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Spielberg Admits He Was Timid, Explained

Spielberg · 2017

Capítulo 7 de 10 · 2'59"

On the surface he is explaining a turn at forty and calls the film "a very sobering journey." Underneath is the mirror scene he never shot. "I just didn't go for the full monty the way the book did" means the book went further, and the reason he gives is that he was timid.

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Key moments

Start here, then watch the full scene
  1. ❝ Monólogo · 5 frases Taking On a Sobering Journey

    0:33–1:09
    36s
  2. ❝ Monólogo · 7 frases Admitting he stopped short

    He starts with the critics, names the skipped scene, and ends on timid, not technique.

    2:07–2:41
    35s
  1. ❝ MonólogoA fight in her house5 frasesPracticar ↗
  2. ❝ MonólogoAdmitting he stopped short7 frasesPracticar ↗

Spielberg Admits He Was Timid, explained

What happens

Spielberg talks about choosing The Color Purple near forty, less optimistic and ready for a sobering journey. Clips show a woman who will kill a man dead before he beats her, then a line about climbing on to do his business, which the reply hears as a toilet. He admits the mirror scene stayed out of the film because he was timid.

What's really going on

He frames the choice as maturity near forty: humanistic subject matter, and a sobering journey he was willing to take on. One line says, "I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me." Someone calls the material a really big deal, "messing in some territory where if you get it wrong, then you get a lot of people upset," and says he wanted to stretch himself. The next voice says he pushes himself, but not too far ahead of the audience or his core inclination. Sex is passed over with "Just climb on top of me, do his business," and the reply hears a toilet. He answers critics who disliked that he shied away from Shug and Celie. The mirror scene "would've really changed the entire nature and tone of the film," yet "I just didn't go for the full monty the way the book did." He was timid and embarrassed: "wasn't the right guy." Someone else says: "He could never go where Alice went with that book."

Key lines & what they mean

“I was turning 40 and I was looking at life perhaps less optimistically.”
At the moment he chose this film, middle age had already cooled his view of life. The project starts from that, not from excitement.
“A girl child ain't safe in a family of mens, but I ain't never thought I had to fight in my own house!”
Inside the movie, home is not a refuge. She has fought the men in her family and is shocked she must also fight in her own house.
“God knows I do, but I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me.”
Love does not cancel the threat. If he beats her, she would rather kill him, and dead leaves no softer wording.
“I just didn't go for the full monty the way the book did.”
The book went all the way. The film did not. He means the mirror scene he left out, not a general style of working.
“I was just timid. I was just a little embarrassed.”
This is the reason he gives for leaving the mirror scene out: he was timid and a little embarrassed.
“He could never go where Alice went with that book.”
He could not reach the place Alice reached with that book, even from his personal point of view. The line is about her book alone.

Theme

  • Identity — Near forty he wants a different perception of himself, and later admits he was not the right guy for the scene the book already had.
  • Courage — He names a sobering journey he was willing to take on, and gives the reason he was timid and a little embarrassed.

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Preguntas frecuentes

La pregunta, luego la frase
Why did the mirror scene stay out of the movie?

He says Shug shows Celie her vagina with a mirror, and that scene did not go into the movie because it would have changed the entire nature and tone. He was timid, a little embarrassed, and says he just wasn't the right guy. He adds he might have done it had he made the movie ten years later.

Why does he call the film a sobering journey?

He was turning 40 and looking at life perhaps less optimistically. He knew it was going to be a very sobering journey, and he was willing to take it on. He is talking about making the film, not about going on a trip.

Why does the reply hear a toilet in "do his business"?

The line before is "Just climb on top of me, do his business." The reply repeats "Do his business" and says "you sound like he going to the toilet on you." The light wording comes first. The toilet is the other person's reading of it.

Does he claim he went as far as the book?

No. He says he just didn't go for the full monty the way the book did. His reason is that he was timid and a little embarrassed. Someone else adds that he could never go where Alice went with that book.