I have always loved the movie. Lost count of how many times I have seen it over the years. This past weekend, my band played an outdoor festival in southern China. The day of sound check there was a rain delay so we are hanging out in the service tent/green room with a bunch of other bands. I put on the movie Purple Rain to pass the time and folks started gathering. We get called to the stage about 30 minutes into the movie for sound check, when we get back the movie is over.

I asked how was it and got some interesting responses from people who had never seen the movie before, and in many cases, were not aware of Prince. Namely, a Japanese girl guitar player who asked, "Why is The Kid the hero? Why not Morris? " It got me to thinking. The Kid is abusive to his girlfriend, is a bad employee by not showing up to meetings and leaving work early, refuses to help his friend form a band, does not treat his own band very well, and uses evil to make a monkey puppet talk. And he is generally sullen throughout the movie.

Meanwhile, Morris treats the ladies proper, shows up to work on time, helps his friends get into the business, has a great relationship with his band, and uses no evil magic. He is in good spirits and is a barrel of laughs throughout the movie.

Try watching the movie again with that in mind. I guess I always viewed The Kid as the hero because I knew Prince was the star going into it. If you go into it without a "colonized mind," the movie may have a different skew to it.

Thoughts anyone?

Yep.

leonche64 said:

Meanwhile, Morris treats the ladies proper

Yeah, ladies love it when you throw them head first into a dumpster.

NouveauDance said:

leonche64 said:

Meanwhile, Morris treats the ladies proper

Yeah, ladies love it when you throw them head first into a dumpster.

Haaaaaaaaaaa. Well played.

Like all of Prince's movies, Purple Rain is about love.

By love of course, I mean vaginas.

Essentially, you have to look at it from a high-brow concept sort of way.

In Purple Rain, love conquers all. You can beat your women, bu through the power of music, they will forgive you. But before you can snag her, you have to overpower her with your dark horse bisexual French Colonial figure skater aura.

And if you look at it as metaphor of love representing vaginas, you'll see that the women in the movie express pure love for their men. In essence, the women are surragates for the vagina itself. And since the men beat the vaginas, one can see that this is symbolic of a good hard pounding that leaves the vagina both bewildered and utterly satisfied.

What Prince is telling the world is that if you beat your vagina hard enough, it will certainly guide you to the Purple Rain.

By Purple Rain, I mean Larry Graham's bigass moustache.

It's very obvious if you pay attention.

imago said:

Like all of Prince's movies, Purple Rain is about love.

By love of course, I mean vaginas.

Essentially, you have to look at it from a high-brow concept sort of way.

In Purple Rain, love conquers all. You can beat your women, bu through the power of music, they will forgive you. But before you can snag her, you have to overpower her with your dark horse bisexual French Colonial figure skater aura.

And if you look at it as metaphor of love representing vaginas, you'll see that the women in the movie express pure love for their men. In essence, the women are surragates for the vagina itself. And since the men beat the vaginas, one can see that this is symbolic of a good hard pounding that leaves the vagina both bewildered and utterly satisfied.

What Prince is telling the world is that if you beat your vagina hard enough, it will certainly guide you to the Purple Rain.

By Purple Rain, I mean Larry Graham's bigass moustache.

It's very obvious if you pay attention.

...

imago said:

Like all of Prince's movies, Purple Rain is about love.

By love of course, I mean vaginas.

Essentially, you have to look at it from a high-brow concept sort of way.

In Purple Rain, love conquers all. You can beat your women, bu through the power of music, they will forgive you. But before you can snag her, you have to overpower her with your dark horse bisexual French Colonial figure skater aura.

And if you look at it as metaphor of love representing vaginas, you'll see that the women in the movie express pure love for their men. In essence, the women are surragates for the vagina itself. And since the men beat the vaginas, one can see that this is symbolic of a good hard pounding that leaves the vagina both bewildered and utterly satisfied.

What Prince is telling the world is that if you beat your vagina hard enough, it will certainly guide you to the Purple Rain.

By Purple Rain, I mean Larry Graham's bigass moustache.

It's very obvious if you pay attention.

Ain't no way I can translate that into Japanese without causing an international incident.

I don't see anyone as a hero, what heroics did they perform?

its a story about a troubled musician

imago said:

Like all of Prince's movies, Purple Rain is about love.

By love of course, I mean vaginas.

Essentially, you have to look at it from a high-brow concept sort of way.

In Purple Rain, love conquers all. You can beat your women, bu through the power of music, they will forgive you. But before you can snag her, you have to overpower her with your dark horse bisexual French Colonial figure skater aura.

And if you look at it as metaphor of love representing vaginas, you'll see that the women in the movie express pure love for their men. In essence, the women are surragates for the vagina itself. And since the men beat the vaginas, one can see that this is symbolic of a good hard pounding that leaves the vagina both bewildered and utterly satisfied.

