Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire turned out to be the little film that could, although it almost never came to be. Even though the man behind the wheel of its production—Lee Daniels—was a producer and “co-direct[or]” (Hirschberg 2009) of the first film to garner an Academy Award win for an African-American actress, Halle Berry in Monster's Ball (Mask 2004), he could not get any studio support for Precious. For perhaps a number of reasons, nobody in the film industry seemed to have faith in the project. I think anyone can agree that Precious does not exactly provide a pleasant movie-going experience, and unpleasantness does not sell tickets at the box office. People go to the movie theater to escape from real life, not to be smacked square in the face with the injustices and tragedies of modern life. Due to the refusal to budge on the studios' parts, Daniels suddenly became a fundraiser. He around to friends and family, asking for financial support for the film, and eventually, Daniels acquired the backing he needed from an unlikely source—a wealthy suburban couple in Denver who admired his work (Hirschberg 2009).

Financial woes is not the only adversity that both Lee Daniels and the title character of Precious have faced in common: Daniels was also physically and mentally abused by a parent figure (In his case, his father beat him because he exhibited feminine qualities and his father believed that physical dominance would solve the problem.) (Hirschberg 2009). Another key player in the making of Precious came from a similar background of abuse: Mo'Nique. She had a brother who abused her starting at a very young age, and she harnessed the monster that she recognized in her brother in order to bring forth the wickedness of her character, Mary Jones (Hirschberg 2009). As indicated by the research conducted in the article “Priming Mammies, Jezebels, and Other Controlling Images: An Examination of the Influence of Mediated Stereotypes on Perceptions of an African American Woman” by Givens and Monahan, negative depictions of African-American women in media results in a negative attitude toward all African-American women in the consumer (Brown Givens and Monahan 2005). Such criticism has been drawn in regards to Precious, especially in regard to Mo'Nique's character, which Lee Daniels warned the actress of beforehand. However, the two decided that it was more important to depict reality as they have experienced it and not in a way that would simply please critics (Hirschberg 2009). It is also necessary to recognize that the character of Precious does no just stand for African-American teenagers who are raped by their father and assaulted by their mother in Harlem in 1987; rather instead, “Precious is a stand-in for anyone -- black, white, male, female -- who has ever been devalued or underestimated” (Hirschberg 2009).

Precious is fairly unique in that it includes African-American women who are physically and sexually assaulted without diminishing the seriousness of the acts nor faulting the victims themselves for the attacks. In the article “African American Women and Violence: Gender, Race, and Class in the News,” Marian Meyers discusses the news coverage of a spring break event in Atlanta, Georgia during which there are many instances of violence, sexual assault, and rape. Often times the news coverage of these events implies in one way or another that the victims themselves are responsible for acting in such a provocative manner that would entice the perpetrator to act out. While this article is about local news coverage of one specific event, it can also be applied to media in any form. While Precious does not specifically feature any Jezebels—or, African-American females who are portrayed as sexual objects whose “lewd behavior provoke[s] assault (Meyers 2004)—it does depict violence among African-American women in such a way that might be considered over-the-top (i.e., dropping a TV on someone who is holding an infant) to some viewers, which could lead said viewers to underestimate the seriousness of the acts.

Another way in which Precious is unique is that it features a predominantly female, African-American cast. Even if it is not entirely unique, it is compared to all other Academy Award-nominated films. According to Mia Mask, in her article on Monster's Ball, there is a generally scarcity of dramatic African-American female lead roles in cinema today due to “Hollywood’s continual unwillingness to invest in films depicting black women as more than sexual objects and romantic partners” (Mask 2004). However, Mask argues, the existence of a market for such films is exemplified in the success—both critically and financially—of the 2001 film Monster's Ball (also produced by Lee Daniels). Though the fact that an African-American woman was never awarded a Best Actress Oscar until 2001 is bothersome enough, it is even more incredible that “the roles for which black actors have won Oscars have something in common: all depict isolated African- American characters as beholden to the beneficence of white philanthropy, or, at least, humbled by the moral rectitude of white paternalism” (Mask 2004).

When it comes to film form, Precious is a very impressive film. Lee Daniels undoubtedly wanted to make the audience a bit uncomfortable, using both intense violence and unappealing imagery, especially involving food, to accomplish that. Multiple shots of greasy food cooking on the stove in Precious' home, paired with the amplified sounds of gurgling liquids made for an unappetizing display. Daniels also attempted to establish a “shifting tone... Not just through the dialogue, but through editing and the music” (Stevens 2010). He achieved this tone though use of quick cuts between scenes as well as between segments of reality and segments of fantasy, as well as through use of both soulful R&B in the movie's soundtrack along with vulgar hip-hop music. Also noticeable throughout the film is the lighting differences—an aspect of mise-en-scène—between scenes that add hopefulness to the story and those that diminish optimism. An example would include very dark lighting and lots of shadows in Precious' home, especially during conflicts with her mother, compared to the fully illuminated school Precious attends through most of the film, as well as the hospital in which she delivers her second child. The dark lighting clearly signifies sinister and evil persons, as in the case of Precious' mother, while bright light stands for hope. Lastly, Daniels' choice of camera angles and framing throughout the film helps decide our perspective of events in the story. When Precious is outdoors, the use of loose framing represents her freedom as compared to the tight framing and close-ups used in Precious' home, which suggests a psychological tension in the scene. One sequence in particular—when Precious is rushing down the stairs with her new child after engaging in a violent scuffle with her mother—demonstrates clever use of high and low angle shots; the former on Precious as she descends the stairs and has not a clue that her mother is about to drop a TV on her head, and the former on Precious' mother as she glares down at Precious. The high angle shot invokes a sense of vulnerability in the character being featured, while low angle shot does just the opposite.

References

Brown Givens, S., and Monahan, J. (2005). Priming Mammies, Jezebels, and Other Controlling Images: An Examination of the Influence of Mediated Stereotypes on Perceptions of an African American Woman [Electronic version]. Media Psychology, 7, 87-106.

Hirschberg, L. (2009). The Audacity of 'Precious' [Electronic version]. The New York Times Magazine, 68, 28-37.

Mask, M. (2004). Monster's Ball [Electronic version]. Film Quarterly, 58, 44-55.

Meyers, M. (2004). African American Women and Violence: Gender, Race, and Class in the News [Electronic version]. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 21, 95-118.

Stevens, I. (2010). The value of 'Precious' [Electronic version]. Sight & Sound, 20, 11.