I don’t eat at the table of self-hatred, inferiority, or victimization. I haven’t bought into notions of rampant Black pathology or embraced the overwrought, dishonest, and black people hating pseudo-analysis too often passing as post-racial cold hard truths. Ditto efforts by director Lee Daniels, executive producers Oprah and Tyler Perry, and Mo’Nique to legitimize the movie “Precious” – and deflect criticism – by attesting to their own sexual abuse. Can you imagine Meryl Streep revealing she used to be a bushy tailed, carnivorous mammal or editor-in-chief of Vogue to market the authenticity of “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” or “The Devil Wears Prada”? I ain’t Precious, and I’m proud of it.
Where exactly is the “arc of hope” at the end of the movie? A 350 pound, HIV positive, homeless, reading at a 7th grade level, 16-year-old high school drop-out totes her infant and mongoloid toddler, both products of rape/incest by her father, along a crowded Harlem street? Freedom may be just another word for nothing left to lose, but that’s not the meaning of hope. Maybe they meant “arc of hype.” And you have to be frightened when the movie receives the Barbara Bush seal of approval, she who described American citizens sheltered in the Houston Astrodome after their homes and lives were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and government indifference as people who “Were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.”
Still, the hype has been relentless, and the Oprah seal of approval’s had a chilling effect on criticism. If you’re wondering if the “We are all Precious” tag line is more than slick marketing, here are the Top 10 Ways To Know if You are Precious:
10. You order the 10 piece chicken bucket when you’re dining alone.
9. You prefer to run down the street, bucket under one arm and munching a thigh while being chased by an irate waitress to eating at a table.
8. All the mean people in your life have dark skin.
7. All the mean people in your life are greasy.
6. All the nice people in your life have light and grease free skin.
5. You forget that it’s only a balanced meal if you serve greens with that hairy swine and macaroni and cheese. (That cheese better be Velveeta.)
4. You name your child spina bifida, autism, anorectal atresia, retard, or after any other birth defect.
3. You think breasts has at least three syllables.
2. You don’t whup her when your mother tosses: a) a shoe upside your head, b) your newborn on the floor, c) a television on top of you and your newborn on the floor.
1. You think the “Precious” Gollum wants more than anything in the world in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy is you.
(For more provocative black voices on “Precious” see Armond White , Ishmael Reed, Teresa Wiltz.)
Jill Nelson 12/9/09 – The blog with the musical notes!
I have not seen the movie nor read the book, but have read so much about it, that I know I do not want to- if I do, i will have to do it within the comfort of my own home where I can pause, fastforward, take a break, etc. I know molestation and incest occur and they should be dealt with and addressed, but as you have alluded to Ms. Nelson, why must all of our “ills” be brought to the forefront. It’s hard enough to find a movie with an all Black cast dealing with everyday, real situations of Black folk, but for some reason when there is a movie to promote all types of patholgies, it becomes a classic and a must-see!
I totally agree with “Denise.” I saw the movie, but only because it was my mom’s birthday and she wanted to see it. It was definitely not my movie of choice. It left me with a bad feeling and that is not the reason I go to the movies. Of course I realize this situation occurs more than we would like to know, but to label it as “must see” is totally incorrect. It is a movie that I would like to forget!
i love this jill!
i am not precious either, but i am a teacher…
and i do see a generation of preciouses who are born to toxic young turbo breeders each day.
i agree with all you stated.
but i still love the film as the story of all of the shaniya davises/preciouses i see daily…
see more on the film at my blog.
peace.
alicia banks
elqouent fury
BLACk FOLKS it is not enough to read and count. You havee to really use your brains and read BETWEEN THE
Black folks, it is not enough to just read and count . You must read between the lines and always remember that a 6 is not a 9.
Oprah’s cynical market driven hype “We Are Precious” simply means that “incest and abuse is typical every day behavior in the black community and not aberrant.”
Her ‘ Arc of Hope” interpretation of the film translates into ” it might be the age of Obama but for you black woman don’t get to uppity , a climb from sub-bottom to bottom is all the progress most of you should hope for . “
Ilive in Central Illinois & the movie only played in the Chicago & St Louis area. I will catch it on video which is probably for the best after reading comments from various sources. I heard TP decided he would only show it in selected cities because of it would not be received well by some. My response to that is he missed out on a boatload of money from people who had planned “girls night out” to watch this movie after all the advertising hype.
To each his or her own. As a community we cannot stad to have our dirty luadry aired no mater how true it it. we all know a “Precious” in our lifes.
I take what other people have said about the movie with a grain of salt and will not prevent me from seeing the movie. WHen I saw the previews for it I knew right then and there that it was a movie I would avoid until it came out on video. I go to the theater to be entertained not left feeling depressed.
Maybe Invictus would be a better choice. Mr. Mandela to me represents an arc of hope not only for himself but for an entire people.
Precious isn’t me, my daughter or my friends. I didn’t see the movie but everyone I know said basically the same thing, nothing to inspire anyone.
