Pride 2024: A Q+ Celebration!
June 22
The Color Purple
Directed by Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule, Alice Walker’s Pulitzer-winning novel makes a comeback to the silver screen. Unlike previous adaptations of the novel, this version takes on the persona of a musical and tells the story of Celie (Fantasia Barrino), a Black woman who lives through the early 1900s. Celie is a lesbian from Georgia and suffers through decades of racism, domestic violence, and hardship.
This remake doesn’t divert too much from the original text, and all the traumatic elements of the narrative make it into this musical version. Celie is raped and impregnated by Alfonso, who she sees to be her father, twice. She’s forced to give up the babies each time as soon as they’re born. She’s separated from her best friend and removed from their farm because she fights back when Alfonso tries to rape her.
Celie is married off to Mister (Colman Domingo) who is both emotionally and physically abusive to her. Mister isolates Celie from both Nettie, and pretty much everyone else too. She settles into her life caring for Mister’s son Harpo (Corey Hawkins) and his girlfriend Sofia (Danielle Brooks). Sofia is a strong woman and Celie envies her spirit and her energy. Celie also strikes up a friendship with a woman called Shug (Taraji P. Henson) who also happens to be Mister’s former mistress.
The three women join forces and support each other through many trials and tribulations, but it’s Nettie that Celie’s heart longs for the most. The tone of this version of The Color Purple is said to be more uplifting than the Speilberg version released in 1985, and while it does cover all the traumatic events Celie endures from the original text, it feels a bit different this time around.
Where to watch? The Color Purple is available to rent on Prime Video globally.
The Fall of the House of Usher
Available to stream on Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher is an American gothic horror mini-series loosely based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. The original story by Poe includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities – all themes common across Poe’s body of works. The miniseries documents the journey of Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) and his rise to power as the CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company, and his sister Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell), who serves as the firm’s COO.
As the show opens, viewers find Roderick deeply distressed as all of his six children have just died. Roderick summons Assistant Attorney General C. Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly) to his mansion to confess to his various crimes. Much to Dupin’s surprise, Roderick begins to narrate his life to the man starting all the way back in his childhood and spanning forward to the death of all his children.
Episodes 2 – 7 uncover the details of the death of one of the Usher children and how their passing came to be. Born to different mothers, all the Usher children, like their father, embody a sleuth of irredeemable qualities and none of them will be winning Person of the Year any time soon.
Despite this, the narrative does shift away from the children and focuses on Roderick and Madeline. Roderick’s story essentially sets the two of them up as being responsible for the entire opioid epidemic – drawing heavily on the idea that anyone in real life involved in such a scandal can not, in any way, be regarded as a decent human being. The use of Poe’s and his gothic sensibilities to convey such a powerful message is artful and creative to the highest degree.
Fall of the House of Usher is a queer-heavy show. Several of the Usher kids are openly queer, Dupin is gay, among other characters. It’s an easy watch if you’re looking for something a little different this Pride Month.
Where to watch? Fall of the House of Usher is available to stream on Netflix.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Andrew Less is in a bit of a rut. His literary career is all but in the toilet, he’s alone, and he’s about to be fifty. Then, if the universe is kicking him in the butt enough already, a wedding invitation shows up in the mail. It’s for his ex (of nine years) and his new lover – they’re getting married and Andrew’s been invited. He doesn’t want to go, because eww, awkward, but he doesn’t want to appear petty and not over their relationship. So, in order to diplomatically dip out of the whole thing, Andrew accepts every single literary invitation he’s received – but has been putting off on account of the aforementioned rut.
In a very Eat, Pray, Love way of running away, Andrew embarks on the journey of a lifetime that takes him to Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, India, and Japan. Like everything else in life, his travels don’t always go smoothly. He manouvers his way through one hectic situation to another. It’s not as easy to run away from his past love as he thought. In Mexico, he participates in a literary panel discussion about his ex (and apparently just how wonderful he is), and in Italy, he comes face-to-face with his ex’s novel which is up for some kind of prestigious award.
But it’s not all about the ex, is it? In Germany, Less teaches a writing course cleverly titled Read Like A Vampire, Write Like Frankenstein. It’s also in Germany that Less has an interlude with a young business student. It doesn’t last though and he charges forward to Paris, Morocco, and then winds up in Japan where he has quite a time of researching a food-based article he’s writing.
But it’s at an Indian writing retreat where the magic of this story really takes place. He has every intention of fixing up his failed novel, but he’s unable to escape his past and is forced to confront it head-on.
Where to buy? Less is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and is available to purchase at all reputable booksellers.
Happy Pride 2024! Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!
