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Anyone that knows me will tell you that I loathe urban fiction. Despite the fact that this genre is selling and filling the bookshelves at major chains, I just can’t get past the lack of substance in many of these books. However, with the buzz surrounding the movie Precious, I needed to see what the hype was about.
The book: Push
The movie, Precious, is based on the novel Push by Sapphire. The first few pages were in your face with urban vernacular and the gritty details of Claireece Precious Jones’ life. The reader quickly learns that Claireece, known by most as Precious, is uneducated and having her second baby by her father. After reading the first few pages, I smirked, “Just like the rest of the books I have read.” But despite my early cynicism, I continued reading and quickly departed from my initial bias. Sapphire had presented a story that was cohesive, thought provoking and, at the same time, poetic. Each chapter ebbed and flowed onto the next, and as I read, the writing had remnants of Jamaica Kincaid with its repetitious thoughts from the narrator.
Push is a story about survival and overcoming great obstacles. I am Precious Jones, and if you polled a dozen black women walking down the street, I can almost guarantee that the majority of them will relate to various elements of that troubled life. Perhaps the most poignant strand of the story was the negative self-image and abuse suffered by the central character. She described herself as, “big, five feet nine-ten, I weight over two hundred pounds. Kids is scared of me.”
At another point, she says, “Sometimes I pass by store window and see somebody fat dark skin, old looking, someone look like my muver look back at me. But I know it can’t be my muver ‘cause my muver is at home…Who I see? I stand in tub sometime, look at my body, it stretch marks, ripples. I try to hide myself, then, I try to show myself.”
Precious ultimately believes it is her looks that cause her to be abused by her father and often dreams of being white, skinny, or having long hair. If her father ceased to see her as the black, ugly girl, then he wouldn’t abuse her. So riddled is she by this abuse and poor self-image that Precious even questions her own existence.
When she enrols in a new school, she begins to exist for the first time. She meets a teacher who doesn’t judge her and truly cares about her development. Her class is filled with girls who have similar stories. Ultimately, the girls provide a support system, a much needed outlet for Precious, and most importantly, friendship.
The story took an unexpected twist when Precious was diagnosed with HIV. Precious didn’t really know what that diagnoses meant. She knew her father died from it and it wasn’t good. She began asking ‘why’ once again, but was encouraged not to focus on the ‘why,’ but just to focus on ‘what’s next?’ But what could be next for a girl like Precious? All she can say is, “Not where I am.” This simple sentence is so poignant because we have all felt as if things could not get any worse--and we have all been in positions where we couldn’t see our way out of that tunnel. Yet despite all the hardships, this young woman remained optimistic, and that’s the enduring quality of this story.
The movie: Precious
Brought to life by Philadelphia native Lee Daniels (who produced Monsters Ball), the film opened in just eighteen theaters across the United States and grossed over $2million in its opening weekend. Its success was largely attributed to the promotion by Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey who both put their executive producer stamps on it. The cast was star-studded with Mo’Nique, Paula Patton (Robin Thicke’s wife), Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, and introducing newcomer, Gabourey Sidibe in the title role.
Precious has been getting Oscar buzz and recently Mo’Nique won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress playing mom to the central character. Lee Daniels is no stranger to the Oscars, either. Remember a teary-eyed Halle Berry as she accepted her award for Monsters Ball? Whether or not this film receives an Oscar, Precious is bold, daring, well put together, and educational. The issues I have are not with the screenplay or the book, but with the lack of continued conversations about sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, and self-image in our communities.
Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe, star of Precious, has openly criticized the project for being too focused on race and size, but seems to have missed the important themes. The novel highlighted the importance of support mechanisms, such as the incest survival group Claireece belonged to in the original story. Many people underestimate and dismiss the lasting effects sexual and other forms of abuse can have on the physical and emotional well-being of individuals, where in America, teenage pregnancies have reached record levels. A Chicago high school made national news in 2009, for example, when over 14% of its female students were found to be pregnant or already the mother of a child. While Precious’s pregnancy was involuntary, many young women are freely engaging in sexual activities with little regard to their health, STIs or the possibility of pregnancy.
Some have even strayed away from the book and its cinematic interpretation claiming that “it’s all too gritty and in your face” for their liking, but perhaps we could all use a little ‘in your face’ with our cup of tea these days. Maybe, then, important issues like these will get pushed to the forefront instead of to the back, dialogues can start in homes, schools and on street corners, and measurable actions can be put in place to help young women like Precious, and myself.
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