Precious: A Romantic Comedy

In November 2009, the movie Precious debuted nationwide with a disclaimer regarding its heavy content. The film features an all-star cast that includes Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Mo’Nique, and Gabourey Sidibe who all have the very ugly task of portraying the story about a sexually abused girl who must beat the odds. Although the movie has received rave reviews it presents some troubling issues among contemporary black films. The self-proclaimed “powerful” flick, which was endorsed heavily by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, is merely a continuation of black stereotypes and Hollywood cliches. Instead of offering an experience that was “too powerful for tears” as Time’s Mary Pols put it, the film can only live up to the hype of the same emo-dramas that have proceeded it. Precious is uselessly common.

There is an ongoing tradition in black films to be realistically dramatic. Precious director Lee Daniels has designed a formula for being “more real” than needed. In 2001′s Monster’s Ball, Daniels encouraged an eager Halle Berry to get knee-deep in the project which had her exposed both emotionally and physically. She screamed, fought, and sexed her way to an Oscar. Her portrayal of a suffering African-American woman was considered a triumph for the one-time beauty pageant queen. There was nothing unique about her performance other than it was unusual for her. Daniels insisted on showing as much detail about Halle’s character by visually exploiting her. Audiences saw her completely naked as she portrayed a familiar crazily upset black woman.

This has been done too many times before. In 1998′s Beloved directed by Jonathan Demme, Thandy Newton is seen wildly naked and unshaven multiple times before her loony character was finally vanquished. What is Hollywood’s obsession with crazy black women?

Daniels featured contribution to the trend comes from comedienne and television personality Mo’Nique who plays Mary, the abusive mother of Precious who justifies her physical, verbal, and sexual assaults on her daughter for the loss of her boyfriend. Not allowed to wear makeup, Mo’Nique channels an outraged character whose anger isn’t easily understood. She is just angry. What’s sad is that given her physical appearance, it is expected. It is not unusual to see a poor angery black woman anymore. The culture has devolved enough so that most people have seen this character played before. In order to distinguish Mo’Nique from comparison, the make-up team utilizes fake teeth and special lighting for the actress to make her look more devastating. It is a shallow attempt to enrich the authenticity of this black character. Mon’Nique’s pathetic change of wigs, paired with scenes of mishandling children, are a baffling look at what people might assume is true of black women. Daniel’s motivation to portray such characters in this light is shallow and does very little to uplift the viewers of his film.

The title character Precious is also forced to drop out of high school and attempts to resume her education at a free alternative institution. Despite having two children (by her father) with limited support from her mother’s welfare checks, she is able to read and write by the film’s conclusion. It is sad but like many other black characters who have graced the silver screen, Precious is illiterate. Illiteracy has been a socially accepted stereotype of black characters since the creation of the moving picture. Various films with black characters feature this myth that black people are not as book smart as their white peers. In 1997′s Money Talks, we learn from Chris Tucker that P.H.A.T. means Pretty Hot And Tempting after he insults the wife of a politician with a sexist comment about her backside. In 2009′s Transformers II, two urban robots (who were given a black dialect courtesy of a white actor) admitted, “We don’t read much,” after being asked to assist in reading a robot script. This stereotype shifts in all aspects of the portrayal of blacks. Precious is no exception.

The bottom line is that the public should wait to rejoice about a film that can be both moving and uplifting to the community that it focuses on. If films such as Precious are continuously produced without criticism, the black community is doomed to face many more decades of degrading portrayals that offer little insight into the life of the Black American.
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