Tuesday, Feb. 25,1986
Black Ink
5
‘The Color Purple’, a woman’s struggle
by Patrice Jones
Staff Writer
The combined talents of Steven
Spielberg and Quicy Jones, giants in
the movie and recording industries
respectively, make “The Color
Purple” an outstanding film.
The movie adaptation of Alice
Walker’s novel was filmed in Union
County N.C. near Charlotte.
Already acclaimed with 11
academy award nominations, “The
Color Purple” spanned a forty-year
period of a black families’ growth in
the rural South in the early 1900’s.
The story revolves around the life of
Celie (Descreta Jackson and later
Whoopi Goldberg) who is raped by
her father when she is only fourteen,
abused by her husband whom she
could only refer to as “Mr.” and
brought to womanhood by her
husband’s mistress, Shug Avery. The
overall theme of this movie is the
perserverance of love between Celie
and her sister, Nettie, whom she is
separated from early in the story and
is finally reunited with in the closing
scene.
The movie opens in the scenic
beauty of the plantation fields where
Celie and Nettie (Akosua Busia) are
playing. Celie’s protruding stomach is
a shock paralleled to her adolescence
Academics
by Laurie Denise Willis
Editor
Achievement can be measured in
many ways, however, on college
campuses, people tend to measure
achievement only by academic
standing.
Janeen Lavay Vanhooke and Jack
Marvin Browi^ are academic achievers
who have achieved in many other
ways as well.
Vanhooke, a fourth year phar
macy student from Hillsborough,
graduated from the School of Science
and Math in Durham. She is a member
of Phi Eta Sigma, a freshman honor
society which requires a 3.5 g.p.a., a
member of the UNC Chamber
Singers, a coed singing group, a
member of the Student American
Pharmaceutical Association (SAPHA),
a member of Student National Phar
maceutical Association, (SNPHA) and
a member of Phi Lambda Sigma
Leadership, a pharmacy society based
on leadership qualities.
She was recently invited into
Rho Chi National Honor Society, a
pharmacy school society based on
academic achievement, and she is
working for Revco Drugs in Durham
as a pharmacist intern.
Brown, a senior accounting major
from Shallote, N.C., graduated from
and girlish ways. At the tender age of
fourteen, Celie is taken from the
brutality of one existence to another
when she leaves her father’s home to
marry “Mr.” She is literally
transformed into his slave and the
audience is made to feel both sympa
thetic for her servile disposition and
contempt for most of the male
characters in this story.
The role of “Mr.” (Albert) is
portrayed masterfully by Danny
Glover, (“Witness, “Places in the
Heart”) who seems a little too
gentlemanly to portray this role of a
bitter husband who stops Celie from
having any contact with her sister
Nettie. Undoubtedly, one of the
greatest tear-jerkers (in a movie full of
them) is the scene where “Mr.” throws
Celie’s sister off their farm because she
resisted his sexual advances.
About seven years into the story,
Shug Avery (Margaret Avery), comes
onto the scene as an unlikely can
didate to bring Celie into self-
discovery. This spicy character,
almost portrayed by Tina Turner,
gave a sense of diversity to the female
roles in this story. Shug is the catalyst
which causes Celie to finally leave her
husband and shows her that she can
be loved. Through the song “Miss
Celie’s Blues”(written by Quincy
Jones), the coming independence of
Celie is foreshadowed. The lesbian
relationship between Celie and Shug
is displayed in a beautifully dramatic
scene but is pushed aside for the re
mainder of the story. This play-down
of a delicate subject weakened the
development of the on-screen relation
ship of these two characters.
Undoubtedly, the most pivotal
scene of the movie is when Celie final
ly stands up to her husband. At this
family dinner, all of the women seem
to rebel as Celie claims her sister s let
ters and her right to freedom. Celie
finally becomes a character alive to
the audience in verbal as well as men
tal action. It follows that the movie
picks up considerable pace with the
returning of Nettie from Africa who
has, ironically, been brought up with
Celie’s children, Olivia and Adam.
Maybe a little too late in the story,
Albert redeems himself by sacrificing
his greed for money to pay for Nettie,
Olivia and Adam’s passage out of
Africa. It is this triumphant victory of
love over adversity which gives this
story so much depth.
The minor roles of Sophia and
Hoppo (Albert’s son) were nicely
portrayed by Ophrah Winfrey,
Chicago television host, and Willard
Pugh, respectively, Originally, Celie is
jealous of Sophia for her strength but
ould grow to respect her later in the
story. Although she would have to pay
for her pride, Sophia was an admi
rably strong character, like most ol
the women in this story. Also, Adolph
Ceaser (“Soldier’s Story”) was a
humorous addition to the cast as
Albert’s cynical father.
To give some technical credits,
the music and scenery in this movie
was beautiful and dynamic. If the
characters had not been portrayed so
vividly, undoubtedly, the dynamic
nature of the scenery would have
been overbearing. Also, the
parallelism of African music to the
soulful blues of the South (much
accredited to co-producer Quincy
Jones) was a striking score to accom
pany Spielberg’s beautiful scenery.
The movie can attribute much ol
its depth to the truly memorable
characters Walker created in her
novel. Leaving no plot unresolved, the
story went full circle with the
resounding of the theme as Celie and
Nettie after being reunited played
games in the field as they had done
forty years ago.
curricular
lesh
West Brunswick High School. He is a
member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity
and was president of the Psi Delta
Chapter his junior year. He was active
as an Ebony jleader his freshman
year, and during the fall of 1985 he
was one of 14 teaching assistants for
BA 71, an accounting course.
He assisted David Hoffman, an
tesociate professor in the Business
School, and he taught two discussion
sessions on Thursdays to review
material and course assignments.
Brown said he enjoyed the
teaching assistant position for which
he applied.
He said he has succeeded here at
UNC because, “I learned early on tp
balance my activities with my
classwork.”
During his freshman year. Brown
said he depended on advice from
upperclassmen on class schedules,
course loads, etc.
* Vanhooke said her mother, who is
a clerk typist at UNC General Admin
istration, motivated and helped her to
succeed as a freshman. “Because mom
works here. I’ve been able to meet
several campus leaders including
President Friday.”
She usually went to her mother if
she had problems and her mother told
her what she needed to do to
straighten them out, she said.
Vanhooke attributed part of
Jaaeea Vanhooke
photo courtesy
of Janeea Vaahook?
blacks’ academic problems to high
school backg;rounds. “There’s a lot of
pressure to perform and if you don’t
know how to study already, it s hard
to find out as a freshman.”
Attending the School of Science
and Math helped Vanhooke successful
ly make the transition from high
school to college, she said. “I had
already been exposed to a college-like
atmosphere, so I didn’t have too many
problems.”
She said a lot of blacks don’t
atilize the programs set up through
Dean Renwick’s office. During her
freshman year, she had a good minori
ty adviser, Lisa Richardson, who is
aow a first year medical student at
“We talked a lot about my adjust
ing &nd how classes were going,”
Vanhooke said. “If I needed anything.
photo b\ rammit F ousi
Jack Brown
I knew I could go to her.”
Brown agreed that blacks should/
utilize the programs Renwick’s office
has to offer.
Both he and Vanhooke said they
were not sure why blacks don’t active
ly participate in many campus
organizations.
“I guess a lot of black students
have a problem with getting into
organizations because they don’t feel
like there’s a place for them,” Brown
said.
Vanhooke said she felt that a lot
of black students used college as a
means of finding themselves which
wasn’t bad, but a lot of people black
and white spend four years here and
after they’re finished have no career
goals.
continued on page 6