Jacqueline Bobo Article

Even though Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple may have gone in a different direction than the author's original story, I feel like Jacqueline Bobo 's description of Spielberg as a scapegoat may be a bit harsh. I feel like Spielberg is sort of an engmatic figure in this discussion; he was the hottest director in Hollywood at the time, coming off a streak of some of the highest-grossing films in history, so he brought instant publicity and attention to the film. However, he may not have been the best choice since, as he mentioned, he was used to doing big-budget films with lots of special effects and The Color Purple was far from that. A smaller director who boasted experience with smaller projects or projects centered around African-Americans may have made the film a bit more authentic in comparison to the original book. In my opinion, the choice of Spielberg as director was not a huge deal, especially since he said that he "auditioned" himself for Alice Walker, in order to get her approval for the project. I am assuming that she was also on-site to provide her own input, which would have been very valuable to any director. On top of that, the film earned quite a few Academy Award nominations. I could think of worse fates for a film.