Rebuttal Opinion: Why White People Love Precious and Black People Hate it
My colleague Casey Gene McCalla wrote an opinion article last week on NewsOne explaining why he felt the accolades for the film were unwarranted. I strongly disagree.
There have been many varied opinions on this some of which I feel are not only unfair but unjust. Yes, the movie asks us to feel sorry for this girl and all the horrors visited upon her. But unlike in Spielberg’s “Color Purple”–a movie completely dismissed by 90% of all thoughtful film watchers–our relationship to the lead character is not entirely one of sympathy, or empathy. It is merely one that prompts discussion. The last movie that prompted such heated debate was “Roots”.
The real question you really need to ask yourself is; “Why is Precious horrifying and gross to you? The physical appeal is the simple strongest depiction carried out with a strong brush stroke by Mr. Daniels. That is what sets his movie apart from the always brilliant Spike Lee. This is the reason that he was nominated as “Director of the Year”. I’m not suggesting that because of the movie lays bare a very hard disturbing subject matter that it automatically should be considered. I am saying that we give more weight to black images, good or bad, than we do to the substance of black people’s lives. Black poverty is a very real problem and a very real way of life. It is not a cartoon. It is not a source of entertainment, though it is too often represented as such. I don’t believe Lee Daniels’ intent was to entertain us, but to get at a story that could only be gotten at through the awful context, because the awful context IS part of the story. That’s the brilliance of the movie. He puts two things together that usually never touch.
Precious IS freakish–there are not movie protagonists like her. Female protagonists in movies look like Anne Hathaway–or, if you want to stretch it, they look more like Paula Present or Halle Berry. I think that is the point of the movie–you can’t believe that this girl, so obese her facial features are crowded into inexpressiveness by her sheer girth, is the lead in a movie.
There’s nothing wrong with being a freak–that’s no judgment. You don’t have to be that high-minded to understand that this is a young lady that we see everyday and ignore. We accept her road in life and shrug it off. Spielberg took a “Precious”-like litany of horrors and made the humane in the “Color Purple.” How many viewers did not cringe when Celie arrives at her new home and is nearly knocked unconscious? Yet, at that moment Mister chastises the children. When we see that exact same scene in Precious we watch and gasp.
Some would even say that this movie is rehashed and where would you get a tale even close to this in a white movie? That example is clear when you see the movie “Out of Carolina’. In this movie you see the very same essence of a young woman who is brutalized verbally and physically without a shred of compassion or rescue. Neither poverty, nor violence is new to cinema. It is the fact that Lee Daniels chose to talk about a subject in modern times with cast and characters that are truly your neighbors that gives this movie the essence of truth. This is why it was nominated for an Academy Award. I think you’re reacting more to the idea of a stereotypical movie than to the movie itself. It is not possible to compare the early 20th century rural poverty of ‘Color Purple’ to that of Precious. The ethics and lifestyles are different. The director made sure that we could not run away from the girl who was suffering. It is the fact that the lead character finds humanity and kindness in the darkness of the world. It ends with the belief that there is hope. This is a subject matter that seems to be missing from black cinema. You did not leave this movie feeling as if she was going to remain the victim. While I deeply respect my colleague, I do believe he is artificially dividing an opinion of the movie from an opinion on sociology and how it ought to be shown on screen. It’s just how we’ve all been trained to see and judge, and pre-judge, black movies. I hope “Precious” has shifted us all a few degrees north of where we’ve been.
Please read Mr McCalla’s article here: Opinion Why White People Love Precious and Black People Hate It.
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oh yea and shes obese…her life is just sad…
I personally did not like this movie, for poor african american people living in an urban area, this story is telling a story that so many already know but instead of a good message, the only message I got out of the movie is to go to school, graduate from high school and go to college. In the end, this girl has no happy story what so ever. She gets physically and mentally emotionally abused by her mother, raped by her father who happens to die of aids, has two kids by her daddy (incest) and finds out she has HIV. How depressing is that? Shouldn’t we see a movie where there’s hope? This character in the movie only faces bad experiences in life and why is this movie so great when truly we live in a land of opportunity? For a person that has gone through all of these experiences in real life, what is the message that they get out of the movie? Just what everyone does when they are in a bad situation, and they see no way out…they dream of a better life…wow…isnt it time to stop dreaming?
No I think it was a bad movie. It has nothing to do with Gabby. If there was a trailer that had anything in it, maybe I might have seen it.
I just don’t like how he dumped this on the woman’s lap, letting off the thug rapist, whose story was more important to tell. If you don’t look at both sides, you’re not fulfilling the edicts of good cinema.
White people don’t “like” it they say, it got some traction (if it was a truly GREAT movie it would have went wide and made $150M) and it’s not a comedy. Let’s nominate it for stuff.
I’d rather see Kathryn Bigelow get it because no one disagrees. If so many people say it sucked, it can’t be great. That doesn’t happen. I’m so sick of the chittlin circuit crap that other black film makers put out where we either are dopers, drunks, or get shot in the end.
Hopefully a good mainstream movie will do as well.
I have not seen the movie yet every person of color that I know who DID see the movie liked it. It did spark a conversation. Based on this article and the one that spawned it, I come to understand the depth of the main characters issues. Whereas every obese teenager in the world has not undergone all of these horrors there are plenty who have undergone at least some of them.
