Fidelity refers to the ‘quality of being faithful’. An adaptation is judged based on whether the film precisely produces its source or not. And also An adaptation of the movie is an attempt to please the masses. There is an enormous difference between the quality of the novels and the quality of movies, as there are no limitations to writing a novel, but the movie director has many limitations within which they have to work. ‘The Color Purple’ is a movie adapted by Steven Spielberg in 1985. The style of the Novel and movie’s language states depression, trauma, illiteracy, and emotional state of mind. Alice Walker used the realistic kind of language that was superbly presented in the movie by Steven Spielberg. Of course, Spielberg has attempted to be true to its source, but no matter how much a director tries to be faithful to its source it never satisfies the imagination of a reader which he/she has imagined while reading the book. Alice Walkers novel was more painful and complex than the movie, although, Steven did justice with the novel, he lacked some main points that Walker wanted to focus upon. ‘The Color Purple’ also won awards for the best movie, best actors, and for its themes. Steven Spielberg has somehow managed to show the Celie’s (Whoopi Goldberg) brutal life. No one might indeed think that Whoopi
Goldberg, much known for her roles as a comedy actress, can play the crucial role of Celie. She has done her job excellently and this marks her finest debut in the film industry. At first, the movie focuses much on Celie’s life which makes viewers sympathize with her. Dissecting Celie’s story as her own story would be wrong, as Celie wasn’t the only one who suffered women’s oppression. It is a story of all the American-African women who were dealing with Women’s persecution in their day-by-day routine. Walker’s women made their bond together, whereas Steven presented the movie by comforting American mythologies. This is a movie where blacks are happily accepting their conditions. The patriarchal men Walker represents to the reader are not shown similarly in the movie. They aren’t portrayed as harsh men, nor do they dominate women. The character of Albert (Danny Glover) was not shown as much as good as it was in the novel. He was shown as a man who was befuddled with his own emotions. The other character that is being portrayed well was the character of Sofia. The role was played by Oprah Winfrey, she has beautifully done her job, a woman full of pride and confidence. The subject of lesbianism which Walker focused on was not much shown by Steven Spielberg. The natural bond was there but in Much compressed terms.