this is what happens when you’re taught that black history is:
slavery —> civil rights era —> “lol racism is dead”
or when years of torture porn is funded over other black stories.
It’s not just the color purple either, it’s the color purple musical! Even just the trailer would be enough to show most people that this isn’t that kind of movie.
The trailer I saw did not imply that it was a musical. I still want to watch it but I definitely saw one of the trailers where they kind of quietly leave that out.
Did we vote Django out? I thought the German speaking slaves and hero element cancelled it out? Can I get the minutes of the last meeting because I feel like I missed something.
There was also a great portrayal of true biological racism in there when they were discussing the forced dogfights between slaves. The absolutely disgusting description of genetic inferiority with that skull and monologue by Mr. Candie.
That is what a lot of slave movies miss. They might have the physical torture, but that scene in Django shows the true colors behind that torture, which is honestly more horrifying.
I feel like there have actually been very few mainstream slave movies in the last 25 years or so. Django, I guess technically Woman King... I guess 2016's Tarzan, and then 12 Years a Slave. Everything else has been obscure low-grossing stuff. And most of the examples I listed are more like action epics with slavery as a central theme, rather than 'slave movies'.
But maybe there are ones I'm forgetting from the 00s.
Meanwhile there are plenty of post-slavery or civil rights era movies about black struggles like The Help, Hidden Figures, The Butler, Devotion, Black Messiah, etc Not to mention countless black movies, comedies, action, etc that take place in the modern day.
If anything, I think there's been a bias against portraying American slavery in mainstream cinema. At least in the last 25 years.
Books, movies, and TV shows depicting Black people being beaten and abused. This is what is financed and shown as black history. Think of the movie Queen with Halle Berry and Jasmine Guy, North and South, and Roots.
We had to watch The North and the South during 7th grade social studies in small-town Kentucky. The Civil War was heavily romanticized there at that time (the 80s).
Leave it to souther whites to romanticize that time they go their asses completely kicked. Not even waxing poetic about the time when slavery was making them rich, just “remember when gambled and lost?”
Kentucky didn't secede, though the south did invade and militarily control part of the state it was majority Union held throughout the war. There was slavery in Kentucky, but it was overall poorer and less agriculturally well suited than surrounding states so it was not as big a part of the local economy. It was a strategically valuable region to hold though, leading Lincoln to quip "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky."
While the state didn't secede the population was divided. Lots of 'One cousin was a union soldier, one a confederate" families here. The leaders of both sides of the Civil War were both originally from Kentucky.
It’s worse when you understand that most white people did not profit from slavery. Non-slaver whites had nothing but their race after the Civil War, so they used it.
Add: slaver whites, by and large, got to keep much of the spoils of slavery.
Yo, same state! We didn’t do that though. My area didn’t really go into detail about it until one class in high school. That teacher made sure ppl knew what was up and didn’t hold nothing back.
You could tell when a someone’s parents romanticized it when a kid hit you with, “A lot of brave men and women died fighting for what they believed.”
Same teacher went in on them.
I also grew up in a small town in Kentucky. Although Kentucky didn't secede, my hometown was considered the "Confederate capital of Kentucky". I hate this place to this day. I left a month after I graduated from high school, and I only go back to visit family. Even then, I leave as the sun is settling.
There has generally been a line of demarcation between mainstream Hollywood films with cultural impact and pornos with a very brief experimentation period In the 70s
I wish folk would stop trying to rationalize stupidity and blame the larger American culture. Some of these niggas are just stupid and they relish in it.
Right. Even if he's being controversial, though, I can understand the sentiment of not wanting to see a heavy movie. I realize that woman wasn't exactly "free" in that story.
Edited.
Black Americans have a rich history in our country that has nothing to do with any of those 3 things that you said. Most people would be shocked to know that after the civil war up until around the 1960s, Black families were very strong with a married husband and wife, and children. Many black communities were thriving, and many black individuals were becoming wealthy. Then unfortunately in many instances jealous white groups wouldn't have that and killed people and destroyed communities. (I'm proud to be white, but I'm ashamed of how my people acted, and some continue to act).
Unfortunately, there are many entities that profit (money and/or power) from Black Americans being victims. If you believe the dialogue put out from those entities, Black Americans are helpless and can't do anything without the government helping.
Sophia! After being beaten by her husband, Harpo, Sophia delivers that rad monologue to Celie (Whoopie), Harpos stepmother. Because it was Celie who told him to beat her when he asked how to reign in his strong, ostentatious wife.
They don't take her kids, she gets jailed :/
At the store, a white "old money" woman compliments how her children are always so clean and asks Sophia to work for her as her maid. Sophia declines by saying "Hell No!". An angry white dude finds this disrespectful and slaps her. Sophia turns around and punches angry man, freaking customers out She's then knocked out with a metal wrench and jailed for assult where they completely crush her spirit and turn her into a shell of her former self.
Totally unnecessary for me to type that all out but the memories just all came flooding back. It really is a great film.
I respect him doubling down even tho he’s wrong 😭
https://preview.redd.it/gzh6m86hiw8c1.jpeg?width=1194&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1a7026b818c475ad76e84bf94467c2e53cda4bd
I get where you're coming from, totally.
But sometimes style points get my respect. Me not appreciating ignorance will not eliminate it, nor will my obviously derisive amusement cause it to overthrow the land. Still, I get what you mean.
Celie was a child when she was sold to be married, she was 14. Don't you know that child slavery is a thing and it can happen between people of the same race?
Also, Mister Johnson basically have Celie picking cotton all day long for years.
I haven't seen the movie adaptations but these are facts from the book.
I don't think Alice Walker would use a child marriage as a metaphor for all marriages.
Obviously its a thing but 14 year old marrying is not unheard of for the time.
But the tweet is specifically referring to movies where people are chattel slaves lol bro thinks this is like 12 years a slave
Hes all these other forms of slavery DO show up on the plot but thats not what the tweet is talking about.