What Prince is telling the world is that if you beat your vagina hard enough, it will certainly guide you to the Purple Rain.

By Purple Rain, I mean Larry Graham's bigass moustache.

It's very obvious if you pay attention.

Geezuz.

OldFriends4Sale said:

I don't see anyone as a hero, what heroics did they perform?

its a story about a troubled musician

Protagonist, sympathetic character, star...if we take things too literal, the meaning is lost.

leonche64 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I don't see anyone as a hero, what heroics did they perform?

its a story about a troubled musician

Protagonist, sympathetic character, star...if we take things too literal, the meaning is lost.

im not taking it literal

there is a very romantic idea of hero and Morris nor the Kid nor Christopher fit the bill

NouveauDance said:

leonche64 said:

Meanwhile, Morris treats the ladies proper

Yeah, ladies love it when you throw them head first into a dumpster.

I was starting to agree with the Op until I read this. I laughed out loud at work!

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

NouveauDance said:

Yeah, ladies love it when you throw them head first into a dumpster.

I was starting to agree with the Op until I read this. I laughed out loud at work!

Me too

Honestly Prince was NOT the best thing in the movie acting wise. Prince was depressing as hell. All sad and "whoa is me booo hoo' Morris stole the film every scene he was in.

Performance wise Prince came out ahead because it was his movie. If he had lighten the reigns (no pun intended) and put the Time in more, I wonder how different opinions would be.

DecaturStone said:

Purpleaxxe1972 said:

I was starting to agree with the Op until I read this. I laughed out loud at work!

Me too

Honestly Prince was NOT the best thing in the movie acting wise. Prince was depressing as hell. All sad and "whoa is me booo hoo' Morris stole the film every scene he was in.

Performance wise Prince came out ahead because it was his movie. If he had lighten the reigns (no pun intended) and put the Time in more, I wonder how different opinions would be.

that movie moves so fast, you could easily have longer/more scenes

Prince's character was the dark brooding musician we've always known, I don't know if he

was happier in that movie, how we would have received him.

He was known for the mystery, the quiet, the dark humor

Actually his character was pretty cool and happier until he had to go home, and it wasn't until the slap scene that he became angrier

Those home scene though were intense,

leonche64 said:

I have always loved the movie. Lost count of how many times I have seen it over the years. This past weekend, my band played an outdoor festival in southern China. The day of sound check there was a rain delay so we are hanging out in the service tent/green room with a bunch of other bands. I put on the movie Purple Rain to pass the time and folks started gathering. We get called to the stage about 30 minutes into the movie for sound check, when we get back the movie is over.

I asked how was it and got some interesting responses from people who had never seen the movie before, and in many cases, were not aware of Prince. Namely, a Japanese girl guitar player who asked, "Why is The Kid the hero? Why not Morris? " It got me to thinking. The Kid is abusive to his girlfriend, is a bad employee by not showing up to meetings and leaving work early, refuses to help his friend form a band, does not treat his own band very well, and uses evil to make a monkey puppet talk. And he is generally sullen throughout the movie.

Meanwhile, Morris treats the ladies proper, shows up to work on time, helps his friends get into the business, has a great relationship with his band, and uses no evil magic. He is in good spirits and is a barrel of laughs throughout the movie.

Try watching the movie again with that in mind. I guess I always viewed The Kid as the hero because I knew Prince was the star going into it. If you go into it without a "colonized mind," the movie may have a different skew to it.

Thoughts anyone?

Life isnt a damn car company.

And Japan has a high suicide rate.

<--continues to live the American way. Happy n fat.

OldFriends4Sale said:

I don't see anyone as a hero, what heroics did they perform?

its a story about a troubled musician

Agree. No one in this movie could be considered a hero. A lot of the Kid's issues were self-inflicted or due to his lack of proper parenting. Morris was just as much an ass as the Kid. Apollonia's role was the quintessential "small town girl who comes to the big city to make it and get dooped into degrading herself". I know that she just came to work at First Avenue. It is a story about a troubled musician AND how he had to let go and trust others in order to get pass the hurt.

But, I do understand how someone can walk away with impression. If you look at PR with the mindset of "who is the protagonist or who is the antagonist?", then yeah I guess you would ask that question. Personally, I was a pre-teen (11) when PR premiered, so I don't think I was looking for any life lessons.

Obviously, like the vast majority of movie such as this one, it can go as deep as the viewer wants it to go.

imago said:

dark horse bisexual French Colonial figure skater aura.

New album title right there.

