‘Precious’ is About Women I Know
New America Media, Commentary, G. Melesaine, Posted: Nov 10, 2009
When I saw the trailer for the new film "Precious," I cried. This film made me think about an old life that I was too familiar with. It made me think about the women I am close to. It made me think about my sister in her San Francisco Tenderloin days; about that loud funny girl in class that smacked her gum too loud; about that girl in West Point who had AIDS and everyone stayed away from; about that girl walking up and down Folsom Street pretending she has somewhere to go; about that teacher I used to have a crush on in middle school; about women -– "Precious" women. This was their story.
Watching the film gave me a sort of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I even cried on my BART train ride home. There has been quite a controversy over the film, with some claiming that it perpetuates a stigma for African-American women. But to me, it advocates a new hero in Hollywood.
The film, based on Sapphire's novel, "Push,” has arrived at a pivotal moment. It was released two weeks after the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl in Richmond, Calif.; at a time when a famous pop star’s beating of a woman is being called a "small mishap" in his career; and at a time when young women in the inner-city –- especially if they’re queer or women of color –- are barely visible.
Even in the screening of the film.
The Frameline screening was filled with a queer audience. And if you are queer, you'll notice that this is a pretty queer film.
Sapphire, the writer, is an openly bisexual woman, and the director, Lee Daniels, is a gay man, and together they've found a way to throw some advocacy into this film. Yet at a recent screening, the vast majority of the audience (about 80 percent) was made up of older gay white men.
I heard a white man say to his partner after the movie, "It was so realistic." I resented his comment and my resentment was mirrored in my disdain for every white man I saw on my train ride home. And that was one long ride.
At the end of my ride I realized that I shouldn't judge people who live a different life than me. And it’s good that this film was made, because it exposes the public to a reality they wouldn’t otherwise have known, inside a theater where they feel safe. But unlike the other members of the audience, these are women I know. Women at the register who you buy coffee from in the morning, who smile and say, thank you. Women who you know nothing about except for what you want to know.
The story is set in Harlem in the ‘80s. It is a story about Clareeice Precious Jones (played by Gabourey Sidibe), an overweight illiterate black girl who is raped by her father and bares two of his children. In dealing with this trauma, her mother misplaces her anger at her boyfriend and takes it out on Precious. Monique, in her first serious role as Precious' mother, takes the audience through a rollercoaster of emotions. We start out hating her in the beginning and then empathize with her in the end. Also making appearances in the film are Lenny Kravitz as a nurse, Paula Patton as a lesbian teacher and Mariah Carey as a social worker, in a role that will make you forget she ever made a film named "Glitter."
As I type this piece at a One Stop career center on Mission Street in San Francisco, I am sitting next to a girl I watched in a documentary about five years ago. She's from Sunnydale. My sister used to sell dope with her. At the time of the documentary, she was incarcerated for shooting her brother, she was pregnant, and she came from a family where drugs and mental and physical abuse were commonplace. I know parts of her story. It’s nasty. It’s nothing anyone would want to face because they’d cry. But she is sitting right next to me, and she's real -– still alive, with a smile, working on her resume, trying to get a job.
The movie "Precious" is not just a film for you to cry about and laugh at. Like the older gay white man said, "It is so realistic." Maybe he chose to walk by "Precious" a couple of times while walking with his partner in the city, but she's there. And you can watch a movie and pretend that it’s just a Hollywood film, but there’s always a “Precious” around. She's not just a movie.
Related Articles:
Race Shouldn't Be a Factor in Rape
Young People Process Homecoming Gang Rape
Rape: America's Least Reported Crime
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User Comments
MaxtheCommunist on Nov 12, 2009 at 16:28:47 said:
I encountered the novel in a women's book club. I can't agree with the above commenter. Sapphire's writing is impeccable and humanizes the leading character Precious. This may be the age of Michelle Obama (I think she would dispute that) but savage disparities in jobs and education still permeate American society.
Sapphire has said that she wrote the novel as a response to cutbacks in welfare and the throwing of whole families of public assistance rolls.
Seka Mae on Nov 10, 2009 at 23:11:24 said:
this book is incredible, it does'nt matter what race "precious" was. these are characteristics that any young woman in the world could identify with, these are real issues young woman face everywhere. i have been waiting for a film like this all my life. someone to tell a story similar to mine, there are other women watching, crying and applauding this film. when we look at things such as race being a stereotype, we are the ones who identify that in a catagory. this aint politics, this is a film, a book about a young woman.. a woman who triumps through the obstacle of many phases of abuse. this is how we should be, look forward to triumps.
i read it and i don't recommend it on Nov 10, 2009 at 13:08:18 said:
I was assigned to read this book in a women's studies class in college, and I came away thinking, this is the most stereotyping book I have ever read, which uses every overdramatic plot device imaginable (race, rape, teen pregnancy, AIDS, abuse, etc etc). It is poorly written and only gets acclaim because white critics need to praise something they can claim is *the* "authentic" voice of black women. Really? In the age of Michelle Obama, shame on Oprah for praising this book. It was an awful, sophomoric book written for white audiences to cry over and pin awards to, why is no one speaking out against it's racist stereotypes of poor people and exploitive, pornographic depiction of sexual abuse?
i read it and i don't recommend it on Nov 10, 2009 at 13:05:01 said:
I was assigned to read this book in a women's studies class in college, and I came away thinking, this is the most stereotyping book I have ever read, which uses every overdramatic plot device imaginable (race, rape, teen pregnancy, AIDS, abuse, etc etc). It is poorly written and only gets acclaim because white critics need to praise something they can claim is *the* "authentic" voice of black women. Really? In the age of Michelle Obama, shame on Oprah for praising this book. It was an awful, sophomoric book written for white audiences to cry over and pin awards to, why is no one speaking out against it's racist stereotypes of poor people and exploitive, pornographic depiction of sexual abuse?
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