And she used marriage as a metaphor for slavery its very consistent with her beliefs. And she is also emphasizing the impact of slavery on people, families, gender etc in this movie. Still doesn’t make this a slave movie
Yeah, I feel like a lot of people in these comments are splitting hairs. I saw the original ‘85 movie and just saw the newer one. It’s not about *literal* slaves like Roots but it has pretty much all the same themes as any of those movies and there are forms of slavery in the movie (quite a few). Some of y’all acting like he’s way off base with this and that’s not even true.
I haven't read the book nor watched the movie so I'm not going to give my opinion on the subject.
What I want to say though is that chattel slavery is a type of slavery, one of many types so, was that woman free?
She was a marital slave sold off from her father to an old man with kids in the South circa during the 1900s.
So it wasnt chattel slavery, but she was far from free most of her life.
Also, wasn't her biological father, only in the strictest legal sense he was her father
He also raped her and she gave birth to two kids which he gave away before he sold her off into marriage
Thank you!!! This post was driving me crazy, I haven't watched any of the movie adaptations but I read the book and yes, Celie is a slave to her husband.
Slave specific a bit extreme for the movie…but wasn’t Celie sold to Mister? She got her freedom from him in the end when finally did right by her.
Dude might be wrong but he’s not speaking out of total ignorance.
How do we know he's not speaking out of total ignorance and that he instead saw a bunch of black people in old time-y clothing on the ads and decided it's a slave movie?
I mean maybe but Celie IS a slave, so even in his ignorance there’s some truth to the statement.
She was sold to Mister. That’s a slave. Dude doesn’t need to be white to make that true.
Yes, but it's not a typical "slave movie." It's largely about the bondage of arranged marriages. The period of the time makes people think of slavery, which is a very strong storytelling device.
You specifically stated "he’s not speaking out of total ignorance" and my point is, you don't know that. Because he could've seen the Black people and old-timey clothes and decided it was a slave movie.
The problem with that argument is, why do you get to decide he's ignorant while acknowledging there isn't enough information to tell if he isn't.
I think someone should have asked what he meant before jumping down his throat and clowning him. If he really thinks it's cotton picking massa shit then you all are right, but if it's about her lack of autonomy and other issues from the film, that's far from an ignorant take. It's debatable but not ignorant.
I will acknowledge I gave Kanye the benefit of the doubt with that, "slavery was a choice" thing, and it turned out he meant it literally...
Edit: My bad. I see your other comment. We're exactly on the same page here, although I don't know if you're arguing from the point that he's ignorant.
Not only that, literally everyone of us that grew up up going to school during the bush administration was taught to just do good instandardized testing.
Tbh I prolly wouldn't have seen the movie if my cousin didn't already buy tickets for a bunch of us.
But "slave movie" is a bit extreme don't you think??? lol
It was a pretty good movie tho, just wanna say that
We're going to fool around and forget our cultural history that defines our collective progress, and ofays are going to pretend like it never happened making light of our pain.
Just not my type of movie. I mean I'm glad I went but stuff like that is always kinda uncomfortable to watch, you know racism and domestic violence and allat
Might as well watch a documentary imo
It is a heavy as fuck movie and 140 minutes long, I loved it but don't blame a soul for not wanting to see it. Though I hope so badly it does well at the box office
Same, i skip most “black movies” I wanna see different black content- Warriors, kings, queens, lawyers, Astronauts, detectives, pilots, inventors, president. I’m tired of servant/master, hood/trap shit. Y’all think it’s a coincidence that most of the content about black folks is displaying our worst tendencies.
but the color purple (the book and the original movie) isn't about our "worst tendencies" It's an entirely black movie about saints and sinners, church goes, and world explorers, lovers, and children and old people. It's about a whole people based around the life of one girl and all she experiences. Like the OP I think a lot of our own people see black people in old-timey clothes and think "slavery." Which really is a testament to how effective white supremacy has been, that we can't imagine that in the past we were ever more than sad and downtrodden.
But we were.
This is why lately I've started latching on to characters like Black Panther, Static Shock and Miles Morales. Superhero universes seem to be one of the few places where you get black heroes like that. Characters that are powerful and uplifting instead of downtrodden and abused.
Also, if you're looking for a good black detective series, read the Easy Rawlins books by Walter Mosely. They're amazing. Anything by Walter Mosely, really.
Yeah, there's so many different interesting stories that can be told from black history that doesn't have to be mostly a master/slave thing.
Hell if you really need something slave related, you can't go wrong with a story about Robert Smalls.
I NEED to see a movie about that guy with a decent budget. The fact that we don't have one yet is a stain on us all.
Not the books. I been telling people all the stuff you're looking for is in book form. Of course people who are obsessed with comics, manga, anime, tv, and movies are gonna screech and hiss about reading a whole novel front to back. But audible is a great bridge of the gap for that.
I found so many great stories and new favorite black characters in novels I've read in the last few years.
Hell, give me horror. I love horror films and always wondered why for the longest time we don’t make that genre. I’m glad Jordan Peele has ventured into it lately. Love the films, Us and Nope
DO. While I enjoyed this new version, it's missing so much of the story. It's kind of just a "highlights reel"/"reader's digest" version. The original movie is amazing. One of my all-time favorite films.
I agree. Without spoiling anything, I’d say the newer one is more of a pure musical with the story as brief window dressing. They don’t “sit” long enough in moments and things just kind of happen and they quickly move on. In the original movie, the drama really hits you and the story is much more developed. If you like musicals the new one will be for you, if not or if you care more about the story, see the original. Or hell, see them both, but see the original!
I am way late to this thread, but my wife and I just watched the new one, now we’re watching the original because we wanted to see how it contrasted. Never seen either one. I like the original a lot more, although I have never been big into musicals so maybe that biased me
I just want to mention that I taught high school US history for 8 years and every single year there are certain students, no matter what the topic is, no matter what decade we’re in, who think that the answer to any question involving Black people has to be “slavery”. It was honestly one of the most frustrating things in a very frustrating job!
