‘PURPLE’ PASSIONS

I take exception with Marshall McNott, whose letter, after praising the acting in “The Color Purple” continued: “Its script, however, could have been written by the staunchest of feminists.”

However suggests that meritorious work and staunch feminists are mutually exclusive--as though the work of feminists could not, by virtue of its authority, ever be worthy of “high credits.”

While the major male characters in “The Color Purple” are unsympathetic, to say the least, consider: the guitar player in Shug’s band, who tries to dissuade Sophia from the course of action that lands her in jail; Shug’s husband, Grady, a conciliator in tense circumstances; Sophia’s friend, Buster, who offers the enlightened sentiment that he doesn’t “fight my woman’s battles for her. My job is to love her and take her where she wants to go.”

If McNott wants to complain, why not take up the cause of white females, portrayed in the same film (through the sole peripheral example of Miss Millie) as well-meaning, incompetent and incredibly insensitive?

DIANE CUNNINGHAM

Placentia