Jezebel 
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New York, 3:49 AM
Tue Dec 15
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/10/09
12/10/09
I think Precious/Push are very valid and important stories, but I also agree with the criticism that points out how often these narratives of abuse and poverty show up in Important Socially Aware Movies About Black People.
It seems to me that the only resolution is to have more movies reflecting more experiences of more people. (And I don't mean movies that use white people as the narrative entrance point into a story about Others, i.e. The Blind Side.) No single artist should have bear the burden of telling the One True Story of a society, yet that is exactly what happens.
12/10/09
12/10/09
12/10/09
Thanks for correcting me though, I would have hated to have said something like that at my holiday work party or something.
12/10/09
12/10/09
12/10/09
12/10/09
#tips
12/10/09
12/10/09
ETA: It does happen *in all kinds of families, neighborhoods, tax brackets, etc.* Just realized I should have added that, since it's kind of the point of my comment.
12/10/09
12/10/09
On the other hand, I don't think it's necessarily any one author's job to do it single-handedly, you know?
12/10/09
All the more reason to have shows about black doctors and their well-adjusted families on every damn channel.
12/10/09
12/10/09
But I'd be very interested to hear from people who have voiced that criticism. What I've gathered from the articles linked on Jezebel is that people of many races have a problem with it as being either "too cynical" or "too hopeful," but I haven't really heard news of black people getting up in arms about the depiction of the black family.
If that kind of argument is out there, I'm sure it's one that points to how popular culture likes to focus on black pathology at the expense of three-dimensionality, which is in fact true. You can still have a problem with that while wanting to make sure people like the character Precious and her real-life counterparts get the help they need.
12/10/09
Also, on an unrelated note, she's 59?? She looks amazing if that's a current photo.
12/10/09
12/10/09
12/10/09
12/10/09
12/10/09
Also - Holy Christmas, she does look amazing!
I swear there's magic water out there that we don't know about.
12/10/09
12/08/09
Preparing herself is one thing. Doing it so publicly MAY be a turn-off to the academy.
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
11/19/09
11/18/09
11/18/09
But, isn't that why people are saying this movie is refreshing---it is giving a voice to the abused who rarely get any attention? How many Gaby Sidibes have been on screen lately, or ever?
So those who are upset that it doesn't represent the typical African American experience, isn't that kind of the point? Why do all of our films have to show only the best and brightest of our culture, why not share some time with real humanity and open up the worldview a bit?
11/19/09
It's not that I think the movie should be above reproach simply because of its subject matter, but I think that people are getting so caught up in their critiques that they are forgetting just how monumental this movie truly is.
Or maybe it's because this movie is so unlike much of what is out there that it's getting so much criticism, like it's the one chance to tell the story in a national way, and so it better be done perfectly? I don't know. All I know is that the venom puzzles me.
11/18/09
YES! I loathe movies where the female character's life changes for the better/improves mainly because she falls in love, gets married, loses weight, transforms into a beautiful swan. Basically these women have conformed to some societal ideal (be it beauty/relationship standards) and now they deserve to be happy.
In terms of our pop culture (music, books, songs), I'd have to think have to think hard to come up with these kinds of example. I really love this message.
11/18/09
Unlike Precious, most of the girls I represented had nobody to mentor them or to encourage their talents.
I don't know what causes Oprah donates to (except the school in Africa), but I wish that in addition to spending money to finance a film about a poverty-stricken, abused young woman, that she'd donate some money to Chicago programs that provide mentors to young women like Precious. (If she doesn't already.)
I find it heartbreaking that she speaks of passing struggling young women while riding in her limo, in her own city, and yet she sinks money into a film about one such girl who overcame her circumstances with the help of mentors... without providing funding for programs to provide mentors to the girls she actually sees. Because I will tell you, my former fifteen year old client who was pregnant by a man in his late thirties who also gave her syphillis did NOT have a social worker or teacher who cared enough to guide her "to take concrete steps and work on her deficiencies and move her life forward."
That said - Oprah can't save the world. But come on, Oprah. Film and other arts are important in raising awareness, but a program targeted to her own city would be more likely to inspire volunteerism and than to cause white America to gawk at black poverty.
11/18/09
Oprah, do you remember carting out a wheelbarrow full of fat to show how wonderful you were after weight loss and how contemptible you were before it? Why don't you address that instead of reminding us all how rich and perceptive you are?