Frankly Speaking with Tyra G

Frankly Speaking with Tyra G


THE COLOR PURPLE. This movie changed me. A conversation between NPR movie guide Lilly Percy and her guest, poet Danez Smith.

January 16, 2024

There is a moment in Steven Spielberg‘s “The Color Purple” when a woman named Celie smiles and smiles and smiles. That was the moment when I knew this movie was going to be as good as it seemed and was going to keep the promise it made by daring to tell Celie’s story. It is not a story that would seem easily suited to the movies.


The film is based on the novel by Alice Walker, who told Celie’s story through a series of letters, some never sent, many never received, most addressed to God. The letters are her way of maintaining sanity in a world where few others ever cared to listen to her. The turning point in the book, and the movie, comes after Celie’s husband brings home the fancy woman he has been crazy about for years – a pathetic, alcoholic juke-joint singer named Shug Avery, who has been ravaged by life yet still has an indestructible beauty.”–Roger Ebert, Movie Critic


Grab your favorite snack, sit back, and listen to movie clips wrapped in authentic conversations and new perspectives. Be entertained.