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About This Quiz
"The Color Purple" is a timeless story of human strength, survival, and grace. To learn more about the movie version of "The Color Purple," take the quiz.
How does the movie, "The Color Purple," begin?
it's a lift from The Sound of Music
it's like a scene from Oklahoma
Celie and Nettie are playing in a field of purple flowers
The movie begins with Celie and Nettie playing innocently in a field of purple flowers. This sets up the symbolism of the color purple.
Celie looking at the flowers
What taboo is broken at the very beginning of the film?
incest
The opening statement about incest shocks the audience from the very start of the movie.
interracial marriage
religious issues
slavery
What was Celie's belief about how her mother died?
abuse
a broken heart
Celie said her mother died of a broken heart.
tuberculosis
overwork
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What issue about sexuality was practically cut out from the film?
men and women could cross-dress
men could do a woman's work
that incest was bad
Celie and Shug were in a lesbian relationship
In the book, and according to the author, Celie and Shug were probably in a lesbian relationship. Steven Spielberg thought it would be too big an issue to tackle, on top of all the other issues in the movie, so it was downplayed.
How old was Celie at the beginning of the story?
14 years
In some states, some sort of parental consent is necessary.
19 years
10 years
she never "says"
What was one hope spot for Celie?
she would marry away from her dad
a magical relative would take her away
she would get away someday
her children weren't given to someone else
Celie narrates that she heard that her babies were given to a preacher and his wife.
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What funny slice-of-life scene shows how important Celie is to the household?
when she is the one who prepares for Shug's installment in the house
when Mister tries to do things in the kitchen
Slicing himself while cutting bread, making a mess using the stove, Mister — whose name is Albert — knows what to do, but is all thumbs in the kitchen. It's a foreshadowing of how his life falls apart after Celie leaves, and explains why his house was a mess when his first wife died.
when she is shown improving how the house looks overall
when she is shown laying out clothes
How did the original book author, Alice Walker, first react to the finished movie?
unsatisfied
Alice Walker was seriously concerned about how different the movie version of "The Color Purple" was from the book. However, as she saw audience reactions, she softened her stance. She now professes to like the film, thinking of it as just very different from the book.
did not care
approved
loved it as a faithful translation
To whom was "Mister" originally attracted?
Shug
Sofia
Nettie
It's established early on that "Mister" is very attracted to Nettie. But in the end, he marries Celie.
Squeak
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How did Harpo, Mister's eldest son, greet Celie when she was first brought home?
with a rock
with open arms
with silence
with a gun
Harpo threw a rock at Celie's head. As the story goes progresses, he breaks the cycle of abuse that his father and grandfather began.
What could have been: Who was Steven Spielberg pursuing for the role of Shug?
Diana Ross
Gladys Knight
Chaka Khan
Spielberg was pursuing the legendary Chaka Khan to play Shug. She turned it down, however. She later admitted that she had great doubts about taking on that role.
Pattie LaBelle
What did Whoopi Goldberg supposedly use to audition for the role of Celie?
an improvised dramatic performance
a read-through of the script
a section of the book
a comedy skit
Whoopi Goldberg used a comedy skit to audition for her role in "The Color Purple." She not only got the part, she received an Oscar nomination for her dramatic performance in the movie.
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What is the "in-joke" about the character named Harpo?
it's the name of Oprah's production company
Harpo is not only the name of Mr. Albert's eldest son (and Sofia's husband), it's also the name of Oprah Winfrey's production company, and her name spelled backwards. It was probably good for a few laughs on the set.
he's named after one of the Marx brothers
he's named after a film executive
It's about having the most out-of-place name in the roles
Why does Mister need a wife?
he wants someone to take care of the children
he likes being taken care of
he needs a "house slave"
From how it is presented in the beginning, Mister's home skills are nonexistent. Celie's first job was to clean up the kitchen and what appeared to be the main room of the house.
he wants more children
Why did Celie have to comb Mister's daughters' hair?
their looks remind him of his first wife
it's bad luck to shave it all off
The scene establishes that Mister's word is law. The slap on the face just reinforces it.
he didn’t want them looking shamed
he didn't want to pay for it
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Many actresses in "The Color Purple" made their debut in this film. Who was already working in the movies at that point?
Dana Ivey
Rae Dawn Chong
Rae Dawn Chong was a regular movie actress by the time she did "The Color Purple." She played Squeak, the girlfriend of Oprah's character's husband.
Margaret Avery
Susan Beaubian
The casting presentation in the film was somewhat unusual. Why was this so?
the lead actress' name was prefaced with "and introducing"
Big movies don't usually come out with a lead actor or actress who hasn’t had a track record. This is why Whoopi Goldberg's name wasn't used so much in the promotion of the film.
they weren't sure if their lead was good enough
they did not emphasize anyone
they purposefully made the casting low-key
What was the first symbolic sign of freedom that Celie had?
she kept a good house
she had her dreams
she could stay with Nettie
Nettie taught her how to read
Nettie always seemed to be the more aggressive one of the sisters. It's no small feat that she was able to teach Celie how to read.
