On Second Thought....

After seeing "Precious" for myself, I may have to eat my own words regarding my earlier statement about it not perpetuating African-American stereotypes.

Well, sort of.

I still think Barbara Bush didn't know what she was talking about and was likely trying to redeem herself from that tragic comment of hers. But I do agree that the movie stereotypes African-Americans. And boy does it ever stereotype us!

Almost every negative stereotype you can think of was depicted in that movie, oftentimes exaggerated beyond belief. For instance, Precious couldn't just be overweight (as many African-American women--including myself--are); she had to be morbidly obese! She couldn't just come from a "broken home" (often ascribed to single-parent, African-American families); she had to come from an egregiously abusive home. She couldn't just be a pregnant teen; she had to be impregnated by her father, who, in turn, couldn't just be an absentee parent--he had to be an incestuous creep who preferred sex with his own daughter over her mother. And to top everything off, Precious finds out she's HIV-positive. (Of course.)

And the exaggeration continues: Precious' mother, Mary, couldn't just lack involvement in Precious' education (which is the case for far too many African-Americans); she had to outright FORBID Precious from learning anything. Mary was as lazy as a mother could be, forcing Precious to do all the cooking, answer the doorbell, and pick up her money from the welfare office. Mary cheated the system, pretending to take care of Precious' children in order to collect more welfare money, when she barely took care of Precious herself.

(Lord! I can just see the Bushes now, discussing the film over scones and Earl Grey tea. After the film, they engage in a lively debate on whether or not the film is an accurate portrayal of black people. Slowly they come to a consensus that, indeed, the film is NOT an accurate depiction. Then Barbara Bush comes on NPR to share this epiphanous revelation, feeling proud to have denounced these pernicious stereotypes. Sigh...)

But I digress.

Precious' mother had no redeemable qualities at all, which made her one-dimensional. Other characters in the movie were also one-dimensional, almost to the point of being caricatures. For instance, Joann ("Hey") was an immature, gum-smacking classmate of Precious, who was shallow, annoying, and cackled wildly at tragic situations.

Another classmate, Rhonda, was a West-Indian woman with an unrealistically thick accent that no one could understand. In reality, West-Indians usually tone down their Patois to be understood by Americans, so I don't know what that was all about. You could tell it was contrived because the actress spoke slowly as if she had to "cone-sahn-treht" really hard to get the accent right. In addition to her "funny accent," Rhonda displayed that tried-and-true stereotype most readily ascribed to black people--the girl could dance! Later in the film, the class had a party during which the camera zoomed in on her--and only her--doing some "booty dance" of sorts.

The other classmates who were non-black had issues and strong personalities too, but not nearly as farcical as their African-American counterparts. Even the administrative staff at Precious' alternative school exhibited negative stereotypes. For instance, Sherri Shepherd's character had a major attitude, talked on the phone constantly about non-work-related business, and stood cowardly behind while she encouraged her colleague to investigate an apparent burglary.

So through the actions of these characters, we get a visual representation of black people being fat, lazy, dysfunctional, sexually perverse, pregnant before their time, education-averse, cheating the system, AIDS-ridden, gum-smacking, immature, mercilessly derisive, speaking with a "funny" accent, dancing provocatively, having a bad attitude, unprofessional at work, and unreliable during a time of crisis.

What's bothersome about these depictions is that all of them were associated with the darker-skinned characters, while all of the virtuous characters who reached out to Precious to save her from her dismal existence or who simply said kind words about her were light, racially-ambiguous, or white. (This includes the math teacher, the counselor, the social worker, the English teacher, and the nurse.) What's most worrisome is that the book the film was based on apparently depicted the English teacher, Ms. Rain, as a darker person, and her darker skin color played a pivotal part in Precious' transformation. But I guess that would disrupt the "light-is-right" theme the filmmakers seemed determined to portray.

Many will say it's just a movie so it doesn't matter, but depictions like these do have an impact on how the audience perceives the groups represented by these characters. Moreover, the exaggerated nature of many of the depictions not only make African-Americans look farcical, it leaves the viewer little choice but to associate these negative stereotypes with black people. (The association would have been less impacting with more subtle depictions.) If anyone held any preconceived belief that African-Americans are f*cked up, it would be further calcified after viewing this movie. The filmmakers could have avoided all of this with a simple decision to keep Precious' English teacher as a darker-skinned woman. That one example would have deflated my entire argument. But they didn't. They deliberately chose to make her light-skinned to continue with their dichotomy of good and bad behavior based on color.

My concern with all of this is that I really believe these decisions are made intentionally in order to influence the viewing public's perceptions. I just want to know why. What were they trying to say with all of these deliberate portrayals? What take-home message do they want people to leave the theaters with? Sure, the overt message of "triumph over tragedy" (or "breaking the cycle of violence" or "believing in oneself" or whatever) will resonate in people's conscious minds, but what message will be festering at the sub-conscious level?

When any arm of the media tries to shape public opinion as I believe was done with this film, that's when I start to worry. And as you may have noticed, I already worry far too much as it is!