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Precious Is Heartbreaking, Hopeful
| posts about #preciousreviews more → |
Precious Is Heartbreaking, Hopeful |
11/06/09
*eyeroll*
The last couple of movies about which I remember reading this type of rantage about someone's life getting "shoved in our faces" were Thelma & Louise and The Accused. Oh -- and Do the Right Thing.
I can't imagine any of that is an accident.
11/06/09
[tinyurl.com] #preciousreviews
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11/06/09
Poverty, abuse etc. are shocking, but they are real. I think the level of shock and what sometimes seems like disgust in the tone of people talking about this movie says a lot about how far we go to pretend that they don't exist in the US. #preciousreviews
11/06/09
The "poverty porn" critique, if I can grossly oversimplify, goes to one group's use of the manifestations of another group's pain as a source of its (the first group's) own emotional catharsis.
(It tends to be unconscious, but that doesn't make it any less grotesque.)
"Too bleak to be believable", if you'll permit me a cynical moment, runs closer to either the "not in my backyard" meme or outright denial.
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I absolutely cannot deal with the subject matter, no matter how powerfully acted or how worthwhile the eventual "uplift." I know what horrors exist in this world, believe me, first hand. I do not want to watch it. I.. can't.
It took me 20 years to watch "Sophie's Choice," for heaven's sake, and afterward broke up with the person who basically coerced me into watching it .
So, no thanks. I'll be getting my uplifting stories from movies I can stomach watching. Namely, something like "The Wizard of Oz." #preciousreviews
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But I do understand. And when Dorothy is crying in the tower for Auntie Em? Trauma. #preciousreviews
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I dislike the Slate review. It's almost as if the reviewer is offended to be presented with such horror, that it could exist in American society. If the movie wields a large cudgel, it's only to make damn sure we feel the utter horror of this situation. Sublety wouldn't cut it. Of course, I haven't seen the movie so my opinion may change. #preciousreviews
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This is not to say that race does not play a pivotal role in this story. But, it's pretty simplistic to claim that a White person can't take anything away from the movie besides "those darn Black people." No, a White person does not know what it's like to be Black. Just like most of us cannot know what it's like to live in that kind of poverty. #preciousreviews
11/06/09
Fish in a barrel, I know. #preciousreviews
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I might be making absolutely no sense. #preciousreviews
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Correct me if I am wrong, though, but I think I get what you are saying about how abuse and poverty are not inherent aspects of one's race. This is something that I see with First Nations in Canada, where I live. Many people seem to think that aboriginal people - who do suffer from exponentially higher rates of addiction, mental illness and poverty - are somehow inherently more likely to lead these incredibly difficult lives because of, I don't know, some sort of moral deficiency. It's a terribly racist notion. The reality is, aboriginal people in Canada are disproportionately affected by these things because of the history of colonialism and residential schools and the reserve system and a host of social, economic and political factors, which is very similar to Black people in America. #preciousreviews
11/06/09
Oh, no, I totally agree. I was just projecting what I, personally, took from this story.
I fully agree that we cannot talk about issues of poverty, sexuality, violence, etc etc, without talking about race. In fact, it's one of my pet peeves, especially in discussions around feminism and gay rights.
I didn't mean "just happens" in the "oh, it just happens" kind of way. It's just so simplistic to reduce her life events down to her race or to think this is a "Black problem." #preciousreviews
11/06/09
So to rake at even the first level of what's - um - going on - in your comment -- you assume that abuse can only happen in black families? Among black people?
Or that only abuse of that gross degree can only happen in black families?
I agree with you that some reviewers are not conscious of why they're upset. But the rest of what you said ... oy. #preciousreviews
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What the heck does "Precious' cavernous inner world" mean? How is an inner world cavernous? #preciousreviews
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@PilgrimSoul: I know, that's where I went too. It's either a really obnoxious dig in an otherwise positive review, or a case of a reviewer not knowing what words mean. #preciousreviews
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Also I went to the dictionary to look up cavern and cavernous, and while the words vast and hollow made an appearance, nothing about being mysterious or unexplored popped up. #preciousreviews
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We just do not agree. And that is okay. #preciousreviews
11/06/09
alveolate, broad, chambered, chasmal, commodious, concave, curved inward, deep, deep-set, echoing, gaping, huge, resonant, reverberant, roomy, sepulchral, socketed, spacious, sunken, vast, wide, yawning
And the only antonym? Filled.
[thesaurus.reference.com] #preciousreviews
11/06/09
Anyway, I was sort of stating my point in stupid little tidbits, because my boss was over my shoulder. (Bosses!) I was trying to convey that 'cavernous' isn't always negative, esp. with the context clues. However, you are right, we disagree and that is okay. Farewell, fellow worder. Farewell. #preciousreviews
11/06/09
So, yes, I agree with you.
Full disclosure: I'm a writer. Words move me, and synonyms don't always mean exactly the same thing. #preciousreviews
11/06/09
Not to speak of how inside every woman there's a yawning maw housing a keening creature who's just ... so violently needy, you know?
*turns a faint green*
I think I'm going to start carrying a bucket with me through this film and related review-reading season, so that I'm always prepared. #preciousreviews
11/07/09
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This has a listing of where and when it opens. It opens in Dallas next week. It doesn't open in the Boston area until the week after! #preciousreviews
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You don't watch films. You read books.
*spoken in William F. Buckley cadence* #preciousreviews
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[nypress.com] #preciousreviews
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Dunno, maybe someone has a more articulate answer. #preciousreviews
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