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What finally pushed Mister (Albert) to throw Nettie out of the house?
he hated books
she was educating Celie
she refused his advances
Mister threw Nettie off the property because she "refused her advances."
she was putting ideas in Celie's head
What is the sisters' bonding ritual?
looking at the sunset
having fun without a care in the world
reading to each other
a kind of hand-clapping game
In three or four scenes in the film, Celie and Nettie play a hand-clapping game. This becomes their secret ritual of sorts, and you can see Celie mime it when Nettie is thrown off Mister's property.
What strange resolution does Mister's cruelty have at the end of the movie?
he keeps on hiding Nettie's letters to Celie
The movie shows many scenes where Mister (Albert) inercepts letters from Nettie to Celie. This proves to be a turning point later in the movie, but for most of it, Celie just doesn't know it's happening.
he keeps on being a bad husband
he abuses Celie on all levels
he still pines for Nettie
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How is Sofia introduced in the movie?
as a woman who understands that men are idiots
as a woman who can stand up to Mister
as a woman about town
as Harpo's strong-willed fiancée
Sofia is a strong-willed woman who manages to "wrest" Harpo away from Mister. She has many more hardships to endure in the movie.
What was awkward about Harpo and Sofia's marriage?
they already had a baby
the in-laws are miles apart
It's obvious that while Sofia and Harpo are smitten with each other, despite already having a baby, the in-laws are poles apart from each other. On one side, it's nearly empty, and on the other, there are many happy relatives.
Harpo wasn't too sure
Sofia shotgunned Harpo
Why were Akosua Busia (Nettie) and Desreta Jackson not told about the sister-separation scene.
it was a test scene that ended up in the movie
they were originally going to use it for a technical test
they had to act as convincingly as possible
Busia and Jackson were simply told that no matter what, they couldn’t be separated. It was all ad lib and real-life emotions from that point on.
it was an added scene that worked
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What is Harpo's big conflict?
he doesn’t love Sofia
he's a weakling
he's a bad man with an overpowering wife
he's a good man from a tradition of abusive men
Harpo has a good, sweet side to him, but in trying to measure up to his dad, he ends up trying to abuse Sofia. And she's not the sort to take it sitting down.
What is Sofia's greatest strength and weakness?
she refuses to be beat down by anyone
Sofia may come off as larger than life, but that's because she refuses to be put down by anyone. Her sense of self-worth is written large in her character.
she is arrogant
she won’t listen
she has no respect for her husband
Whose arrival changes the entire house situation?
Shug Avery, Mister's mistress
Shug Avery was brought into Mister's house because she was very sick. Over time, she and Celie form a very deep relationship with each other.
Squeak, Harpo's mistress
The return of Sofia
The return of Nettie
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How does Celie start her friendship with Shug?
with music
with acceptance of the family situation
with a well-made breakfast
At first, she wanted to see how Shug would redecorate the wall with thrown food, but the moment she accepted the food, it seems that a bond started to form.
with silence
What does the porch scene with Albert and his father show?
Albert is a coward
Albert's father is even worse than Albert, given his attitude towards Albert's situation and lack of concern. He looks more civilized, but that's apparently just a shell.
Albert is still scared of his own dad
Albert is a product of bad breeding
Albert was probably under his dad's shadow as well
What was Harpo's big idea that was taboo for the community?
he became a pimp
he built a "juke joint"
Harpo's more creative, artistic side came out with him building a "juke joint," a place where people could have fun, have drinks, and listen to music. In a very religious community, however, a juke joint is a definite no-no.
he welcomed gambling
he welcomed drinking
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Who was the actor who played Swain, Harpo's friend who helped him out with building the juke joint?
Arsenio Hall
Richard Pryor
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne can be seen in minor role as Swain, Harpo's friend who helped him with the juke joint. He was credited as Larry Fishburne.
Eddie Murphy
Who invited Steven Spielberg to direct the movie?
Quincy Jones
At first, Steven Spielberg turned down Quincy Jones' offer, saying he felt he was the wrong director for the project. Jones, however, kept on hammering the point that Spielberg was a good director. Spielberg finally accepted.
Oprah Winfrey
Peter Guber
Whoopi Goldberg
Why did Sofia get in so much trouble?
she never gave up on Harpo
she had to bring up her family by herself
she refused to work for a white woman
she punched a white man
Sofia punched not only a white man, but a man of means. Even when she finally broke through her own trauma, traces of the suffering she experienced still came through in some later scenes.
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What good thing did Albert do at the end of the movie?
he finally kicks out his own dad from his life
he leaves Celie alone, and this allows Nettie to blossom as a person
he helped reunite Celie with her sister, Nettie, and her lost children
One could say that Albert is on the way to belatedly becoming a better person, as his assistance in reuniting Celie with the rest of her family helps undo some of the things he's done in his life.
he asks for Celie's forgiveness
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