Purple Rain

As an investigation of changes in stories over time, this isn't the sort of blog that gets to be topical, usually. The death of Prince has naturally brought up his best-known narrative work, one that could not be escaped upon its release.

If you haven't been here before, please take a look at the Introduction to Generations, the Generational Attributes and the Four Stories in order to get up to speed on how all this works, and the terms being used.

In 1984, the movie Purple Rain played at movie theaters, the soundtrack was ubiquitous, the videos seemed non-stop on MTV. And people were still playing 1999 and Little Red Corvette. All. The. Time. 

It's watchable, well-produced,  worth having on in the background at a party, not the worst way to spend a afternoon. It's not quite a long-form music video, although it does feel at times like the narrative is just there as a way to tie the music together. For anyone who has dealt with difficult family situations while trying to get their own life started, it probably resonates, and returns a message of hope and possibility. 

How does it work in the generational model, then? It's been called semi-autobiographical, and is it ever a slice of its time, so it should be safe to use the people involved for this analysis. 

Characters: Prince, born 1958, is a late -wave Baby Boomer. Most of his peers in the movie, from Morris Day to Apollonia to Lisa, are also born around that time. (One unexpected exception is Wendy, a GenXer born in 1964.) The man playing The Kid's father was born in 1939, which makes him Silent generation. The actress who played his mother was born in 1947, so she's a bit young for the role - another Silent generation actress would have been old enough to actually have been his mother.  Still, the film primarily stars and represents  Baby Boomers, a Prophet archetype generation.

Setting: The early 1980s, late in the Awakening period that Strauss & Howe call the Consciousness Revolution. Which is fitting, considering the name of the Kid's (and Prince's) band. 

Story: The Kid is dealing with troubles at home, dissension in his band, an outside agitator in Morris Day and the Time, and a career that isn't quite moving as he had hoped. While he's a mercurial jerk at various times to almost everyone around him, it isn't a fundamental flaw he is working through. He succeeds instead when he is able to recognize in his father's music the same strivings that animate him.  From there he's able to integrate the various issues he's having by accepting Apollonia's love, acknowledging his bandmates' contributions, and allowing his own personality to come through on stage. It's a story of becoming the person he should be - aptly, a Prophet story. 

Some people really like this film, some do see it as a long-form music video. If the resolution is unsatisfying, this analysis might suggest that the Prophet arc needs to be clearer. The Kid starts off with troubles, some improvements happen, then bigger difficulties, then somehow he manages to pull himself out of it. Based on the goal of this archetypal story, it might be that accentuating his starting difficulties could help, particularly as they are tied together by the music that resolves them. Maybe the secret of The Time's success is how they throw their excitement out there, and The Kid has to learn how to do the same. Perhaps the similarities between the Kid and his father could be more obvious, at least to the audience if not the characters. Any of these would help the audience to understand why his Purple Rain set frees him, allowing him to become the star he is..