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The Colour Purple Feminist Analysis

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Recommended: Feminism as a special topic in literature

Nadia Misako Izarra
Critical Thinking Skills (Fall 2014)
Dr. Don Bysouth
Date: 15/02/2015

Final Assignment: Critical Essay
How relevant is black feminism to the film The Colour Purple? Discuss.

“Celie, you got the ugliest smile this side of creation,” Celie’s father says to her as the The Colour Purple opens.

The film is director Steven Spielberg’s period drama film about an impoverished African-American girl named Celie growing up in the 1900s. It is also a journey of Celie’s transformation, of empowerment, from her struggle with the misogyny and racism surrounding her. The film’s themes provide an interesting narrative on the feminist philosophy, specifically black feminism.

Black feminism is defined as a strand of feminist thought which highlights the multiple disadvantages of gender, class and race that shape the experiences of non-white women. Black feminists reject the idea of a single unified gender oppression that is experienced evenly by all women, and argue that early feminist analysis reflected the specific concerns of white, middle-class women. Black feminism argues that sexism, class oppression and racism are interrelated factors that need to be overcome by black women and can also be defined as a process of self-conscious struggle that empowers women and men to actualize a humanist vision of community. Black feminism originated from the second-wave of feminism, with the first conference of the National Black Feminist Organisation in 1973. Several
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