they saw it as a little bit of truth wrapped in a blanket of a few stereotypes and as a touching story that needed to be told.The larger sociopolitical implications of The Color Purple are very serious. Black family life is presented in this film as dysfunctional. Women are seen as fragile and easily abused by their savage and brutal men and everyone acts "lower class" even if they are supposed to be middle-class. Just about all black people were in fact lower class during the time period of the film so the fact that the family is middle-class creates an unrealistic feeling. The ideas that are presented throughout the story seem trivialized by the fact that the characters act like minstrels, singing and dancing, as fodder for jokes. This presentation perpetuates the stereotype of the black person as an idiot, savage, simpleton who knows no better but finally just can't take the abuse anymore and rises up against it. This could foster a sense of hope, especially for young, abused women, however, more likely than not it could just be used as an other excuse as to why white people don't take black people seriously. The Color Purple may be an uplifting tale about triumphing over abuse but it is also a dark look at the way society thinks black men, women and families act. Of all the black people I know, this is a far cry from the truth. In Innis and Feagin's article, the chief concerns of the authors are how the black middle-class views The Cosby Show, and what influences their decisions about what they see. Unfortunately television presents many potential representational problems. Because it is watched by such a wide variety of people, there has to be some identifying characteristics to tell people who is being presented and what they stand for. Usually this identifying information consists of stereotypes and minstrel-like bufoonish characters for comic relief. Also, due to the nature of sponsors, television is unable to tack...
