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Steven Spielberg’s decades-long career can only be described with one word – legendary. He is one of the pillars of modern cinema, giving birth to several genre-defining movies that would later go on to become Hollywood milestones. However, even a renowned filmmaker like him had to face backlash at times.
Spielberg’s 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker’s novelThe Color Purplewas his attempt to tackle several social injustices that prevail to this day. However, his work received mixed reviews, even ruffling a few feathers the wrong way.
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However, that didn’t make theJawscreator flinch, in fact, he wouldn’t change anything about it if he were to remake it again today.
Alice Walker was very supportive of Steven Spielberg’s adaptation
Alice Walker’s novelThe Color Purpledealt with racial biases and sexuality, at a time when these topics were frowned upon.Steven Spielberg‘s silver screen adaptation was a slightly mellowed-down version of the book, which was quite intense at times.
In an interview withEntertainment Weekly, Spielberg recalled dealing with the criticism back then:
Most of the criticism came from directors that felt that we had overlooked them, and that it should have been a black director telling a black story. That was the main criticism. The other criticism was that I had softened the book. I have always copped to that.
I made the movie I wanted to make from Alice Walker’s book. Alice was on the set a lot of the time and could have always stepped forward to say, ”You know, this is too Disney. This is not the way I envisioned the scene going down.” She was very supportive during filmmaking, and so I felt that we were doing a good job adapting her novel.
Despite having watered down large parts of the sensual scenes, Spielberg was still criticized for his adaptation. However, theJurassic Parkcreator stayed adamant about his approach, stating he would stand by his decision even now.
Steven Spielberg won’t bow down to critics
Spielberg’s unapologetic approach to controversial issues is whatearned him awardsin the first place. WhenThe Color Purplewas criticized at the time of its release, theE.T.filmmaker exhibited the same behavior and stood by the quality of his creation.
When asked if he would ever change the controversial kissing scene in his 1985 movie, Spielberg replied:
I wouldn’t, no. That kiss is consistent with the tonality, from beginning to end, of The Color Purple that I adapted.
Spielberg went into detail about the scene:
There were certain things in the [lesbian] relationship between Shug Avery and Celie that were finely detailed in Alice’s book, that I didn’t feel could get a [PG-13] rating. And I was shy about it.
In that sense, perhaps I was the wrong director to acquit some of the more sexually honest encounters between Shug and Celie, because I did soften those. I basically took something that was extremely erotic and very intentional, and I reduced it to a simple kiss. I got a lot of criticism for that.
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Spielberg’sThe Color Purplecame at a time when topics about sexuality and race were talked about in hushed tones. And no one possibly could’ve adapted the novel as masterfully as Spielberg.The Color Purplewas once again adapted recently in 2023 by Blitz Bazawule, and Spielberg’s work provided the basis for musical drama.
The Color Purplecan be rented onApple TV+.
Sayantan Choudhary
Senior Editor
Articles Published :108
Sayantan is a Senior Editor at FandomWire. His tingling for pop culture began at a tender age of 4 with a Superman: The Animated Series lunch box, which blossomed into his love for TV shows, films, anime, gaming, and comics. Having previously worked with reputed websites like Wiki Of Thrones and Collider over the past 5 years, his zeal has only multiplied manifold. When he’s not working or scrolling through fan debates and theories, you can find him memorizing workout videos (but never actually doing them).