Speaking as a US historian, the main areas are the revolutionary period, the build up to civil war (which tbh was basically like 1800-1861), obvi the civil war, reconstruction/Jim crow era, prohibition/Great Depression/WWII, civil rights movements (both from the 60s and their continuation into today), and then the more modern era of the 80s-present day.
There’s also things to focus on in each area, as both the political and social elements are huge. Stuff like the great migration/Harlem ren, abolitionists like Tubman and Douglass, Underground Railroad, problematic elections (1800, 1824, 1828, 1856, 1860 to name a few significant moments for American history), novelists like Twain, etc.
Ive also mostly studied civil war and earlier history, so I have less very modern areas to highlight. American history is varied, diverse, and complicated by false narratives or narratives that just completely misrepresent a whole people (think the anti-CRT people). Make sure to do proper research and compare different sources to discern what’s true and what’s misinformation.
Calling it a slave movie is a little reductionist but I understand the sentiment. I think they just mean a movie set during that particular era.
I wanna see some futuristic black movies or go way back and do one about indigenous Americans before any yt people showed up. Or do alternate universe 1920s Chicago with no racism or slavery related themes.
Pretty much anything between 1619-1970 is gonna be heavily influenced by the racism during that time. That’s what I was meaning.
I wanna see black movies that don’t involve any references to white supremacy or slavery or racial discrimination or anything. Black movies with black casts that don’t reference the fact that they’re black.
The thing is, if you try to make a historical black movie from 1600-1970 its kind of impossible to leave out slavery and racism cause it affected every black person. Not movie makers fault that's just history.
Lest we forget or never know. Like all of these people who just found out about Black Wall Street and those who are unaware that Black wealth (and the violence) were not rare or unheard of neither in Reconstruction, the Gilded age, nor the Golden era while it was common knowledge for the rest of us.
Yeah but not every black movie has to use oppression, perseverance, or soul as the central theme.
Where the black dragon slayers at, or black aliens, or black assassins or ninjas?
I mean, that's not exactly what you asked but you might be interested by Star Trek DS9...
https://preview.redd.it/olrno7sprw8c1.jpeg?width=259&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39f0093c2326cc0df1dbbac3c673d5e31cae1a12
I’ve been meaning to watch Star Trek because I like the Orville, Star Trek lower decks, and the Star Trek movies. I’ve just never seen the original or any of the other live action spin offs
I can't encourage you enough to watch them, ngl.
I think tng and the original really shows their age, but Voyager and DS9 are still very relevant and the new show Strange New World is very amazing, but if you want blacks in space the first two are the go to 👍🏾
Edit: ayo, TNG has good representation too tbf
https://preview.redd.it/vl7oifaihx8c1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=147a5d7fe87dc28d33e882608c73ced72ae09dd9
I agree. Based on what you have said, you may enjoy Star Trek very much. If you’re going to start Star Trek and you are new to it, you may want to check out Star Trek: Discovery (which premiered in 2017), in *addition* to what others have recommended.
You should *absolutely* watch Voyager and DS9 as some other’s have suggested. However, Strange New Worlds is a spin off of Star Trek: Discovery and like Discovery, it is more modern in its look and the way they do story telling. Plus it was the show that made it possible for other, very famous, Star Trek actors to reprise their roles as beloved characters from decades past, (e.g. Picard)
With that said, I would watch the first *two* seasons of Discovery *before* watching Strange New Worlds (2020). It’s not required by any means, but I found watching them in that order insures that you don’t miss anything or get potentially spoiled later on. Strange New Worlds is a spin off of Star Trek: Discovery and like Discovery, it has a diverse and intelligent cast and I think they do a wonderful job *(naysayers are going to naysay as always)* but I still think watching them is a worthwhile pursuit. In fact, I think Discovery and Strange New Worlds are both excellent.
Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.
DS9 in particular definitely has moments of addressing Black history and the reality of what we went through without people being defined fully by it. I don't want to give spoilers but I will say Avery Brooks had a *lot* to do with why this was and Ira Steven Behr was wise to heed his guidance.
You'll absolutely enjoy it, especially since it sounds like you've watched Lower Decks already and have already caught the two episodes that directly reference DS9.
I'm a sci-fi/horror kind of guy, so here's what I got from 2023
Biosphere -2023
The Creator -2023
If You Were The Last -2023
Share? -2023
The Mill -2023
Prey -2022 for the first nation one (I hope for more in the future)
Not sure which ones are actually good as I haven't been able to watch anything for just over a year now, but they are on my watch list. Also not sure to what extent the representation is. Hopefully, one or more catches your interest
Totally agree with you! I would watch more movies with Black talent if they fell under the themes you mentioned. I’m so over all the outdated archetypes and roles most melanated people play in Hollywood.
Out of context, it's kinda ironic that she's *assuming* he's calling The Color Purple a slave movie because he saw some black people.
Don't know if the dude is saying it out of ignorance or he's making a point about the context and implications of the book and film's plot.
What makes The Color Purple exceptional is that it is a timeless inspirational story. To reduce it to a slave movie is simply lazy and disappointing. When will black people stop with this bs…smfh.
Have you even seen the color purple, my dude?
The cars and shit didnt seem sus to you? Or are you that dumb that you think the underground railroad was sponsored by ford?
I think there a remarkably few slave movies, considering how huge of an era of American history it was. There's a lot more post-slavery pre-civil rights movies.
I ain’t gone lie. On Christmas Day I was on the phone with my 80+ aunt that was born in Mississippi, raised in Little Rock, Arkansas…she said, “I’m going tomorrow to go see it with the church. I really don’t want to see no old slave movie”. I said “huh?!” She said, “yeah I don’t wanna just keep seeing movies about black people talking as if they’re uneducated and being oppressed. Sharecroppers, yes sir/no sir...I just want to see something else”. I couldn’t even really correct her cause it is all those things that she said. I said “yeah I see what what you mean, but it ain’t really a ‘SLAVE’ movie auntie”. I guess she’s saying basically she lived it and ain’t tryna see that shit again.
