Director Lee Daniels was quoted in The New York Times saying he was “embarrassed” to show Precious at the Cannes Film Festival. Nikki Giovanni mentioned in her speech she gave at Indiana University South Bend that she is boycotting the film.
On November 6, 2009, Precious was not shown in any South Bend or Mishawaka major movie theatres. Yet the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Cinema is showing the film. Indiana University South Bend’s Titan Publishing screened Precious April 1. What is the big controversy about this movie and why was it released only in certain demographic areas yet our educational institutions are showing it?
Precious began as an independent film based on the book Push by Sapphire. The film is directed by Lee Daniels Entertainment and Smokewood Entertainment. It would soon get picked up by Lions Gate Entertainment after the 2009 Sundance Film Festival screening.
Precious brings the audience into the world of an overweight girl, Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) who is an illiterate African American teenager. She comes from a background of poverty, physical, and mental abuse.
The journey begins with Precious being expelled from high school because she is pregnant—for the second time. When Precious is confronted about her pregnancy, her response is delivered in the stereotypical way of a black woman, terse and with attitude. On her way home, the audience walks with her through the ghetto where she is harassed by black teenage boys who yell obscenities and shoves her to the ground because she ignores them. Precious finally makes it home to squalid public housing and there we are introduced to her lazy and verbally abusive mother, Mary (Mo’Nique) who spews a harangue of distorted reasons why her daughter needs to drop out of school and cash in on her pregnancy by registering at the welfare office.
Through dialogue, it is revealed that the welfare system supports their household and that Precious pregnancies are a product of incest. Precious’s father raped her and Mary not only watched it happen but exploited her daughter’s misfortune by collecting an additional welfare handout for Precious‘s child, her own granddaughter.
So far the story of an obese black teenager depicts negative aspects about the African American community. It could be said that this is why Daniels may have been embarrassed to present the film. In the New York Times interview, Daniels admits that he did not want to “exploit black people” by directing such a consciously grim movie like Precious which rehashes stereotypes. During Giovanni’s visit to IU South Bend, she referenced a hypothetical situation of an individual who, unexposed and uneducated with black culture might have a misconstrued perception of the black community based on certain movies like Precious.
With the help of the character Miss Blu Rain (Paula Patton), a teacher from Each One, Teach One, an alternative education center for troubled teens, Precious eventually learns to read and write. The movie credits Precious’s enlightenment with a montage of African American figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, and other historical people who made a significant impact in black history. Aside from the montage of positive role models, the movie remains focused on the main character of Claireece “Precious” Jones.
The bleak reality of Precious’s life exposes social issues like rape, incest, teen pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS. Marshall Fine of the Huffington Post said, “…this film takes [the audience] places they don’t want to go, that it is an experience to avoid – a look into a world of which they want no part.”
Because of the gritty content, it could be said that the reason why Precious was not released in every theatre is due to the fear of negative feedback. Perhaps Precious was not released in South Bend or Mishawaka because of old traditional and religious values that the Midwest is so well known for. However the movie was released in larger cities that had a wider array of diversified demographics. Nonetheless, Precious grossed approximately $1.8 million the first week. Soon after, with the increasing support of positive reviews and Academy Award nominations, Precious soon followed after other successful independent films like Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler. People became more curious as to what the hype about this movie is all about.
This movie address a variety of social issues that are so critical that perhaps the University of Notre Dame and IU South Bend could not academically afford to ignore Precious. To remedy Giovanni’s concern with this movie, maybe for the unexposed and uneducated, this movie should only be viewed in a liberal arts school. As for Daniels, he says that because we have a black president, “It’s O.K. to be black” and that he “is no longer ashamed” and so, Precious it is.
The Perception 
“Precious” Was Not Accepted in Theaters Everywhere. Why?
