You know how in the story Morris and the Kid are at war with one another? Well do you think the whole story is a metaphore for the inner struggle Prince feels in his life?

You know how Robin Power said that Prince told her that the Morris Day character was created after the more materalistic, playboy side of himself, who wanted respect and admiration from others and yet it is obvious that there is also a side of Prince that wants to be a good person who wants to honor God and his father and a side that is trying to be good in a shallow world and his struggle to be above the evils of this universe?

It seems that the Morris/Kid feud that is going on inside of Prince and all of us really? We all want to be good people I think deep down but yet it can be hard when things like greed, pride and ego overtake us and the things that take us farther and farther away from being happy and at peace.

I know the movie could have been written a little better but I think the basic story is very telling. You can pretty much tell Prince has a conflict going on inside of him. You can tell he because he contradicts himself alot in his actions and words. Like how God and religion is very important to him much more than anything you can accumilate in this world...then he gets kinda lost and seems to want to be "on top" again in the entertainment industry. Like Diamonds and Pearls? Obviously "Cream" was a tool to get him on radio and have everyone talking about him again. He seemed at that time to want to be seen out flashing money around, with women on his arm and have people in awe of him again.

Then you can still hear the conflict in his songs like "My name is Prince" about how fancy cars, women save face but not the soul?

It seems recently like he is going through this thing again..like how he wants to be a good religious man and a good influence on young people but yet his actions are suggesting that he is going out of his way to achive notoriety and fame and respect from the mass media and making lots of money again, wants to be a celebrity again...like American Idol?? I mean really...hahaha


I just think the movie has a really great message that I think we all can relate to...we want to be happy and feel good about ourselves and what we are doing in this life, we are all looking for that spiritual teacher like Ingrid Chavez to help us when we get lost and yet the ego our inner Morris Day wants the materialistic stuff because we think it makes us look like a better person and gives us a false sense of superiority.

Ingrid Chavez would get it.

Krystal666 said:

Krystal, your best post... EVER !!!


Graffiti Bridge is very personal.....good work

Very thoughtful post. And yes, my sentiments exactly

.

I am a Graffiti Bridge Lover...but u gotta go into as "NOT a Sequel" of Purple Rain.. If u go into it as a battle inside of Prince's head of his "spritual" side vs his "worldly" side.. and imagine the Bridge as a special place ONLY he and Aura can go to and if u can imagine that Morris and Prince are really the same person.. and.....well u either love it or you don't .. Enjoy



Krystal, I posted the above on a GB thread and YES .. I think you are dead-on

Let me just take it a step further. Prince's music is a MIRROR 2 his listener's SOUL. 2 look at Prince and his music is 2 look at a piece yourself.

There is ALWAYS something in Prince's creations that people can relate 2 on a personal level. That's why the man is still around after damn near 30 years.

Man, that would have been an amazing end, if it turned out that Prince (sorry, "The Kid") had been imagining Morris Day/Tyler Durden, and that he didn't really exist.

"The first rule of Glam Slam is you do not talk about Glam Slam."

booyah said:

IDEJJD said:

but jerome goes there too

BZZT

I think Morris is way too masculine to present any inner, hidden persona of Prince.

theghostoftonym said:

JEROME AND MORRIS ARE KIND OF THE SAME.. YA KNOW "PIMP SANDWICH"

I DIDN'T SAY PRINCE WAS A PERFECT WRITER....HE MISSED THAT ...

One of the reasons I love the album. And I love some of the live performances in the movie but the movie pretty much blows. Everyone wants to find Graffiti Bridge. Have you found yours yet? What am I saying?

well i dont know about y'all but i decided to heed prince's advice, i went out and i found the most graffiti-infested bridge i could find. i expected to find ingrid chavez, but instead i found three junkies who stole my cellphone then stabbed me in the arm with an aids-infested needle. i tried to think of a prince song that could have soundtracked the scene....i thought maybe "i love u in me"

Prince has always had that struggle u have described in your analysis of GB.
And he has conveyed this struggle throughout his music, from Temptation to Lolita amongst many other before and after.
The thing is...we all have this struggle because we have something imprinted
upon our hearts that makes us want to be good, while at the same time a nature
within us that lusts for things that can be destructive....

booyah said:

He almost did do exactly that!
There was a little known movie project Prince was briefly working on in 1986
to tie in with the Camille album, where Prince would play both himself and
Camille. Only at the end of the movie would we find out they weren't brothers
but 2 sides of the same split personality.

Krystal666 said:

Krystal666 said:

This movie was my least favorite. But after reading this post I look at that particual movie in a totally DIFFERENT perspective now. what you said was awesome!!!!! But I will say this.....The only way prince will ever find GOD, Is to stop looking in RELIGION!!!!

nowikno1 said:

Oh thanks for telling me that! That's cool my thoughts effected someone eles...now I'm really glad I took the time to write my post. hahah!

Krystal666 said:

Ok, who are you and what have you done with Krystal?

Just Kidding, nice post.

I've always felt that Prince isn't as mysterious as many people think. He has many layers, but he's actually quite revealing if you pay close attention to his art. The unique way that he expresses himself often compels me to examine more deeply his thoughts and feelings as well as my own.