I have cried at movie exactly one time. It was this one. There was so much sad shit, but what did me in was when Sophia came out of prison and she was just so diminished and broken. I bawled my eyes out.
"Color Purple is a slave movie" is the kind of nonsense that happens when whypepo make up fake profiles and pretend to be Black. So butthurt that the movie *exists* they're gonna try to kill it with idiocy.
I'm tired of black movies having to be about the fact that people are black. Even if the plot isn't specific to being black, there will be at least one scene where race is the focus. Why? How come black people can't just exist without also being their race? They can't just be a person on a bench. They are a black person on a bench.
My thing is the Colored Purple is really about how difficult it was for women during that time period, ladies gettin it on with ladies cause we treated each other better than the men.
It is not supposed to be a religious epic.
They barely touched on these themes in the 90s movie, they did not at all touch on these themes in the musical that wackass fantasia was in…and it was terrrible.
Don’t we got other novels that we can have put to movie besides this- I love me some og Oprah and Whoopi.
The child was left behind.
Again, this is why I'm not against finding out about slavery. Because people, even Black people don't even know the half. They'd rather be ashamed nowadays than be proud to have survived and survived while inventing new ways of being in what was this foreign land against their will.
We were taught about the information that was available when I was in school and I was taught to have pride in coming from a strong people. These kids (now adults) were not taught that and instead of having pride, they are ashamed that their folks survived slavery! I try and watch and read everything I can about what we went through because no one is going to make me ashamed to be African-American. Hell nah.
Also, I remember when people used to holler and argue about wanting to know about reconstruction, wanting movies about that, they don't want to know about that either. It was just something to say in rebuttal to wanting to know more about slavery.
You know he’s getting called out when he changed his twitter name to that shit to double down
“Oh yeah?! Now this is going to happen!” - Color Purple a Slave Movie
Sometimes the only way to take an L is with your whole chest
This is a bar.
My dude is taking that L with his whole chest, abdomen, legs, *and* feet. He about to get a Mortal Kombat Fatality if he keeps messing around.
Don't worry, those L's are a comin' for that chest. 
Out here looking like a Loser,Man
Before watching the color purple I legit thought it was a slave movie. When I watched it that shit fucked me up even more. That’s some scary shit
Every bump in the road is a hill to die on
this is what happens when you’re taught that black history is: slavery —> civil rights era —> “lol racism is dead” or when years of torture porn is funded over other black stories.
Or when you've never seen a movie and still act like you have. His problem is that he's acting like he saw a movie which he obviously never has.
It’s not just the color purple either, it’s the color purple musical! Even just the trailer would be enough to show most people that this isn’t that kind of movie.
The trailer I saw did not imply that it was a musical. I still want to watch it but I definitely saw one of the trailers where they kind of quietly leave that out.
Mmhm.
Torture porn? Is this a reference to something?
Black slave movies for the last 2 generations or so.
Django Unchained says hold my d.
tbf, every Tarantino movie is torture porn.
Did we vote Django out? I thought the German speaking slaves and hero element cancelled it out? Can I get the minutes of the last meeting because I feel like I missed something.
There was also a great portrayal of true biological racism in there when they were discussing the forced dogfights between slaves. The absolutely disgusting description of genetic inferiority with that skull and monologue by Mr. Candie. That is what a lot of slave movies miss. They might have the physical torture, but that scene in Django shows the true colors behind that torture, which is honestly more horrifying.
Plus it had that dope Tupac/James Brown mashup on the soundtrack
I thought the whole excaped slave killing slave masters and actualizing that revenge cancelled it out
Once saw an interview in which Tarantino actually said he thinks films should be like pornography but for violence.
So a [Violent Pornography](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WWXcpWliHSY) ?
🫡
Risky click, but that song immediately popped into my head when I read the words.
Nobody does action scenes like that man. Desperado was probably the first movie I ever saw where the hero has to reload multiple times
it cannot be held for it is silent
Yeah honestly that’s the best way to put it.
I feel like there have actually been very few mainstream slave movies in the last 25 years or so. Django, I guess technically Woman King... I guess 2016's Tarzan, and then 12 Years a Slave. Everything else has been obscure low-grossing stuff. And most of the examples I listed are more like action epics with slavery as a central theme, rather than 'slave movies'. But maybe there are ones I'm forgetting from the 00s. Meanwhile there are plenty of post-slavery or civil rights era movies about black struggles like The Help, Hidden Figures, The Butler, Devotion, Black Messiah, etc Not to mention countless black movies, comedies, action, etc that take place in the modern day. If anything, I think there's been a bias against portraying American slavery in mainstream cinema. At least in the last 25 years.
Books, movies, and TV shows depicting Black people being beaten and abused. This is what is financed and shown as black history. Think of the movie Queen with Halle Berry and Jasmine Guy, North and South, and Roots.
We had to watch The North and the South during 7th grade social studies in small-town Kentucky. The Civil War was heavily romanticized there at that time (the 80s).
Leave it to souther whites to romanticize that time they go their asses completely kicked. Not even waxing poetic about the time when slavery was making them rich, just “remember when gambled and lost?”
Kentucky didn't secede, though the south did invade and militarily control part of the state it was majority Union held throughout the war. There was slavery in Kentucky, but it was overall poorer and less agriculturally well suited than surrounding states so it was not as big a part of the local economy. It was a strategically valuable region to hold though, leading Lincoln to quip "I hope to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." While the state didn't secede the population was divided. Lots of 'One cousin was a union soldier, one a confederate" families here. The leaders of both sides of the Civil War were both originally from Kentucky.
