In honor of the DVD release

Why anyone would want to own this movie is BEYOND me. The movie is graphic and traumatic. It depicts an impossible situation that makes me want to crawl into a hole and eternal sunshine myself. Saphire has said that in writing the character Precious she compiled several of the experiences of many girls she encountered while teaching in Harlem. When she first started writing the book she envisioned it as a compilation of several stories. Upon reflection she ultimately decided to compile all of the characters into one girl who’s operatic greek tragedy worth makes her a more than worthy heroine. In her own words Saphire says, "I wanted to show that this girl is locked out through literacy. She's locked out by her physical appearance. She's locked out by her class, and she's locked out by her color," says Sapphire. "I encountered this. I had a student who told me that she had had children by her father." At that point I would go ahead and admit I'm a coward. I'd thrown in the towel move to L.A. and live like a hobo on the beach.

Precious is large. I mean just fat. . . like orca fat. She is bigger than life. She is eggplant black. She is soft spoken and reserved and introverted. . . excluding the occasional (and often warranted) violent outburst. Her soul is hard as nails and even as I gave thanks for her uncompromising spirit I worried about a soul buried deep in heavy armor. . . Precious survives for a reason I still cannot comprehend. Despite her sweetness and potential I found myself praying that she would not wake up each morning and have to contend with the Shepard of satan who masqueraded as her mother. ISSUE ONE –ABUSE and how Precious is failed over and over and over.

ISSUE ONE

Precious is sexually and physically abused by both her parents. Her mother forces her to overeat and verbally abuses her in a manner that is so consistent it almost becomes normal. In the rare moments when the apartment is silent the air is so charged with what Mary might do it’s almost difficult to breathe. The rape scenes (acts perpetrated by both her father and mother) are stomach churning. Her father is big, and sweaty, and hairy, and uses a Vaseline tub littered with pubic hair to streamline the rape of his daughter. Vom. It.

I’m almost unable to deal with the parts of the movie that go so far beyond sadness I had no choice but to laugh. Precious has her first daughter at the age of 12 and names her Mongo. She says “Doctors told me my baby had Mongoloid Down Sinder, so I name her Mongo ‘cause it sounds like it might be Spanish and it’s pretty”. . .all through the movie she regrets the fact that Mongo is raised by Mary’s mother (Precious’ grandmother). She is constantly thinking about Mongo and how she misses her and wants to take care of her like a good mother should. I can barely muster up the strength to be angry at an illiterate abused 12 year old naming her child after the disability/condition that afflicts it. If the nurse at the hospital didn’t pick up on the fact that Precious’ father and baby’s father is the same she is an asshole. The social worker that comes to the house to check on Mary and her children missed it. Precious’ teachers missed it. Her case missed it until . . .Precious accidentally mentioned the “two babies her father gave her”. I’m unimpressed with us all.

ISSUE TWO--humanity

Mary is vile and disgusting and I’m almost convinced that her portrayal and potential real life basis would persuade an atheist to abandon non-belief and pray there is a hell to keep Mary toasty for an eternity. Mary is wretched. Mary looks like she smells bad and if herpes had a face it would look like hers. She is a bully. Mary is pathetic and sad and blames Precious for the incest lamenting that “Precious never fought back or made any noise and she made her father want her more than me”. I think that what hurts me the most about this movie is the fact that Mary eventually shows a multidimensional humanity. I’m not using that word in its altruistic sense. I mean humanity as that which makes us human I mean those flaws that distinguish us from the divine (whatever it may be) and that which we wear on our sleeves, and around our necks, and leave in the depths of our footsteps. Mary gives glimpses of a damaged past accented with flashes of intense selfishness, ptsd, gross mental instability, and self hatred. She is clearly insane and aside from crackheads and clowns. . .crazy people scare me the MOST. I was dying to see Mary as a 2 dimensional villain a la the machines in the Terminator franchise, Number 1 from Afro Samurai, or Glory or the Preacher from Buffy. . . . but I couldn’t. Mary was a failure too and I hated myself for feeling sorry for her evil ass.

ISSUE THREE—gays

The two people who carry Precious to the caravan of change are dykes. Her teacher at the alternative school is the person who helps Precious find the strength to leave her mother and fight for her son. This same teacher –named Blu--- also helps Precious practically by locating appropriate housing for Precious and her son. Blu and her partner let Precious stay with them until she can move into her halfway house. Go. Lesbos.

Sub issue 3.5--

The movie deals with the fact that most straight black people feel superior to gay black people. Mary says that homosexuals are deviants and are going to hell. . .right well if anyone knows about hell it's Mary. . There is also a strong messagethat light people are more beautiful and all around more preferable than dark people. It's hard to find the appropriate stance. I fight with the urge to show a militant preference for dark skin over light skin simply to make up for the way Eurpean/American society treats dark skinned people but then I'm just perpetuating the arbitrary stereotypes I seek to fight. * sigh * I'm already tired just thinking about it.

ISSUE FOUR --- a woman’s job/place/duty

Mary does whatever she has to to keep her man. Including letting him abuse her daughter and violate her body/mind. Then she gets angry at Precious for “stealing her man”. Anger. Rage. Ignorance. I was almost blinded by it. The idea that you have to loose yourself for the sake of companionship terrifies and saddens me. This is the dark side of romantic obsession and crippling insane blind co-dependence

ISSUE FIVE ---moral compass

I’ve often heard people say “well I believe that criminal had to know that what he did was wrong and so he’s a bad person for doing it”. . .Precious as a movie makes me question the kind of right and wrong mentality that is anchored in black and white surety. More accurately most people grasp the idea of legal or illegal. They know that illegal things will get them locked up if they are caught but truthfully a moral compass is learned we are not born with it. . . or maybe we are born with the mechanics of the compass but outside influence and environment point it in the right direction.

If you grow up in a house where you are abused and ignored and torn down and defeated from birth you may not have a fully working compass. You may be a bad person but you were never given the tools achieve goodness. We as a society fail children like Precious and then we as a society have no sympathy when Precious fails us. When these lost children steal or lie or cheat or kill or hurt we are indignant and righteous in our repudiation. However, when these children are beaten and torn we are nowhere to be found. . .conveniently blind to what goes on behind close doors and perfectly comfortable pretending that we are more civilized than not. . .

Of course I'm not saying all people that behave badly are victims of abuse. Some people are in fact just assholes. But a lot of people are shaped by the monsters who raise them. The dark (dare I say black) beauty of this story/movie is that Precious is not a monster. She does have a good moral compass. She is an exception that defies all logic. While I love her and I am proud of her sucess I am also terrified that the message will once again become--- It doesn't matter how you grow up you can be a good person--- that marginalizes all the children who weren't as strong as Precious but need just as much support and compassion. Precious was an amazing film and now I'm sitting here remembering the horror wondering what I need to do to make this icky feeling go away . . .