Tags: African American, black, Book, Cannes, Community, Controversy, Daniels, Festival, Film, Giovanni, Illiteracy, Indiana University South Bend, Midwest, Mishawaka, MoNique, Movie, Notre Dame, Patton, Precious, Push, Sapphire, Sidibe, South Bend, Stereotypes, Theater
Director Lee Daniels was quoted in The New York Times saying he was “embarrassed” to show Precious at the Cannes Film Festival. Nikki Giovanni mentioned in her speech she gave at Indiana University South Bend that she is boycotting the film.
On November 6, 2009, Precious was not shown in any South Bend or Mishawaka major movie theatres. Yet the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Cinema is showing the film. Indiana University South Bend’s Titan Publishing screened Precious April 1. What is the big controversy about this movie and why was it released only in certain demographic areas yet our educational institutions are showing it?
Precious began as an independent film based on the book Push by Sapphire. The film is directed by Lee Daniels Entertainment and Smokewood Entertainment. It would soon get picked up by Lions Gate Entertainment after the 2009 Sundance Film Festival screening.
Precious brings the audience into the world of an overweight girl, Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) who is an illiterate African American teenager. She comes from a background of poverty, physical, and mental abuse.
The journey begins with Precious being expelled from high school because she is pregnant—for the second time. When Precious is confronted about her pregnancy, her response is delivered in the stereotypical way of a black woman, terse and with attitude. On her way home, the audience walks with her through the ghetto where she is harassed by black teenage boys who yell obscenities and shoves her to the ground because she ignores them. Precious finally makes it home to squalid public housing and there we are introduced to her lazy and verbally abusive mother, Mary (Mo’Nique) who spews a harangue of distorted reasons why her daughter needs to drop out of school and cash in on her pregnancy by registering at the welfare office.
Through dialogue, it is revealed that the welfare system supports their household and that Precious pregnancies are a product of incest. Precious’s father raped her and Mary not only watched it happen but exploited her daughter’s misfortune by collecting an additional welfare handout for Precious‘s child, her own granddaughter.
So far the story of an obese black teenager depicts negative aspects about the African American community. It could be said that this is why Daniels may have been embarrassed to present the film. In the New York Times interview, Daniels admits that he did not want to “exploit black people” by directing such a consciously grim movie like Precious which rehashes stereotypes. During Giovanni’s visit to IU South Bend, she referenced a hypothetical situation of an individual who, unexposed and uneducated with black culture might have a misconstrued perception of the black community based on certain movies like Precious.
With the help of the character Miss Blu Rain (Paula Patton), a teacher from Each One, Teach One, an alternative education center for troubled teens, Precious eventually learns to read and write. The movie credits Precious’s enlightenment with a montage of African American figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, and other historical people who made a significant impact in black history. Aside from the montage of positive role models, the movie remains focused on the main character of Claireece “Precious” Jones.
The bleak reality of Precious’s life exposes social issues like rape, incest, teen pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS. Marshall Fine of the Huffington Post said, “…this film takes [the audience] places they don’t want to go, that it is an experience to avoid – a look into a world of which they want no part.”
Because of the gritty content, it could be said that the reason why Precious was not released in every theatre is due to the fear of negative feedback. Perhaps Precious was not released in South Bend or Mishawaka because of old traditional and religious values that the Midwest is so well known for. However the movie was released in larger cities that had a wider array of diversified demographics. Nonetheless, Precious grossed approximately $1.8 million the first week. Soon after, with the increasing support of positive reviews and Academy Award nominations, Precious soon followed after other successful independent films like Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler. People became more curious as to what the hype about this movie is all about.
This movie address a variety of social issues that are so critical that perhaps the University of Notre Dame and IU South Bend could not academically afford to ignore Precious. To remedy Giovanni’s concern with this movie, maybe for the unexposed and uneducated, this movie should only be viewed in a liberal arts school. As for Daniels, he says that because we have a black president, “It’s O.K. to be black” and that he “is no longer ashamed” and so, Precious it is.