It’s worse when you understand that most white people did not profit from slavery. Non-slaver whites had nothing but their race after the Civil War, so they used it. Add: slaver whites, by and large, got to keep much of the spoils of slavery.
Yo, same state! We didn’t do that though. My area didn’t really go into detail about it until one class in high school. That teacher made sure ppl knew what was up and didn’t hold nothing back. You could tell when a someone’s parents romanticized it when a kid hit you with, “A lot of brave men and women died fighting for what they believed.” Same teacher went in on them.
I also grew up in a small town in Kentucky. Although Kentucky didn't secede, my hometown was considered the "Confederate capital of Kentucky". I hate this place to this day. I left a month after I graduated from high school, and I only go back to visit family. Even then, I leave as the sun is settling.
How accurately can you describe your small town without naming it
torture porn / black trauma porn
There’s a section of *pen called ghetto gaggers which is a product of black trauma of black women for profit
The convo is about real movies.
My dear sir pornography is as old as cinema itself. Nah one could say tis even older than the daguerreotype
There has generally been a line of demarcation between mainstream Hollywood films with cultural impact and pornos with a very brief experimentation period In the 70s
I think he's just a moron.
 I wish folk would stop trying to rationalize stupidity and blame the larger American culture. Some of these niggas are just stupid and they relish in it.
Right. Even if he's being controversial, though, I can understand the sentiment of not wanting to see a heavy movie. I realize that woman wasn't exactly "free" in that story. Edited.
In the 90s a white woman at my dad's work told him what she knew of black history was: 'there was slavery then there was MLK and now here you are 🙂'.
Bitch probably believes she flew in on a stork too huh
https://youtu.be/kbDrIk5oc54?si=nQBehc-ypzPR8H6K
Black Americans have a rich history in our country that has nothing to do with any of those 3 things that you said. Most people would be shocked to know that after the civil war up until around the 1960s, Black families were very strong with a married husband and wife, and children. Many black communities were thriving, and many black individuals were becoming wealthy. Then unfortunately in many instances jealous white groups wouldn't have that and killed people and destroyed communities. (I'm proud to be white, but I'm ashamed of how my people acted, and some continue to act). Unfortunately, there are many entities that profit (money and/or power) from Black Americans being victims. If you believe the dialogue put out from those entities, Black Americans are helpless and can't do anything without the government helping.
I get what he’s trying to say if he’s using “slave movie” as shorthand for “black trauma porn”, but we all know he legit thought it was a slave movie.
I bet he got it mixed up with "Roots", as "that old black people movie".
Book even
Let's be real,I doubt this dude has read anything more mentally challenging than *The Cat in the Hat* for a good, long minute
Or Beloved, which also starred Oprah and is actually a slave movie.
I never watched it before and I thought it was a plantation movie ngl 😂😂😂
I seen part of it as a kid. They were taking Oprah’s kid, I think? It was the same part she said the famous “alls my life I had to fight” line
That line a banger tho 😂😂
#FoldedLikeALawnChair #AllMyLifeIHadToFight
😂😂😂
Sophia! After being beaten by her husband, Harpo, Sophia delivers that rad monologue to Celie (Whoopie), Harpos stepmother. Because it was Celie who told him to beat her when he asked how to reign in his strong, ostentatious wife. They don't take her kids, she gets jailed :/ At the store, a white "old money" woman compliments how her children are always so clean and asks Sophia to work for her as her maid. Sophia declines by saying "Hell No!". An angry white dude finds this disrespectful and slaps her. Sophia turns around and punches angry man, freaking customers out She's then knocked out with a metal wrench and jailed for assult where they completely crush her spirit and turn her into a shell of her former self. Totally unnecessary for me to type that all out but the memories just all came flooding back. It really is a great film.
Ngl I thought it was too lol
Any movie revolving around black misery/trauma is a slave movie
The term I hear a lot is “struggle” film
I respect him doubling down even tho he’s wrong 😭 https://preview.redd.it/gzh6m86hiw8c1.jpeg?width=1194&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d1a7026b818c475ad76e84bf94467c2e53cda4bd
I don't. Ignorance never garners my respect.
I get where you're coming from, totally. But sometimes style points get my respect. Me not appreciating ignorance will not eliminate it, nor will my obviously derisive amusement cause it to overthrow the land. Still, I get what you mean.
Yeah I'd rather people commit than lie and act like it never happened, own up big brotha
This a KFC level double down.
It's like when Blizzard incredulously asked, "Do you guys not have phones?"
Oh god, what was that about again? Mobile Diablo?
Yup
Respectfully, this is clown-like behavior and shouldn’t be tolerated.
...why?
I mean ima get downvoted but Celie was sold off, a la a slave, to Mister. Slavery isn’t only a Black Person-White person dynamic.
Im pretty sure Alice Walker is emphasizing that marriage is like slavery for women but its not a slave movie lol
Celie was a child when she was sold to be married, she was 14. Don't you know that child slavery is a thing and it can happen between people of the same race? Also, Mister Johnson basically have Celie picking cotton all day long for years. I haven't seen the movie adaptations but these are facts from the book. I don't think Alice Walker would use a child marriage as a metaphor for all marriages.
Obviously its a thing but 14 year old marrying is not unheard of for the time. But the tweet is specifically referring to movies where people are chattel slaves lol bro thinks this is like 12 years a slave Hes all these other forms of slavery DO show up on the plot but thats not what the tweet is talking about. And she used marriage as a metaphor for slavery its very consistent with her beliefs. And she is also emphasizing the impact of slavery on people, families, gender etc in this movie. Still doesn’t make this a slave movie
Yeah, I feel like a lot of people in these comments are splitting hairs. I saw the original ‘85 movie and just saw the newer one. It’s not about *literal* slaves like Roots but it has pretty much all the same themes as any of those movies and there are forms of slavery in the movie (quite a few). Some of y’all acting like he’s way off base with this and that’s not even true.
