Over the last year I have watched Purple Rain with my wife a number of times. I've started to come up with a theory that the film is actually about the Kid giving into his darker side and becoming a murderer.

My theory is this:

Unsatisfied with his musical career, the kid begins to head down a very dark path. you see him dealing with his awful home life. his father is terrible, his music career isn't going well, he lashes out at his band mates, creating a rift, as we see during the course of the movie Wendy and Lisa stop showing up for rehearsal.

things are bad.

then Apollonia shows up. the kid starts to fixate. he imagines taking her on a ride into the hills, the purify yourself scene is actually happening in his head, they do become familiar, but not to the extent to what we see the kid dream up. Morris creates the band apollonia 6 and the scene where the kid slaps her happens not because of a perceived slight, but because he has now lost a potential boost to his band, they part ways. the kid goes and sees apollonia perform and as he realizes that he has been dealt a blow he will not likely survive, he heads into the alley abducts apollonia and takes to the tracks where he murders apollonia. we see him take a souvenir from her body (the earring).

the kid them heads home, and we "hear his father shoot himself". what actually happens is the kid takes his shot, but is unable to kill his father. we see the kid questioned at length about the situation, which is a little out of place because why would SO many detective and officers need to question him about an apparent self inflicted gunshot wound he just found. the freakout we see once the crowd has cleared, is his realization that his father will alert the authorities that HE tried to kill him, not that wound was self inflicted.

from this point in the film everything plays out as normal, but since the Kid sees his actions crashing around him, he gives his music one last shot. he kicks ass. and during his victory lap in the back, he see's apollonia, no one else seems to acknowledge her, his mind is clearly starting to crack.

excellent music ensues, the Purple Rain killer is born.

tigerlilyluv said:

A murderer? I just thought he was becoming his dad... a woman beater. His dad prolly just felt like it was too much. Prince talks about himself wanting to die in a few of his songs. Sounds to me more like wanting to commit suicide than becoming a murderer. Interesting, though.

^^^ This.

There is a scene after his father shoots himself where the Kid looks up and sees himself hanging.

To me [and this is not bashing] the move was about - violence begets violence.

The Kid was becoming his father from music to beating his girlfriend and killing himself.

What did Billy say? "Just like his father... What a waste."

Methinks you've watched Purple Rain waaaaaaaaaaay too many times...

elfrijole said: