and it offers a tool for colored woman all over the world to fight against patriarchal control, sexism, racial discrimination, class system and Christian indoctrination.

1.2 An Introduction to The Color Purple

The novel The Color Purple is Alice Walker’s most famous book which won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983. Setting in the 1930s, the story focuses on the life of African-American women in the southern United States. It tells a story about how a poor black woman Celie fights against various oppressions and establishes self-consciousness with the help of women around her. Being raped and beaten by her stepfather Alphonso, Celie is frightened and helpless, so she writes to God to ask for help. Alphonso takes her two babies away from her, then marries her to Mr.____, Celie could do nothing but to endure. After being married, she continues suffering from Mr.____, Mr.____ doesn’t like her and treats her as a servant and a person to set his lust. Soon afterwards, Celie’s sister, Nettie comes to her, because she cannot stand the harassment of their stepfather. They live together happily for a very short time before Nettie is forced to leave, because Nettie refuses Mr.____’s sexual pursuit. When Nettie leaves, she tells Celie to fight, but Celie dare not fight, all she wants is being alive. They agrees to correspond by letters, but Celie is not allowed to approach the mailbox, every time she asks Mr.____ if there are letters for her, Mr.____ says no impatiently. Gradually, Celie believes that Nettie died and her world becomes grey. Time goes by, the children of Mr.____ grow up. Harpo, one of Mr.____’s children, falls in love with Sofia and they get married. Sofia is an untraditional woman, she is brave and not obedient. Celie is surprised about Sofia’s audacity, when Harpo comes to ask her how to make Sofia become obedient, she tells Harpo to beat her. Sofia is outraged and leaves Harpo, but then she goes into jail because she fights with the mayor. Harpo’s new girlfriend, Squeak attempts to ask the sheriff to release Sofia, but is raped by the sheriff in the end. Six months later Sofia is released, but she has to serve the mayor’s wife. Unwillingly, she puts curb on her temper and becomes reticent. It is until the presence of Shug that brings a light into Celie’s life. With the help of Shug, she finds that Mr.____ hid all the letters from Nettie, she flies into a rage and wants to kill Mr.____, fortunately, Shug prevents her doing so. After reading all the letters from Nettie, Celie knows that Nettie lives with Corrine and Samuel, they are both missionaries and adopt Celie’s two children. Nettie is now in Africa with them and will come back soon. Viewing all the experiences of women around her, Celie begins to establish subjective consciousness and decides to leave Mr.____ to find the real self. Mr.____ is devastated by Celie’s leave and comes to realize all the mistakes he made, Celie forgives his wrong doings and they become friends. In the end, Nettie goes back home with her husband and Celie’s two children, the two sisters finally reunite. The novel was then adapted into a same name movie by Steven Spielberg and the movie was nominated for eleven Oscars.

1.3 Purpose and Significance of the Thesis

Once published, the book has received great critical acclaims, since it exposes racial oppression and racial discrimination, and raises concern about Negro Problem Neglected while further proves that the black problem in the United States is a worldwide problem. As an advocator of womanism, Walker shows all the features of womanism in The Color Purple. Many scholars review the novel from its artistic style, writing technique, portrayal of characters and theme. After being adapted into a film by the famous director Steven Spielberg, it immediately attracts more scholars and critics to review both the novel and movie. Some African-American males strongly criticize the negative images of black men in the book, for instance, American film director, producer and writer, Spike Lee says “The quickest way for a Black playwright, novelist, or poet to get published has been to say that Black men are shit. If you say that, then you are definitely going to get media, your book published, your play done.”(Watkins, 1986:36) A Black columnist in The Washington Post, Courtland Milloy, also complains about the ugly portraits of the males and states: “I got tired, a long time ago, of white men publishing books by Black women about how screwed up Black men are.”(Pat, 1986:15) Despite those complaints, the novel has gained strong reviews, Mel Watkins, an editor of The New York Times Book Review, praises the book “Without doubt, Alice Walker’s latest novel is her most impressive.”(Watkins, 1982:7) He reviews the book from its narrative style and major theme which reinforces the collapse of racial stereotypes. A teacher from Flint Southwestern Community High School assesses it “The book treats the reader to a journey where the characters discover beauty, truth, love, and the answer to the meaning of life.”(Harris Abrams, 1985:8) As for the movie, there is much discontentment about it. Some complains the elimination of lesbian theme, some criticizes Spielberg for he devalues the importance of Africa, while others shows understanding towards such rearrangements. Betaria Nae Hastuti focuses on the Black English dialect in the movie and examined the viewers’ acceptance in her thesis, (Nae Hastuti, 2008) Professor Wayne J. Mcmullen and Associate Professor Martha Solomon try to explore the potential politics of filmic adaptations by analysing the shift in emotional focus and narrative type in the film. (Mcmullen amp; Solomon 1994:158-174) Many Chinese scholars and critics also have done a great number of research on The Color Purple, Bao Lili analyses the metaphor of colour in the novel. (Bao, 2002:52-55) Wang Chengyu focuses on the theme of gender equality through analysing Afro-centralism. (Wang, 2001:30-36) Zhao Fangyu analyses the embodiment of womanism in the novel. (Zhao, 2012:29-30) Hou Xu confirms the significance of the movie by describing the way Celie, Nettie, Shug and Sofia struggle and the happy ending of all people in the movie. (Hou, 2016:59-61) Tong Xin views the adaptation of movie from the aspect of intertextuality. (Tong, 2012:133-134) Xu Jing compares the different usage of language in book and movie, (Xu, 2005:14-17) she also contrasts the way Spielberg directs with the way Walker write to analyse the differences in feminist theory in 2005. (Xu, 2005:98-100) Yang Yuntao uses Maslow Hierarchy of Need Theory to illustrate the three stages of Celie’s awakening process. (Yang, 2014:66-67.)

Throughout the research home and abroad, few researchers focus on whether the womanism in the novel The Color Purple is realized in the film adaptation. Since Walker is a womanist, it is easy to find that anti-sexism, anti-racism, Afro-centralism and humanism are expressed in the novel, and through watching the movie, it is clear that Spielberg has made some modifications. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the realization of animism and Alice Walker’s womanism of The Color Purple in its film adaptation, figure out the differences and find reasons.

1.4 Structure of the Thesis

The thesis is mainly made up by five parts, including an introduction and a conclusion. The first part introduces the concept of womanism, the story of novel The Color Purple, and the purpose, significance and structure of this thesis. The second, third and fourth part will compare the anti-sexism, anti-racism, Afro-centralism, humanism and animism subjects of womanism in the novel and movie, and find out the reasons why Spielberg makes such adaptations. The last part is the conclusion which gives evaluation on the adaptation movie in the aspect of expressing womanism and points out that there is still a long way to go before realizing Walker’s thought of harmonious world.

2. Sexism and Racism in the Novel and Movie

The Embodiment of Sexism in Men’s Behaviour

Alphonso is the first male character appears in the novel, he is Celie’s stepfather, he rapes Celie and makes her pregnant twice, but after Celie gives birth to the babies, he takes the babies directly away from her. When Mr.____ comes to propose marriage to Nettie, Alphonso refuses his proposal out of his private cares, he tells Mr.____ to marry Celie and he will give the linen and a cow to them. Alphonso never has a kind word to Celie and after he gets tired of Celie, he just sends her to another man. He even deprives Celie of her education and makes her do everything in the house. When talking about Nettie’s teacher Addie Beasley, he says her teacher does not get married because she reads too much, no man can stand that.

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