I like GB because it's full of metaphors, messages and great music. The path to redemption and reconcilliation is a theme that Prince revisits again and again and something we all struggle with and should examine within ourselves. The movie reminds me of a very artsy, rock-opera type of production. I has it's flaws, but I've seen worse movies from people who actually make movies for a living.

Like someone else suggested, the fact that much of his work is deeply personal is what touches so many people and part of what's kept him around for nearly 30 years, along with his phenomenal talent. It's one of the things I love most about Prince.

Hmmm...something eles just struck me...you know when Morris is like "I heard you've been making that spirtual noise...you know I can't make any money that way..." and Prince is like "Maybe if you gave it a chance you would someday?"

Do you think this is actually Prince talking to himself? Like his approach to making music....he's done alot of personal songs...greatly experimental...alot of stuff that hasn't been released...and has made alot of songs that were purely catering to the mainstream music climate...like he thinks to himself how he really wants to make spirtual music and inspire others to love God but he also knows he wants to make money/be a big superstar so he think "Ok I know they are gonna love it if I write Gett Off and make a video with me rolling around with twins" That will get him on MTV but do you think that sceane is showing how he feels he has to compromise himself to satisfy the inner Kid AND the inner Morris????

Krystal666 said:

Exactly Krystal.. it has always been a battle against himself...ALWAYS !!!

the best thread you've ever had.. congrats!!!

Yea, it's personal, like crabs.

There's also the aspect of "maybe I'm doomed to make the same mistakes as my father".

But it's not really delved into in GB.
I gather you supposed to take that as a continuance from PR.

But again its the money issue--"so u wasnt makin any money, we were gettin by..."

He knows the right way to go, but money gets in the way. Even today.

He's got the issues with money ,pussy and
plenty more.

U need a golden cal-cu-lator 2 divide.

Hey Krystal666...I think I'm gonna finally check out the movie after reading your post. I've always loved the album! And I've always viewed Prince and his collective work of music as a projection of the "conflict within." It sounds like this movie is the perfect visual embodiment of that struggle.

Gracias!

.....

I think that Graffiti Bridge really digs deep in terms of what you're talking about, Krystal. It's more interesting than Purple Rain when you really think about it. Purple Rain was just about him getting a girl. I didn't understand Graffiti Bridge at first but now I think I do. It's like he wants to incorporate religion into his music but his other side won't let him because he knows that he won't make as much money that way. Then this Aura girl shows up and teaches him everything but she dies in the end. I can't tell how the ending is supposed to come out, but the death of Aura is more like a spiritual rebirth for Prince, allowing him to come out with Diamonds and Pearls the next year, which was the complete opposite of what Graffiti Bridge was about.

lovesexyq said:

oh...thanks.

gcu1 said:

Oh wow! What a compliment. That's great..I'm glad. I think if you look at it more abstractly rather than just taking the movie at face value you will get more out of it. There is some really great lines in there...Aura I think has the best parts in the movie and some of the lines she says in the movie are the most thought provoking.

lovesexyq said:

See that is a really interesting part in the movie too. She dies but she was supposed to leave him because we have to all eventually go on our spiritual journey for ourselves. Aura came to Prince (probably from God) because God knew Prince was going to become overwhlemed with the pressure of this conflict. You know how some people come in and out of your life and sometimes there is someone that teaches you alot...well Aura came at the right time to help guide Prince...but she couldn't hold his hand and help him make decisions for the rest of his life...that is something he (we all) have to do. I guess it is like we all need to be put to the test and have to remember the wisdom that that person taught us.

I danced with a woman who was older than I a few years ago. She was an incredibly spiritual woman and she took a liking to me and we would talk alot. Everyone thought she was odd...but she just was honest with herself and didn't find it necessairy to act for people. She was also really open with the struggles of worldly posessions/admiration/men's attention but also knew that that stuff was not going to fufill her soul. She didn't pretend to know all the awnsers But stuff she says still pops up in my mind when I feel lost, confused and scared. It's funny once we were talking about fake people and how some people really don't understand who they are and want to be everything to everybody....she said that they just weren't awake yet. What she ment was spirtualy awake...they were sleeping. At the time I didn't understand her...but I have realised now that true self esteem and peace come from inside of you. And that is when you realize that it is ok to be yourself and feel confident about being who you are and trust yourself that you know inside what is right and follow that inner voice.You wake up and realise that as the movie points out "it's just around the corner" Everyone is looking to be happy and feel good...but it's not in clothes, being in the "in" crowd, or having women jealous of you and men lust after you. That stuff isn't geniunine and that stuff will make you feel good for the moment but it's not real. When people admire you for outside stuff they are not really admiring you they are admiring your image. Your image is NOT you. Happiness is just around the corner...it's in you you just have to realise it!

Anyway back to the movie...the point was that Aura leaving was a turing point for Prince. He had to make the decision what to do next with his career. It's funny at the end...you know how Morris was not defeated but how they smiled at one another and shook hands....like Prince accepted that Morris and the Kid were both apart of him and had to co-exist together. It's very easy to see the Sexy MF video Prince smiling back at the Kid. Then next D&P...nothing really spiritual about that...more like a tool to make Prince more money. But Prince had to make a decision in his life...but then again after D&P, symbol album he was on top again in the music world...but was he happy?????

2freaky4church1 said:

great thread krys