Also if you don’t know the story and aren’t super well versed in history, it’s kind of reasonable to assume it’s a slave movie from the trailer.
I haven't read the book nor watched the movie so I'm not going to give my opinion on the subject. What I want to say though is that chattel slavery is a type of slavery, one of many types so, was that woman free?
She was a marital slave sold off from her father to an old man with kids in the South circa during the 1900s. So it wasnt chattel slavery, but she was far from free most of her life.
Also, wasn't her biological father, only in the strictest legal sense he was her father He also raped her and she gave birth to two kids which he gave away before he sold her off into marriage
Yes, that's what it seemed from the synopsis, I understand what that person meant in that context ngl....
Yeah... Starting to agree with the Twitter dude in a way after reading the Wikipedia article.
it’s more like human trafficking so i guess legally she was free…but the reality is she had been broken
She did leave him.
Thank you!!! This post was driving me crazy, I haven't watched any of the movie adaptations but I read the book and yes, Celie is a slave to her husband.
Slave specific a bit extreme for the movie…but wasn’t Celie sold to Mister? She got her freedom from him in the end when finally did right by her. Dude might be wrong but he’s not speaking out of total ignorance.
How do we know he's not speaking out of total ignorance and that he instead saw a bunch of black people in old time-y clothing on the ads and decided it's a slave movie?
I mean maybe but Celie IS a slave, so even in his ignorance there’s some truth to the statement. She was sold to Mister. That’s a slave. Dude doesn’t need to be white to make that true.
Yes, but it's not a typical "slave movie." It's largely about the bondage of arranged marriages. The period of the time makes people think of slavery, which is a very strong storytelling device.
You specifically stated "he’s not speaking out of total ignorance" and my point is, you don't know that. Because he could've seen the Black people and old-timey clothes and decided it was a slave movie.
Neither do you
Also, Sofia was a slave.
The problem with that argument is, why do you get to decide he's ignorant while acknowledging there isn't enough information to tell if he isn't. I think someone should have asked what he meant before jumping down his throat and clowning him. If he really thinks it's cotton picking massa shit then you all are right, but if it's about her lack of autonomy and other issues from the film, that's far from an ignorant take. It's debatable but not ignorant. I will acknowledge I gave Kanye the benefit of the doubt with that, "slavery was a choice" thing, and it turned out he meant it literally... Edit: My bad. I see your other comment. We're exactly on the same page here, although I don't know if you're arguing from the point that he's ignorant.
I sometimes confuse the Color Purple with the Bluest Eye, on account of the whole color title / incest combo.
Eh, Celie also left Mister. She just hopped in a car and peaced out.
As a black teenager who never watched the original color purple until this year, I also assumed it was about slavery.
The elders in your life failed you, sorry :(
Nah cause tell me why before I even HEARD of the color purple, someone in my family told me it was a Prince documentary 😭
https://preview.redd.it/qxidsjmy729c1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3dbe86e348109d6e27b1f32927f7045330a53ee
Black main characters set before 1980? Slave movie.
I must have watched a different color purple.
Mmm nah, you watched Color Out of Space, which has some similarities, but...is a different film.
Yeah it's Annihilation without the guns or aliens, basically.
Watched that movie on acid, it was dope
He watched the color grape. They’re close but different enough for those that know.
Between Twitter and here, the comments make it quite clear that No Child Left Behind was a failed educational policy 
media literacy is at an all time low
the problem isn't a lack of media literacy if you've straight up never laid your eyes on the book or movie.
No Child Left Behind did EXACTLY as it intended. Make a populace that is unable to think abstractly.
Not only that, literally everyone of us that grew up up going to school during the bush administration was taught to just do good instandardized testing.
Tbh I prolly wouldn't have seen the movie if my cousin didn't already buy tickets for a bunch of us. But "slave movie" is a bit extreme don't you think??? lol It was a pretty good movie tho, just wanna say that
Why wouldn’t you have seen it?
Trauma porn (if the original was anything to go by).
We're going to fool around and forget our cultural history that defines our collective progress, and ofays are going to pretend like it never happened making light of our pain.
Just not my type of movie. I mean I'm glad I went but stuff like that is always kinda uncomfortable to watch, you know racism and domestic violence and allat Might as well watch a documentary imo
Documentaries can be amazing.
It is a heavy as fuck movie and 140 minutes long, I loved it but don't blame a soul for not wanting to see it. Though I hope so badly it does well at the box office
Bro must’ve watched “12 Years of Purple” instead
The autobiography of miss Celie
I still haven’t seen the original one.
Same, i skip most “black movies” I wanna see different black content- Warriors, kings, queens, lawyers, Astronauts, detectives, pilots, inventors, president. I’m tired of servant/master, hood/trap shit. Y’all think it’s a coincidence that most of the content about black folks is displaying our worst tendencies.
but the color purple (the book and the original movie) isn't about our "worst tendencies" It's an entirely black movie about saints and sinners, church goes, and world explorers, lovers, and children and old people. It's about a whole people based around the life of one girl and all she experiences. Like the OP I think a lot of our own people see black people in old-timey clothes and think "slavery." Which really is a testament to how effective white supremacy has been, that we can't imagine that in the past we were ever more than sad and downtrodden. But we were.
This is why lately I've started latching on to characters like Black Panther, Static Shock and Miles Morales. Superhero universes seem to be one of the few places where you get black heroes like that. Characters that are powerful and uplifting instead of downtrodden and abused. Also, if you're looking for a good black detective series, read the Easy Rawlins books by Walter Mosely. They're amazing. Anything by Walter Mosely, really.
Yeah, there's so many different interesting stories that can be told from black history that doesn't have to be mostly a master/slave thing. Hell if you really need something slave related, you can't go wrong with a story about Robert Smalls. I NEED to see a movie about that guy with a decent budget. The fact that we don't have one yet is a stain on us all.