A

mimi02 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I don't see anyone as a hero, what heroics did they perform?

its a story about a troubled musician

Agree. No one in this movie could be considered a hero. A lot of the Kid's issues were self-inflicted or due to his lack of proper parenting. Morris was just as much an ass as the Kid. Apollonia's role was the quintessential "small town girl who comes to the big city to make it and get dooped into degrading herself". I know that she just came to work at First Avenue. It is a story about a troubled musician AND how he had to let go and trust others in order to get pass the hurt.

But, I do understand how someone can walk away with impression. If you look at PR with the mindset of "who is the protagonist or who is the antagonist?", then yeah I guess you would ask that question. Personally, I was a pre-teen (11) when PR premiered, so I don't think I was looking for any life lessons.

Obviously, like the vast majority of movie such as this one, it can go as deep as the viewer wants it to go.

Another thing that is disocunted is the work ethic of all in the movie. And the way alcohol is seen as a hinderance and no drug taking at all with these young kid musicians. Nobody ever mentions that least of all an eastern cultred woman.

rdhull said:

A

mimi02 said:

Agree. No one in this movie could be considered a hero. A lot of the Kid's issues were self-inflicted or due to his lack of proper parenting. Morris was just as much an ass as the Kid. Apollonia's role was the quintessential "small town girl who comes to the big city to make it and get dooped into degrading herself". I know that she just came to work at First Avenue. It is a story about a troubled musician AND how he had to let go and trust others in order to get pass the hurt.

But, I do understand how someone can walk away with impression. If you look at PR with the mindset of "who is the protagonist or who is the antagonist?", then yeah I guess you would ask that question. Personally, I was a pre-teen (11) when PR premiered, so I don't think I was looking for any life lessons.

Obviously, like the vast majority of movie such as this one, it can go as deep as the viewer wants it to go.

Another thing that is disocunted is the work ethic of all in the movie. And the way alcohol is seen as a hinderance and no drug taking at all with these young kid musicians. Nobody ever mentions that least of all an eastern cultred woman.

That true, good highlights

Never thought about it: SEX GOOD WORK ETHIC & ROCK n ROLL

They definately pushed hard work 2 make it,

NouveauDance said:

imago said:

dark horse bisexual French Colonial figure skater aura.

New album title right there.

oh you didn't get the link? that's a Black album outtake

mimi02 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I don't see anyone as a hero, what heroics did they perform?

its a story about a troubled musician

Agree. No one in this movie could be considered a hero. A lot of the Kid's issues were self-inflicted or due to his lack of proper parenting. Morris was just as much an ass as the Kid. Apollonia's role was the quintessential "small town girl who comes to the big city to make it and get dooped into degrading herself". I know that she just came to work at First Avenue. It is a story about a troubled musician AND how he had to let go and trust others in order to get pass the hurt.

But, I do understand how someone can walk away with impression. If you look at PR with the mindset of "who is the protagonist or who is the antagonist?", then yeah I guess you would ask that question. Personally, I was a pre-teen (11) when PR premiered, so I don't think I was looking for any life lessons.

Obviously, like the vast majority of movie such as this one, it can go as deep as the viewer wants it to go.

lol I'll say like Sheila E. at the movie premiere,

when asked who do you most want to see in the movie,

"Prince"

It presented an interracial family, but didn't attribute the problems to race (which was a good thing) and it was a Black man with an "white" woman, more like an ethnic though ie Greek

Actually you can see Morris as the bad guy because he knowingly went after the Kids girl, he knew that would cause some serious trouble, and as a result the Kids violence showed & she was on the road to alcoholism, before they was able to make it to Paisley Park and get some help.

I will say, thru other people, I felt the danger of that house, the explosive domestic violence

that's why even at age 15 then those scenes were intense 2 me

the full (unedited script) give a lot more depth and background to the movie (books do that for movies too) even descriptions of some of the songs and how the Kid is feeling or what he's thinking... Like the Computer Blue scene when Wendy is on her knees, the script describes it as Prince going down on himself

rdhull said:

leonche64 said:

I have always loved the movie. Lost count of how many times I have seen it over the years. This past weekend, my band played an outdoor festival in southern China. The day of sound check there was a rain delay so we are hanging out in the service tent/green room with a bunch of other bands. I put on the movie Purple Rain to pass the time and folks started gathering. We get called to the stage about 30 minutes into the movie for sound check, when we get back the movie is over.

I asked how was it and got some interesting responses from people who had never seen the movie before, and in many cases, were not aware of Prince. Namely, a Japanese girl guitar player who asked, "Why is The Kid the hero? Why not Morris? " It got me to thinking. The Kid is abusive to his girlfriend, is a bad employee by not showing up to meetings and leaving work early, refuses to help his friend form a band, does not treat his own band very well, and uses evil to make a monkey puppet talk. And he is generally sullen throughout the movie.

