Comments on: Are You Planning to See Precious?

By: Some Thoughts on ‘The Princess and The Frog’ « The Bottom of Heaven

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:48:31 +0000

[...] a bit worried that my exuberance for this film (and not, say, Precious) is hypocritical; both are fantasies that contain their own distortions and truths. My initial [...]

By: donnaa

donnaa — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:24:56 +0000

The movie “Precious” will be a wonderful movie for all of the black community to see. I do believe it will give us continual solutions about unity and how to make it better forever and ever. This is a milestone that will give impowerment to us spiritually. You guys do know that even back in slavery our ancestors were the most spiritual race in the world. Our ancestors not matter what, it was their uncompromising spirit that keep them rollin’ up in here, all the way to where we are at now. This is the very reason way precious will inspire us to keep being all that we disire to be no matter what. We have all expericenced abuse, negativity, hate, weather we witnessed it, wrote papers about it, heard about it. We know it in one form or another. Its where we come from, its what our ancestors made freedom with. Take a good look at O. Winfrey and T. Perry, check out where they came from, they didn’t let it determine their destiny, now did they… ? NO they didn’t!
What good actresses

By: Tori

Tori — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:18:25 +0000

To everyone who has reservations about this movie (and the book) don’t. I read Push when it first came out. I had just graduated from Emerson College and received a BFA in Writing and Literature. After so many years reading, literary fiction Push was a breath of fresh air. It is so well-written and Sapphire paints a bleak picture but what she does is show that Precious is brought back up by her own people (very few people point this out). It is not poverty porn, her saviour is not a white person, it is black people. People she encounters doing small acts of kindness. I had the chance to meet and see Sapphire speak about Push at the Boston Public Library. She said that the character of Precious is a mesh of all the women she encountered when she was teaching a GED class. All the women who were living in these horrific situations but came to class eager to learn. Women who had slipped through the cracks. Push has been so influential that many social work degree programs have it for required reading.
As a writer, I am so proud of Sapphire because ever since her book came out she was constantly approached by people who wanted to make it into a movie. She turned them down. In an interview with Katie Couric she said that Push was her baby and she felt that many of those who had approached her would either exploit Precious or not fully go there emotionally. Lee Daniels had to prove to her that he was capable of taking Push in a direction that would illuminate the book. She turned him down twice and only said yes once she saw his work. Lee Daniels will probably be the first black person to ever win an Oscar for Best Director. He is a talented storyteller.
Watch Sapphire’s interview with Katie Couric. I think when you hear her talk about her book, her own sexual abuse, and the women who have inspired the character Precious you will rush out and see the film (or even better purchase and read the book). We as black people are so ready to rush out a see a comedy but when we are being portrayed honestly and very artistically we stay home or don’t go to the bookstore. Then, we complain about the lack of good black literature or movies. By you staying home you show the producers and publishers there is no audience and thus the crap and mediocre films and books thrive.
My mentor Kim McLarin (an amazing writer) always vents her frustration because she is one of the few black writers who write literary fiction, she writes about the black experience yet not many black people pick up her books. All art can’t depict us black folks in a favorable light, we are human and thus the good and bad don’t escape our experience as a people. As the saying goes; Art imitates life. The story of Precious Jones is proof that the human spirit can be triumphant in even the most bleak circumstances. The movie (and book) is a message of hope.

By: CC

CC — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:16:08 +0000

We just discussed the book at my book club last weekend. We have never had such a lively, loud discussion. Whereas, I thought that we were going to have a tearful afternoon talking about abuse–we ending up talking about what is real or not real in terms of black portrayals in film and television.
There seemed to be a scathing critique by many of Tyler Perry and his theme of problematic black women–the bitch or the abused woman who only the blue collar man can save or the woman who is the butt of the joke (with Medea)– so in that way I think that Precious should fall in line with his other films. I was not sure that I was going to see the movie, but now after talking about the image that Tyler Perry is attempting to sell about black people, I think that it needs to be seen.

I do agree that some ways it is poverty porn.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:59:33 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Kayanna! Carleen Brice just published a great, even-handed review of the film that is worth a read: "Impressions of Precious" I'd love to hear if it changes your mind; it definitely has me thinking twice.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:57:07 +0000

Hey Exquisitely Black, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate hearing your thoughts and I, too, am trying to figure out how we can send that message about real diversity to Hollywood. I really want to do more to support the black independent films that get small buzz but not national attention.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:54:31 +0000

I feel the same way about Perry as you do, Edi. It actually does matter to me that Perry didn’t get involved until after the movie was made.

By: Claudia

Claudia — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:53:28 +0000

LOL, Consuela! I hope you'll still write your post. And definitely make sure to check out Carleen's review. I think she may have convinced me to buy a ticket: "Impressions of Precious"

By: conseula

conseula — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:56:49 +0000

Once again, you’ve written the post I’ve been drafting in my head for the last few days. I haven’t read Push for all the reasons you cited (I don’t think I’d be able to get Everett out of my head as I read the book) and Tyler PErry and Oprah Winfrey being involved with the project really doesn’t recommend it. I’m also really wary of “black” films or films that “deal with race” that have a lot of Oscar-buzz swirling around them. “Crash,” for instance was god-awful and makes me wonder if people review movies and hand out awards live in the same racialized America that I do. All that said, I feel like I have to see it. I feel like it’s part of my job to have something to say about it.

By: Edi

Edi — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:03:26 +0000

I don’t know much of anything about the film industry, exactly what producers and promoters do. I do know that the film was finished way before Perry and Winfrey became involved. They saw the movie and they wanted it to reach a larger audience. So, they decided to back? promote? produce? the film. The movie was first release about a year ago and the original title was “Push” however, a sci-fi film with the same title came out at the same time!
Will I see it? I probably will because there hasn’t been a decent movie in the theaters for quite some time. I used to go to the movies weekly, however I haven’t been in several months. If Perry had actually been involved in this movie, I probably wouldn’t go. I’m not a fan.