To add on to what I was saying…
When people watch a preacious we know that people are going to see that movie and see it as truth for all of the Black community. Where as the same story told a thousands times before the movie “Precious” is seen as just a sad story that happened to that particular child/girl.
I read parts of the book when it came out several years ago. I know Precious’ life occurs in our community, but could not go to see the movie. I just did not want to see it.
By all means, why would we want to see a film about incest, obesity, teenage pregnancy, and illiteracy when we won’t don’t want to address such ills in the black community in real life. It is much easier to get upset with a scene with Precious running with a bucket of chicken than to want to face the reality of the health problems facing black youth because of poor diets. Air our dirty laundry, of course not, we don’t even want to wash our dirty laundry and own up to problems in our families let alone the community at large. I don’t have enough fingers to count all of the women I know who were molested as children. By the way, they are highly educated women, some even with PhD’s, imagine that. Given the box office numbers for Precious you can all feel rest assured that Hollywood will go back to doing films about dancing Negroes and triumphant athletic Negroes or any film that makes black people feel good about themselves. What a privilege it must be to be white in America and to see a film with Robert Downing Jr. playing a drunk and then be open about his past addictions without being attacked by his own race.
To be perfectly honest, we don’t need this story to be brought to the silver screen when there are so many positive and untold stories about the African American experience. Oprah, Tyler Perry and some of the other people associated with this production are products of this nonsense, so consequently they don’t see anything wrong with glorifying it on the screen. They are exploiters, plain and simple! Every possible negative stereotype is put forth in this movie – the big, fat, illiterate black girl – abused, exploited, poverty, etc. I’m sick of Oprah putting her “stamp of approval” on this sort of thing as if it is some kind of badge of honor that she is associated with this and for her to receive some kind of legitimacy from whites – who by the way, eat this crap up about us. Tyler Perry also needs to get a grip also, with his depiction of black women in his family as fat, stupid and loud. I don’t have women in my family like that and I’m sure the contributors to this board don’t have women like that in their family either. We do have women who have pride, that are strong, opinionated and hard working. Once again, we need to have a new breed of black filmmaker – some who are female and unafraid to tell our stories in positive and uplifting manner without negative stereotypes.
I haven’t seen Precious – and probably won’t because it’s not the type of movie I usually go see. Yet I defend the filmmakers right to express their voice and their vision. We should be able to make happy movies, sad movies, animated movies, action movies, because we don’t all like the same type of movies. To misquote a famous white man “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.
Thank you so much for this Jill. I have no intentions of EVER seeing the movie or reading the book. While the movie may be uplifting, I still cannot get past the basic storyline. I am not interested in seeing black women portrayed as abuse victims regardless of what Oprah and Tyler Perry think.
I saw the movie. The end did not show any hope for the girl named Precious. I was so upset, I am sorry I ever saw the movie.. It movie ranks right up with my memory of my dead mother in her casket, both are memories I would llike not to have, I would love to erase.
Oprah is obsessed with stories of black oppression. She may be wealthy but her mind is still enslaved. She, Tyler Perry and Daniels all complicit in creating garbage that they call art. Daniels is the same Negro who placed Halle Berry naked on a floor with white trash as she screamed for sex and was rewarded with an Oscar. Hollywood embraces these Negroes because it is not interested in seeing progressive and positive images of black folks.
Finally, the woman playing the role of Precious is parading around as though she is a celebrity. You can put lipstick and a weave on a hog but it’s still a HOG; ask Oprah.
I don’t know if a white girl’s opinion is welcome here, but I thought Precious was a brilliant movie. And I think the idea that the message of it is, “This is what it means to be Black” is ridiculous. As a white woman, I related Precious’ story not to black women I know, but to women I know who were sexually molested or otherwise abused as children. And, for that matter, to a part of myself as well. In my case, these women are all white. No, this isn’t a feel-good, happy ending kind of movie. But it is a story of girl who, because of abuse, thought that she was too stupid to ever accomplish anything, learning about her own capabilities and that she is worthy of love. That is a worthy story no matter the race of the protagonist!!! Certainly there need to be so many more stories told by people who aren’t white men. And it is soooo tiring that so many movies about women and people of color represent them as vicitms. But I also don’t think it’s fair to say, “Shut up about stories of people who have been victimized! I don’t want to feel bad! Just stay out of sight, please. You’re not welcome.” I can’t help but hear that message in what you and many of your commentors have written. The idea is that “Precious” is in so many of us, whether white or black. That’s what story-telling is all about.
[...] film about an illiterate, obese black teenager who has two children by her father. The author Jill Nelson wrote: “I don’t eat at the table of self-hatred, inferiority or victimization. I haven’t bought [...]
This is crazy. Man, I get so so tired of us blacks complaining about how we are being done wrong. When will we stop looking through slave-colored glasses. I saw the movie, and although it was the most depressing movie I have ever seen, it never in any way made me think that what was portrayed in this movie represented how blacks as a whole behave. It showed how a girl went through a traumatic experience and managed to walk away with her head up. I thought it was a major positive that she didn’t kill herself after going through so much shit. I don’t know if I, myself, could have been strong enough to deal with all that. And I believe that anyone who has also gone through such unbelievable trauma (regardless of the color of their skin) will appreciate knowing that they are not alone and that they have to ability to take control of their lives.