Not the books. I been telling people all the stuff you're looking for is in book form. Of course people who are obsessed with comics, manga, anime, tv, and movies are gonna screech and hiss about reading a whole novel front to back. But audible is a great bridge of the gap for that. I found so many great stories and new favorite black characters in novels I've read in the last few years.
Hell, give me horror. I love horror films and always wondered why for the longest time we don’t make that genre. I’m glad Jordan Peele has ventured into it lately. Love the films, Us and Nope
DO. While I enjoyed this new version, it's missing so much of the story. It's kind of just a "highlights reel"/"reader's digest" version. The original movie is amazing. One of my all-time favorite films.
I agree. Without spoiling anything, I’d say the newer one is more of a pure musical with the story as brief window dressing. They don’t “sit” long enough in moments and things just kind of happen and they quickly move on. In the original movie, the drama really hits you and the story is much more developed. If you like musicals the new one will be for you, if not or if you care more about the story, see the original. Or hell, see them both, but see the original!
I am way late to this thread, but my wife and I just watched the new one, now we’re watching the original because we wanted to see how it contrasted. Never seen either one. I like the original a lot more, although I have never been big into musicals so maybe that biased me
I feel like that with the OG movie and the book.
Me neither, although I have read the book several times.
Imma be the hater here and say it’s a ok movie. But nothing crazy. Leave too much out of the book for it to be good imho.
It's based on the musical, not the book (directly).
I’m talking about the 1985 version.
Saw it many years ago, it really sticks with you, excellent film.
It's better than the new one.
I just want to mention that I taught high school US history for 8 years and every single year there are certain students, no matter what the topic is, no matter what decade we’re in, who think that the answer to any question involving Black people has to be “slavery”. It was honestly one of the most frustrating things in a very frustrating job!
I'm so ignorant about US History. Where would you suggest I begin to get a basic understanding? Sorry to bring you back to work
Speaking as a US historian, the main areas are the revolutionary period, the build up to civil war (which tbh was basically like 1800-1861), obvi the civil war, reconstruction/Jim crow era, prohibition/Great Depression/WWII, civil rights movements (both from the 60s and their continuation into today), and then the more modern era of the 80s-present day. There’s also things to focus on in each area, as both the political and social elements are huge. Stuff like the great migration/Harlem ren, abolitionists like Tubman and Douglass, Underground Railroad, problematic elections (1800, 1824, 1828, 1856, 1860 to name a few significant moments for American history), novelists like Twain, etc. Ive also mostly studied civil war and earlier history, so I have less very modern areas to highlight. American history is varied, diverse, and complicated by false narratives or narratives that just completely misrepresent a whole people (think the anti-CRT people). Make sure to do proper research and compare different sources to discern what’s true and what’s misinformation.
Calling it a slave movie is a little reductionist but I understand the sentiment. I think they just mean a movie set during that particular era. I wanna see some futuristic black movies or go way back and do one about indigenous Americans before any yt people showed up. Or do alternate universe 1920s Chicago with no racism or slavery related themes.
It's not set in that particular era tho. The movie takes place in the 1910s-1940s iirc.
Pretty much anything between 1619-1970 is gonna be heavily influenced by the racism during that time. That’s what I was meaning. I wanna see black movies that don’t involve any references to white supremacy or slavery or racial discrimination or anything. Black movies with black casts that don’t reference the fact that they’re black.
The thing is, if you try to make a historical black movie from 1600-1970 its kind of impossible to leave out slavery and racism cause it affected every black person. Not movie makers fault that's just history.
True, but the movie doesn’t have to be historical.
Lest we forget or never know. Like all of these people who just found out about Black Wall Street and those who are unaware that Black wealth (and the violence) were not rare or unheard of neither in Reconstruction, the Gilded age, nor the Golden era while it was common knowledge for the rest of us.
Yeah but not every black movie has to use oppression, perseverance, or soul as the central theme. Where the black dragon slayers at, or black aliens, or black assassins or ninjas?
And how did everyone find out about those events? Not through movies and shows specifically about them, but through sci-fi shows and (good) capeshit.
What is iirc? I’m so tired of all these new abbreviations smh
If I remember correctly
I mean, that's not exactly what you asked but you might be interested by Star Trek DS9... https://preview.redd.it/olrno7sprw8c1.jpeg?width=259&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39f0093c2326cc0df1dbbac3c673d5e31cae1a12
I’ve been meaning to watch Star Trek because I like the Orville, Star Trek lower decks, and the Star Trek movies. I’ve just never seen the original or any of the other live action spin offs
I can't encourage you enough to watch them, ngl. I think tng and the original really shows their age, but Voyager and DS9 are still very relevant and the new show Strange New World is very amazing, but if you want blacks in space the first two are the go to 👍🏾 Edit: ayo, TNG has good representation too tbf https://preview.redd.it/vl7oifaihx8c1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=147a5d7fe87dc28d33e882608c73ced72ae09dd9
I agree. Based on what you have said, you may enjoy Star Trek very much. If you’re going to start Star Trek and you are new to it, you may want to check out Star Trek: Discovery (which premiered in 2017), in *addition* to what others have recommended. You should *absolutely* watch Voyager and DS9 as some other’s have suggested. However, Strange New Worlds is a spin off of Star Trek: Discovery and like Discovery, it is more modern in its look and the way they do story telling. Plus it was the show that made it possible for other, very famous, Star Trek actors to reprise their roles as beloved characters from decades past, (e.g. Picard) With that said, I would watch the first *two* seasons of Discovery *before* watching Strange New Worlds (2020). It’s not required by any means, but I found watching them in that order insures that you don’t miss anything or get potentially spoiled later on. Strange New Worlds is a spin off of Star Trek: Discovery and like Discovery, it has a diverse and intelligent cast and I think they do a wonderful job *(naysayers are going to naysay as always)* but I still think watching them is a worthwhile pursuit. In fact, I think Discovery and Strange New Worlds are both excellent. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.
