Book Vs Movie (Replay)
“The Color Purple”
The Alice Walker Pulitzer-Prize Winning Novel Vs the Steven Spielberg Multi-Academy Award Nominated Film
The Margos finally take on the Alice Walker classic The Color Purple which won both the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award in 1983. It went on to be adapted into a film by none of than Steven Spielberg who has appeared on this show several times so we may just have to change our name to the “Steven Spielberg Presents” show soon! (Kidding!)
Celie Harris is our lead character who is African American, poor, uneducated and being raised in America’s south in the early part of the 20th century. Her entire life she is abused by men including her stepfather (from whom she has two children) and then eventually her husband who is only referred to as “Mr” in the book and leaves his three wild children for her to raise.
Celie’s sister Nettie is sent away with a religious couple to a mission in Africa after almost being raped by Mr and the letters they exchange to make up the telling of the rest of the novel.
Spielberg’s movie is sort of the PG-version of what happens in the book with major subplots about lesbianism and the colonialism in Africa barely being hinted or discussed. However, the performances are next-level amazing which counts for its multiple Academy Award nominations.
So what are those changes? Which version did the Margos like better? Check out the link below to hear for yourself!
In this ep the Margos discuss:
- The interesting history of the author Alice Walker including years of feminist activism and her controversial political views these days.
- How the novel is told in an epistolary form and how it makes it challenging to read at times
- The road to the adaptation by Steven Spielberg and his rather restrained choices about racism, sexism, child molestation, and adult sexuality
- The cast of the movie including Whoopi Goldberg (Celie Johnson,) Danny Glover (Albery “Mr” Johnson,) Margaret Avery (Shug Avery,) Oprah Winfrey (Sofia,) and William E. Pugh (Harpo Johnson)
- The controversy over how the African American male characters are depicted
Clips Featured:
- The Color Purple (original trailer)
- Whoopi Goldberg wins the 1986 Best Actress Golden Globe Award
- Alice Walker gives her opinion on the film adaptation BBC Desert Island Discs May 19, 2013
- Sofia confronts Celie
- Celie meets her children for the first time as adults
- Outro music Miss Celie’s Blues vocals by Tata Vega
Book Vs. Movie podcast https://www.facebook.com/bookversusmovie/
Twitter @bookversusmovie www.bookversusmovie.com
Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com
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Margo D. @BrooklynFitChik www.brooklynfitchick.com brooklynfitchick@gmail.com
Margo P. @ShesNachoMama http://thechingonahomesteader.weebly.com/
Book Vs Movie
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
Terry McMillian’s 1997 Book vs the 1998 Movie Starring Angela Bassett
It’s African American History Month plus the Margos are having a case of “winter-fever” so we decided to cover “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” by Terry McMillan. The story of Stella Payne and her unusual search for love feels like a warm, tropical embrace during the cold New York winters.
In this episode, we talk about the many differences between the original book & the movie to decide which we like better.
In this ep the Margos discuss:
- The backstory of the novel and how that romance turned out
- The basic differences between book & movie
- The cast of the movie which includes Angela Bassett (Stella Payne,) Taye Diggs (Winston Shakespeare,) Whoopi Goldberg (Delilah Abraham,) Regina King (Vanessa,) and Suzzanne Douglas (Angela.)
Clips Featured:
- How Stella Got Her Groove back trailer
- Stella & Winston meet their bartender
- Stella & Winston dance/flirt
- Outro music “Make My Body Hot” by Diana King
Join our Patreon page to help support the show! https://www.patreon.com/bookversusmovie
Book Vs. Movie podcast https://www.facebook.com/bookversusmovie/
Twitter @bookversusmovie www.bookversusmovie.com
Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com
Brought to you by Audible.com You can sign up for a FREE 30-day trial here http://www.audible.com/?source_code=PDTGBPD060314004R
Margo D. @BrooklynFitChik www.brooklynfitchick.com brooklynfitchick@gmail.com
Margo P. @ShesNachoMama https://coloniabook.weebly.com/
Book Vs Movie
Beloved
The Toni Morrison Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel Vs. the Oprah Winfrey Movie
It’s African American History Month and the Margos are eager to start with Toni Morrison’s 1987 widely-acclaimed novel Beloved which was turned into a movie with the help of Oprah Winfrey in 1998.
This novel is a story about an escaped slave, Sethe (played by Winfrey in the film) who when was threatened with capture, killed her daughter rather than have her face a life of being in chains. Her other children survive and eventually, they live a life as free people in Cincinnati.
Sethe lives with her daughter Denver while two of her sons have long ago runaway. Sethe and Denver believe their home is haunted by the spirit of her dead daughter. They rarely leave home and Denver is shy and lonely. Paul D. is a former slave of Sweet Home which is where Sethe and her family were kept before their escape across the Ohio River.
He catches up with Sethe in Cincinnati and convinces her and Denver to enjoy an evening out when they come across “Beloved”--the spirit of her dead child in a woman’s form. Beloved is feral and causes a great deal of strife in Sethe’s life.
The themes of the book cover everything from racism, sexism, class, spirituality, and the mother-daughter family dynamics and it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988 and was a runner up for the National Book Award that year. (This caused quite a bit of controversy in the African American literary community!)
It is now considered one of Morrison’s best work while concurrently being banned from high school curriculums across the country.
In this episode, we talk about the many differences between the original book & the movie to decide which we like better.
In this ep the Margos discuss:
- The incredible life of Toni Morrison
- The more controversial aspects of the book and why it is banned from so many schools
- The basic differences between book & movie.
- How Oprah Winfrey finally brought the adaptation to life
- The cast of the movie including Danny Glover (Paul D.,) Kimberly Elise (Denver,) Thandie Newton (Beloved) and Hill Harper as Halle.
Clips Featured:
- Beloved trailer
- Paul D. & Sethe get closer
- Young Sethe meets Amy Denver (Kessia Embry)
- Outro music “Storise Khoro Goliamo” by Mita Stoychera
Join our Patreon page to help support the show! https://www.patreon.com/bookversusmovie
Book Vs. Movie podcast https://www.facebook.com/bookversusmovie/
Twitter @bookversusmovie www.bookversusmovie.com
Email us at bookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com
Brought to you by Audible.com You can sign up for a FREE 30-day trial here http://www.audible.com/?source_code=PDTGBPD060314004R
Margo D. @BrooklynFitChik www.brooklynfitchick.com brooklynfitchick@gmail.com
Margo P. @ShesNachoMama https://coloniabook.weebly.com/