I know of one person who had been physically abused by older family members when she was a child. She had not been sexually abused just beat down for the slightest infraction. She is now old enough to be a grandmother and seeing this movie started her discussing her life for the first time. Her abusers are all dead and some of her siblings want her to let sleeping dogs lie but this movie empowered her to talk. That talking is bringing healing to a woman who will now likely experience a greater peace in her life before she goes o her grave.
I salute the decision to have a morbidly obese woman play the role. Jill Scott had to be padded when she played the part of a similarly obese woman in Why Did I Get Married. Gabby is authentic. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Jill Scott but this time someone who really was of that size – who knows what it feels like to live in her skin – played the role.
Yes obesity is a problem in the US which includes the black community. I know because I am obese. What disturbs me is how angry my people tend to get at someone who is obese. It’s like they feel that obese people should never see daylight! I went to a family gathering (some one elses) to meet their family and was told several times in various ways that I was (1) big and (2) needed to lose so weight. I heard about everyone they knew’s gastric bypass or some other surgery that helped them get “small”. What they didn’t know was that I HAD lost weight and am still losing weight – not to meet their standard but so I can get back to a more comfortable size which is not going to be a size 8 – more like a 12 or 14.
Anyway, some people seem offended when a big girl gets her shine on. I recently saw Gabbie on the cover of Ebony and a woman standing near me saw me pick it up and said, “I hope she takes some of that film money and gets some help for her weight.” I didn’t respond with my lips – my eyes said everything that I thought of her rude statement. The woman looked me up and down as if to say, “Oh…you’re one of them too,” and then went back to her shopping.
Instead of being offended and embarrassed at how Gabbie looks versus how some people want her to look we need to embrace the story and talk. If you don’t have anything to talk about (that the movie compelled you to discuss) then listen to someone who DOES.
BUT
WHERE DO YOU GET OFF SUGGESTING THAT ONLY “WHITE PEOPLE” LIKED PRECIOUS OR CAN UNDERSTAND ITS VALIDITY IN CONTEXT TO TODAY’S PRESENT SITUATION IN MANY BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS ACROSS AMERICA?
YOU SOUND AS IF THOUGH BLACK PEOPLE ARE INCAPABLE OF APPRECIATING THE MESSAGE THE DIRECTOR WAS TRYING TO SEND. EVEN IF YOU WERE NOT, HOW IS IT YOU CONCLUDED THAT ONLY “WHITE PEOPLE” LIKED OR APPRECIATED IT? OR THAT THEY EVEN ALL CAN UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY WERE SEEING? HOW DO YOU KNOW THEY DID NOT DRAW FROM THE MOVIE THE SAME THINGS YOU ARE CLAIMING BLACK PEOPLE DID? THE DIFFERENCE IS WHAT WHITE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE ABOUT THE AVERAGE BLACK PERSON TODAY – WHICH IS USUALLY A STEREOTYPE BECAUSE MANY OF THEM HAVE LITTLE TO NO EXPOSURE TO BLACK PEOPLE. WHO REALLY KNOWS WHY THEY MAY SEEM TO LIKE THE MOVIE.
MOST WHITE PEOPLE THAT I HAVE MET HAVE *NEVER* SEEN THE COLOR PURPLE AND THEY SEEM TO EXPRESS THE IDEA THAT THEY HAVE NO INTEREST IN VIEWING SUCH A FILM.
IT MAKES YOU WONDER WHY A MOVIE LIKE “PRECIOUS” IS SO MUCH MORE APPEALING TO THEM.
SURE I GOT THE DIRECTOR’S POINT-OF-VIEW ON THIS FILM, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT WHITE PEOPLE DID NOT GET PERHAPS THE WRONG IMPRESSION ABOUT THIS FILM.
PEOPLE ARE RIGHT TO EXPECT THAT BLACK ACTORS WOULD RECEIVE MORE ATTENTION FOR ROLES THAT DO NOT DEPICT THEM AS THE AVERAGE STEREOTYPE OF A BLACK PERSON.
WE HAVE NOT COME FAR ENOUGH ON RACE RELATIONS TO STOP FALSE IDEAS ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE AND SO ANY DEPICTION OF US IN FILM IS VERY IMPORTANT FROM A PSYCHOLOGICAL STANDPOINT. NOT FOR WHITE PEOPLE, BUT REALLY, FOR US!
I WISH I COULD SAY THAT I AGREE THAT WHITE PEOPLE TOOK FROM THIS FILM A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT A YOUNG GIRL LIKE PRECIOUS MIGHT GO THROUGH GROWING UP, BUT FROM THE HISTORY OF THIS NATION, I FIND IT VERY DIFFICULT TO GIVE THEM THAT MUCH CREDIT.
I didnt like precious and im black it was typical.A typical black person struggling. What i did like was the new image of a heavier girl playin the lead role in a golden globe type movie.White ppl like precious in my opinion cuz 1. the movie is off a book 2nd. cuz it was a black person wit a issue and 3rd. cuz the leading person was heavy. I think white ppl feel sorry for black ppl cuz they know we struggle and bein doin it since the dawn of day.I think white ppl need to get a life lol we workin for what we want we dont need your pity unless your willing to give it..imjust sayin