Meanwhile, Morris treats the ladies proper, shows up to work on time, helps his friends get into the business, has a great relationship with his band, and uses no evil magic. He is in good spirits and is a barrel of laughs throughout the movie.

Try watching the movie again with that in mind. I guess I always viewed The Kid as the hero because I knew Prince was the star going into it. If you go into it without a "colonized mind," the movie may have a different skew to it.

Thoughts anyone?

Life isnt a damn car company.

And Japan has a high suicide rate.

<--continues to live the American way. Happy n fat.

Instead of "E pluribus unum" our national motto should be "Oink."

Genesia said:

rdhull said:

Life isnt a damn car company.

And Japan has a high suicide rate.

<--continues to live the American way. Happy n fat.

Instead of "E pluribus unum" our national motto should be "Oink."

With a Twinkie as the symbol.

rdhull said:

Genesia said:

Instead of "E pluribus unum" our national motto should be "Oink."

With a Twinkie as the symbol.

OldFriends4Sale said:

DecaturStone said:

Me too

Honestly Prince was NOT the best thing in the movie acting wise. Prince was depressing as hell. All sad and "whoa is me booo hoo' Morris stole the film every scene he was in.

Performance wise Prince came out ahead because it was his movie. If he had lighten the reigns (no pun intended) and put the Time in more, I wonder how different opinions would be.

that movie moves so fast, you could easily have longer/more scenes

Prince's character was the dark brooding musician we've always known, I don't know if he

was happier in that movie, how we would have received him.

He was known for the mystery, the quiet, the dark humor

Actually his character was pretty cool and happier until he had to go home, and it wasn't until the slap scene that he became angrier

Those home scene though were intense,

True this movie really had NO good guy. A very real movie unlike Graffiti Bridge which was TOO surreal.

I wish there really was a hope to get an unedited version. With the fight scene with Jellybean and all the scenes in the trailer that aren't in the movie

DecaturStone said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

that movie moves so fast, you could easily have longer/more scenes

Prince's character was the dark brooding musician we've always known, I don't know if he

was happier in that movie, how we would have received him.

He was known for the mystery, the quiet, the dark humor

Actually his character was pretty cool and happier until he had to go home, and it wasn't until the slap scene that he became angrier

Those home scene though were intense,

True this movie really had NO good guy. A very real movie unlike Graffiti Bridge which was TOO surreal.

I wish there really was a hope to get an unedited version. With the fight scene with Jellybean and all the scenes in the trailer that aren't in the movie

You mean the fight scene that looks like this in the trailer?

Most of us like Purple Rain merely because it has Prince and his associates in it. Some of us, myself included, think that for a pop film (a film aimed at making money while being a vehicle/promo for Prince's music career) does an okay to good job of presenting some dimensional characters that engage interesting issues of why one makes art, what is friendship, how does one define love, and how one evaluates oneself. I'm not saying that any of these issues are explored deeply, but they are explored to varying degrees. At the core of the movie is the notion of The Kid as a flawed hero, which works because most people see themselves as flawed. It also helps that Morris Day is presented as a humorous and dimensional character, creating a great foil for the more serious/brooding Prince. Finally, the acting of Clarence Williams III gives the film its intensity, allowing the weaker acting of Prince and Day to thrive, if only for the fact that we need relief from Williams' intensity. (By the way, as a teenager, the first time I realized that my "mother" was also a "woman" was when she couldn't understand why anybody would want to see Prince in a movie but became quite interested in Purple Rain when she realized that Clarence Williams III was in it also. At that moment, I saw her morph from a displeased parent into a somewhat "turned on" woman, which still grosses me out to this day. I still have not been able to get that growl in her voice from my head, when she said, "You mean Linc from Mod Squad, oh my", but I digress.) So, ultimately, The Kid is the protagonist (hero) because the story centers on his emotional enlightenment or redemption. He's a self-centered brat at the beginning of the film, and he is a not so self-centered brat at the end of the film because he doesn't want to end like his father, who must shoot himself in the head to realize that he's gone too far. Mix all that with some nice tunes and nice breasts at a lake, and you got yourself an Eighties hit!

NouveauDance said:

leonche64 said:

Meanwhile, Morris treats the ladies proper

Yeah, ladies love it when you throw them head first into a dumpster.

and in another scene,he refers to the Apollonia 6 girls as "bitches"

OldFriends4Sale said:

I don't see anyone as a hero, what heroics did they perform?

its a story about a troubled musician

leonche64 said:

The Kid is abusive to his girlfriend, is a bad employee by not showing up to meetings and leaving work early, refuses to help his friend form a band, does not treat his own band very well, and uses evil to make a monkey puppet talk.