Im thinking about doing a report 4 my film class on Purple Rain, but I need some help on details. What would u guys say are the themes and examples of symbolism in the movie? Also, how does the director's visual style help to convey the meaning or mood in some of the scenes? All help would be appreciated...

Do your own homework. You'll learn more.

For symbolism, according to Prince, Purple Rain means blood in the sky (which is blue)

aardvark15 said:

For symbolism, according to Prince, Purple Rain means blood in the sky (which is blue)

Weird...

"You got a girlfriend?"-John L.

"Yeah, I got a girlfriend"-Kid

"You gonna get married?"-John L.

"I don't know"-Kid

"Never get married!"-John L.

Powerful scene I think, in which the Kid's father knows that the abuse he inflicted on his wife and child will only be passed down to the Kid. John L. could see the pinned up frustrations in his son with the family, band and possibly his love life and he knows that he would also end up being an abuser.

That's my take on one scene.

[Edited 9/28/11 12:37pm]

Prince slapping the fuck out of his 'dad', Prince slapping the fuck out of Apollonia, Prince singing, Apollonia jumping into a lake topless, throwing people into bins.

aardvark15 said:

For symbolism, according to Prince, Purple Rain means blood in the sky (which is blue)

Prince was referring to 1999, (the sky was all purple), not Purple Rain

exodus said:

aardvark15 said:

For symbolism, according to Prince, Purple Rain means blood in the sky (which is blue)

Prince was referring to 1999, (the sky was all purple), not Purple Rain

That makes more sense. Why would anyone want to see their non-weekend lover friend in an explosion.

If you're taking film class, watch the movie with the commentary track if you haven't.

Also keep in mind The Kid's dad was a frustrated musician who never made it because he settled down too early and was saddled with responsibilities.

And from what I've read, Prince's father probably wasn't "marriage material" but lived a long life. If there was any abuse going on in the home, Prince would've been real little when it happened. And I'm sure Prince writing songs with his dad and giving him credit was about father son bonding, as well as sending his dad some royalty checks. The fact his mom worked for years says she was the type of person to not be dependent on her son, unlike a lot of stage moms who become "managers" or more accurately, "manglers".

It's not a true story about Prince, any more than "Jailhouse Rock" is a true story about Elvis, or "A Hard Days Night" is about The Beatles.

Or "8 Mile", which is the closest thing to "Purple Rain' you can compare a movie to.

purplemonster04 said:

throwing people into bins.

purplemonster04 said:

Prince slapping the fuck out of his 'dad', Prince slapping the fuck out of Apollonia, Prince singing, Apollonia jumping into a lake topless, throwing people into bins.

Lawd...such nastiness.

Genesia said:

purplemonster04 said:

Prince slapping the fuck out of his 'dad', Prince slapping the fuck out of Apollonia, Prince singing, Apollonia jumping into a lake topless, throwing people into bins.

Lawd...such nastiness.

Bravo well done! I'm laughing like crazy!

[img:$uid]http://gifsoup.com/view/180852/princepimphand-o.gif[/img:$uid]

Anybody know where i could find the plot summary online?

ariomuse said:

Anybody know where i could find the plot summary online?

http://tinyurl.com/3whmalu

purplemonster04 said:

ariomuse said:

Anybody know where i could find the plot summary online?

http://tinyurl.com/3whmalu

I meant like a full play-by-play of what goes on in the movie not just one paragraph that kind of summarizes it.

joyinrepetition said:

"You got a girlfriend?"-John L.

"Yeah, I got a girlfriend"-Kid

"You gonna get married?"-John L.

"I don't know"-Kid

"Never get married!"-John L.

Powerful scene I think, in which the Kid's father knows that the abuse he inflicted on his wife and child will only be passed down to the Kid. John L. could see the pinned up frustrations in his son with the family, band and possibly his love life and he knows that he would also end up being an abuser.

That's my take on one scene.

[Edited 9/28/11 12:37pm]

That scene sticks in my head, mostly coz my stepfather told me the same thing (randomly in a pub) when i was 17...

Watch the movie with pen & paper in hand, take notes, and then watch the movie again.

ariomuse said:

purplemonster04 said:

http://tinyurl.com/3whmalu

I meant like a full play-by-play of what goes on in the movie not just one paragraph that kind of summarizes it.

Why not just read the script? It includes all the dialog and full descriptions of the action.

I'd provide you a link, but I think that might be breaking the site rules.

I'd tell you how to find it, but that might also be breaking the site rules.

Put it this way, if I wanted to find the purple rain script, I might just put 'purple rain script' into a search engine, and if it didn't come back as the very first search result, I'd be really surprised (because it does).

Prince feelin' up Apollonia like he's picking on one of his guitars. Great scene.