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The movie, Precious, is all cast on an African-American setting. It is based on a novel known as “Push” which was written by Sapphire. It was released in 2009, and it is more of a drama film filmed in a New York ghetto. The director of the movie is Lee Daniels, and he is also the co-producer. The movie is about a girl, Precious, who comes from a very abusive background. School for her is a nightmare as well as children mock her due to her being overweight and almost illiterate. Her school mates are also very cruel to her. In such situations, children long for the moment when they will be home as they get comfort there, but his is different for Precious. For her, home is even worse. She has an abusive mother who is also unemployed. Her father is even worse. He raped her for the first time, which led to her first child, Mongo. She was raped for the second time and is expecting the second child fathered by her father.
The main characters include Gabourey Sidibe, who acts as Precious, the sixteen-year-old who is abused by her parents and mocked by her schoolmates. The other is Mo’Nique, who acts as Mary and is Precious’s wicked and abusive mother. Paula Patton is also a key character and acts as the new teacher whom Precious meets in the new school. She gives hope to Precious for a better future for both her and her kids. Lenny Kravitz is the other key character. He is an assistance nurse at the hospital where Precious goes to deliver her second baby. He encourages her and shows her kindness, especially after her mother drops her child intentionally. The final key character is Mariah Carey, whose screen name is Ms. Weiss. She acts as a social worker who helps Precious to settle down and get away from her abusive family.
The key current events occurring within the family include child abuse and rape. Precious parents are very abusive towards her. Especially her father who even rapes her without minding the consequences of his actions. After the birth of the first child, he should have at least learned he was wrong, but instead he continued raping her and fathered the second child. Her mother is also abusive. Other than defending her, she is angry with Precious for stealing her man, which is not the case. The key events from the past that are coming forward now include the mother jealousy and HIV incident. The mother does not protect her child, but is jealous since her man is interested and abuses her. The father also transfers HIV, a deadly disease to her daughter which is wrong. The death of Carl, Precious’s father and the father of her two children, is the thing that triggered the occurrence of these events from the past. After his death, it is when they knew he was suffering from AIDS, which meant that Precious was also positive as she later found out. The mother also blamed Precious as she left home and her father was now dead. She wanted her to feel mercy on her and return home. She also knew that Precious being away and taking her children with her meant that the money she got from the government was no more. She thus had to find other means of livelihood. The whole family was affected by these events. Precious’s father died, the mother also suffered, although Precious was the most affected. Her being affected mean that her children too, and thus three generations were affected; her parents, her, and her children. There is no member of the family who was not affected by the events.
The family is dysfunctional. The dynamics that exists, reflect a family with very bad family relations. Precious is everyone’s scapegoat. Her father uses her to satisfy his pleasures. Her mom, on the other hand, blames her for being raped by her father claiming she let it happen. The family seems it was dysfunctional even before all that happened. The events just made the family true colors to be seen. Family dynamics that existed then are the same as those that currently exist. The family must have just become worse, but their relations with each other seem to have been so since the beginning. Having such dynamics allowed the father to take advantage of the daughter without the mother defending her and the mother blaming her for it.
There are four significant dyads in the movie. The first is between Precious and her father who is very abusive and rapes her. The second is between Precious and her mother who is abusive. The other is between Precious and the social worker who helps her out. The other is between Precious and her new teacher who provides hope for her in the alternative school. There are two significant triangles. The first is Precious, her mother, and her father. The other is between Precious, the social worker, and the new teacher who provide hope for her. The sources of conflict are the father and mother. The father abused the daughter, and the mother blames her whiles all that is not her fault. Precious demonstrates the most vulnerability. The character occurs from an abusive background and a school where she is mocked and kids are cruel to her.
The government organization that provided support for needy parents must have been involved in the family. It is because Precious’s mother received money for taking care of her daughter’s firstborn. The organization had a negative effect on the family. The intended beneficiary did not benefit. Rather, the person that received the help benefitted herself. Community support that Precious would have benefitted from is the help of the community to deal with the abusive parents. After being raped for the first time, she could have run to the community for help to deal with her father. He would thus not have been raped her the second time. Precious is going away from her abusive mother, which will help her take care of her children for the while when he has the capability before the disease affects her fully. It is a degree of resolution, although not a full resolution. The family is separated which is an effect of the events. Trauma continues even after an event has occurred. Precious will always be traumatized and so will her children when they learn about how their mother lived. She is also likely to die from HIV a disease transferred to her by her father and thus will always remember her father which is more traumatizing.
The story invokes emotions of sympathy for the family and especially Precious who is most affected. It reminds one of the children at school who were mocked and made fun of by other kids. They might have had similar problems. Most liked character is Ms. Weiss while most disliked is Carl. Carl being a patient makes one have the urge to compensate for the hurt he caused her daughter. However, this cannot be done as it is against nursing ethics. The hope for the family is that Precious gets to cater for her children till they are grown up.
References
Hirschberg, L. (2010, October 9). The Audacity of 'Precious'. The New York Times.
Jarman, M. (2012). Cultural Consumption and Rejection of Precious Jones: Pushing Disability into the Discussion of Sapphire's Push and Lee Daniels's Precious. Feminist Formations, Vol 24, No. 2 (Summer), 163-185.