Must we complain about everything?
Even one “Precious” is one too many, in any community, black, white, Hispanic, Asian or Native American. Mature, intelligent people do not hide their heads in the sand to avoid confronting the ugly, unpleasant things in their lives and in Life.
Rosie, I am so sorry you lost your mother, but are you suggesting you wished you had never gone to her open-casket funeral because of your lasting memories? We can’t avoid, ignore or try to erase every difficult memory or vision we are presented. The strong and productive rise up…as in “Still I Rise”…and confront and FIX the horribleness they encounter. It is feeble, weak and delusional to think that every instance of something bad happening, being shown or involving a person who is a descendant of an African is somehow a diabolical, conspiratorial plot to impugn and demean good, upright and wholesome African-Americans. If you are good and wholesome then you have nothing to worry about. The era of every person of African descent feeling responsible for the actions of every other person of African descent are so long ago behind us. Or let us hope. Only an extreme sense of personal insecurity, self-hatred and SHAME could account for the black folk that gots their lips poked-out ’bout how bad de white man is treatin’ us po’ nigras. If you THINK you are a victim, then you ARE a victim.
The so-called Black Liberation Movement died out in favor of the Black Victimization & Pandering Movement. Until the African-American community – like ANY community – can never correct the deleterious effects of a half millennium of oppression if we refuse to confront the problems that plague us seriously. It is disheartening to see such a brilliantly creative-mind and wordsmith as the great Ishmael Reed participate in this kind of pity-party.
Individual Black Americans have achieved the Presidency of the United States, so WHEN oh WHEN are we going to change the narrative of “woe is me” and “i can’t do anything because white people don’t like me.” 7 out of 10 children of African descent are born out of wedlock and that will continue to increase until ALL OF US decide we are not going to accept our sons and brothers abandoning their children. Rampant abuse of women and children of African descent will continue as long as lilly-livered peeps refuse to recognize the screams coming from the apartment next door.
40 years of blaming white people for the problems in our own community has not produced change. It has produced a generation of rap artists concerned only with how to exploit women and each other. A black man is more likely to die at the hands of another black man than he is to die in his own bed at age 90.
Our community was in a pitiful and pitiable state of affairs long before Sappho wrote the TRUE STORY of one of her students in Harlem, or before Perry, Winfrey and Daniels set the book to celluloid. Wake up, African-Americans. We ourselves are fulfilling every negative, destructive stereotype every used against us, so stop blaming sociological scholars such as the writer and producers of “Precious” for turning over the superficial images of Black respectability and exposing the ugly, disgusting, decaying underbelly of our collective community of Africans in America.
Me thinks the lady Nia and Mr. Reed protest too damn much. In fact, I think they are both completely satisfied with the horrible state of affairs in which millions of people with who they share DNA must live each and every day.
WE ARE ALL PRECIOUS….whether we are of African, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic or Native-American descent.
If Precious gives you angst (I haven’t seen it), then feel good about seeing Blind Side (haven’t seen that either) where a street-sleeping Black fat boy abandoned by a dysfunctional Black family is rescued and raised to fame in pro-football (what else?) by a caring, suburban, well-healed, Conservative, evangelical White women in the South, no less. Now, that’s precious! And it’s true. Now, who could win an Oscar for that? The big, Black fast boy with hidden intelligence?
What MzLibertee, Alfreda, Carolyn said!
amen and pass the cornbread! Let’s get it together people.
[...] film about an illiterate, obese black teenager who has two children by her father. The author Jill Nelson wrote: “I don’t eat at the table of self-hatred, inferiority or victimization. I haven’t bought [...]
I also support what MzLibertee, Alfreda and Carolyn said, Raz. It is easy for those of us who have grown up in upper high bourgeois black martha’s vineyard comfort to claim, “I’m not Precious,” as if somehow that proves something. What’s more important than the white reaction to Precious I think is what several people have already said, but which bears repeating: there is no implication in this movie that ALL black people are precious…rather, it is a moving story of ONE very sad young woman. Marketing to the side, it is a very moving story. Have you ever read LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN? Hopelessness comes in many colors, but usually one class…
Amen. and Amen again. This book was “pushed” by the publisher with its free distribution at a convention of English professors when it was published. I read it and left it there. Wish that had been the end of it. We need to speak up about this, and its “push” as an acceptable stereotyping of race, color, and gender. Precious is pitiful.
[...] And what about Jill Nelson’s skewering of the self-promotion of those attaching themselves to the film’…?: [...]
I did like Precious the movie ,I can see where the writer is coming from and the director’s/screen writer’s view point.
Let’s take a back seat and look at Precious as a human being,she could easily be white,asian or black abused by her parents. I am British of African origin, abuse happens everywhere and we(black) people should look at this movie not on racial lines,the ignorant ones will give it the racial connotation.
That’s my 2 cent.