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The Color Purple Trailer Is Here, But Is It Queer?
Fans on Twitter are getting nervous.
The original The Color Purple, the 1985 film based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and directed by Steven Spielberg, is a movie that queer audiences hold near and dear to their hearts. Not only is it one of the greatest films ever made, period, but it also sweetly depicts black queerness on screen, something that remains painfully underrepresented even today, nearly 40 (yes, 40) years later.
Naturally, the news that a new musical adaption is on the way generated plenty of excitement. That buzz was largely due to a cast including Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks, both of whom reprise their Broadway roles, along with Colman Domingo and Taraji P. Henson, who’ve also signed on to bring the story to life.
The trailer finally dropped on Sunday and it looks gorgeous. The costuming, the performances, the music, it’s all there and the hype is high.
There is one thing seemingly missing from the trailer, and it has fans on social media getting nervous. We’re talking, of course, about the original version’s queerness — although to be fair, most of that ended up on the cutting room floor. A modern retelling is a perfect opportunity to course correct and return the story to Walker’s original queer vision, which included a love story for Celie (Barrino) and Shug (Henson). But will it? If so, they aren’t spoiling it in the trailer — and fans are not happy.\u201cchile if this the color purple remake cuts out the lesbian storyline like the spielberg version did,,, we can\u2019t go through this again, it\u2019s a heart of the story\u201d— yasmine bolden (they/she) (@yasmine bolden (they/she)) 1684808036
\u201cThey're saying it's a "bold re-telling" of The Color Purple...and I just want to know I'd that means they're going to honor the book this time and make them lesbian again \ud83e\uddd0\ud83d\udc40\u201d— Professional Brokeshamer (@Professional Brokeshamer) 1684809287
\u201cAre they keeping the lesbian relationship in The Colour Purple this time or will it be just a kiss again\u201d— marcus \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@marcus \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1684833387
Others are already bracing for the predictable backlash of people accusing the film of being part of the dreaded “gay agenda” and who’ve obviously not read the source material which was unapologetic in its queerness.
\u201cBefore y'all get mad about The Color Purple, Celie was queer if not completely lesbian, in the book, only being sexually excited and enjoying sex with Shug. \n\nI don't wanna hear about shoving down our throats when the new movie come out.\u201d— Dr. Lexx Brown-James (@Dr. Lexx Brown-James) 1684852367
\u201cBefore y\u2019all get on here talking about the Gay Agenda when it comes to the Color Purple The Book is Gay As Hell. Big Big Lesbian Energy\u201d— Sith Lords Killing Their Way to the Top\ud83e\udd23 (@Sith Lords Killing Their Way to the Top\ud83e\udd23) 1684858310
\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be interesting (and by interesting I mean annoying) when uninformed people get mad at the new movie-musical COLOR PURPLE for depicting the core lesbian romance between Ceilie and Shug and accuse it of being \u201ctampered\u201d with.\u201d— Ready for Our Closeup Podcast (@Ready for Our Closeup Podcast) 1684848341
While this initial trailer may not have been overtly queer-inclusive, the hype (and hope) is still high for this one.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