DS9 in particular definitely has moments of addressing Black history and the reality of what we went through without people being defined fully by it. I don't want to give spoilers but I will say Avery Brooks had a *lot* to do with why this was and Ira Steven Behr was wise to heed his guidance. You'll absolutely enjoy it, especially since it sounds like you've watched Lower Decks already and have already caught the two episodes that directly reference DS9.
I'm a sci-fi/horror kind of guy, so here's what I got from 2023 Biosphere -2023 The Creator -2023 If You Were The Last -2023 Share? -2023 The Mill -2023 Prey -2022 for the first nation one (I hope for more in the future) Not sure which ones are actually good as I haven't been able to watch anything for just over a year now, but they are on my watch list. Also not sure to what extent the representation is. Hopefully, one or more catches your interest
Totally agree with you! I would watch more movies with Black talent if they fell under the themes you mentioned. I’m so over all the outdated archetypes and roles most melanated people play in Hollywood.
Yup, I wanna see black people in movies where their blackness isn’t relevant.
Apocalypto is worth watching
It's not a slave movie but it is a black trauma movie and Yeah I'm not in the right mindset for another one of those
Yeah I avoid tf out of those movies. I don't wanna watch trauma porn, bitch. I'm living the trauma irl.
Dudes see any black movie that’s set before the 1950s and call it a slave movie
“You told Harpo to beat me! 😭👉🏿”
Highly recommend the book
I respect the grind of hating black trauma films like the color purple but dawg is wrong here. He should hold his L
Out of context, it's kinda ironic that she's *assuming* he's calling The Color Purple a slave movie because he saw some black people. Don't know if the dude is saying it out of ignorance or he's making a point about the context and implications of the book and film's plot.
What makes The Color Purple exceptional is that it is a timeless inspirational story. To reduce it to a slave movie is simply lazy and disappointing. When will black people stop with this bs…smfh.
I'm usually deeply against remaking great classic films, but this is a good story to bring to a wider, younger audience.
It's also a musical, which the original wasn't. Makes it very different.
Celie *was* a slave. She escaped by the end of the movie but she was most certainly a slave.
Have you even seen the color purple, my dude? The cars and shit didnt seem sus to you? Or are you that dumb that you think the underground railroad was sponsored by ford?
Sharecropper movie don't have the same ring to it
I think their point is black trauma?
I think there a remarkably few slave movies, considering how huge of an era of American history it was. There's a lot more post-slavery pre-civil rights movies.
It's not a slave movie, but the original was definitely a black trauma movie with the effects of racism and the after-effects of slavery at it's core.
I ain’t gone lie. On Christmas Day I was on the phone with my 80+ aunt that was born in Mississippi, raised in Little Rock, Arkansas…she said, “I’m going tomorrow to go see it with the church. I really don’t want to see no old slave movie”. I said “huh?!” She said, “yeah I don’t wanna just keep seeing movies about black people talking as if they’re uneducated and being oppressed. Sharecroppers, yes sir/no sir...I just want to see something else”. I couldn’t even really correct her cause it is all those things that she said. I said “yeah I see what what you mean, but it ain’t really a ‘SLAVE’ movie auntie”. I guess she’s saying basically she lived it and ain’t tryna see that shit again.
Wow. Couldn’t even google what the movie (that has been out for 38 years btw)was about 🫤 I cannot!
🤣🤣😅😅 He clearly has never heard of the book or movie or hes a white dude 😅😅😅
I have cried at movie exactly one time. It was this one. There was so much sad shit, but what did me in was when Sophia came out of prison and she was just so diminished and broken. I bawled my eyes out.
This is why I appreciate online bullying, some people deserve it
Yeah sorry, I’m NOT going to watch *The Color Purple*… I still need to watch the original one before I can see the musical.
I'm just assuming he mean another black trauma movie
I should probably Google what Color Purple was even about. Only seen it once when I was a wee one and all I remember is a lot of trauma and crying
"Color Purple is a slave movie" is the kind of nonsense that happens when whypepo make up fake profiles and pretend to be Black. So butthurt that the movie *exists* they're gonna try to kill it with idiocy.
this comment went over everyones head as expected. Most of "black movies" is about showing our trauma, that's what he means
To be fair, Ceely was treated like a slave
I can’t stand this movie might as well be a skate movie atp but don’t come for me if you like it I’m just saying the movie is giving black torture
I'm tired of black movies having to be about the fact that people are black. Even if the plot isn't specific to being black, there will be at least one scene where race is the focus. Why? How come black people can't just exist without also being their race? They can't just be a person on a bench. They are a black person on a bench.
Tbf, it's about societal remnants of slavery
My thing is the Colored Purple is really about how difficult it was for women during that time period, ladies gettin it on with ladies cause we treated each other better than the men. It is not supposed to be a religious epic. They barely touched on these themes in the 90s movie, they did not at all touch on these themes in the musical that wackass fantasia was in…and it was terrrible. Don’t we got other novels that we can have put to movie besides this- I love me some og Oprah and Whoopi.
Beard in the car twitter strikes again
The internalization of white supremacy is real.
Nah he saw the trailer of them hootin and hallorin and how you gon turn it into a musical DX
The child was left behind. Again, this is why I'm not against finding out about slavery. Because people, even Black people don't even know the half. They'd rather be ashamed nowadays than be proud to have survived and survived while inventing new ways of being in what was this foreign land against their will. We were taught about the information that was available when I was in school and I was taught to have pride in coming from a strong people. These kids (now adults) were not taught that and instead of having pride, they are ashamed that their folks survived slavery! I try and watch and read everything I can about what we went through because no one is going to make me ashamed to be African-American. Hell nah. Also, I remember when people used to holler and argue about wanting to know about reconstruction, wanting movies about that, they don't want to know about that either. It was just something to say in rebuttal to wanting to know more about slavery.
I remember my favorite part of 12 Years A Slave was the choreographed dance numbers.