'Precious' a difficult movie to absorb

Movie ‘Precious’ reflection, somewhat based on articles above.

I went to see the film Precious last weekend for no other reason than I had heard it was intense. I enjoy intense movies. This one did not disappoint. The story was based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire, and was about an overweight African American girl in her young teens, Precious, who lived with her verbally and physically abusive mother in Harlem. Precious was pregnant for the second time by her father and could scarcely read or write even as a freshman in high school.
The film was fantastic yet extremely difficult to synthesize. On one hand there were such depressing issues of the stigma of obesity, the abuse that Precious dealt with, Precious’ parents being portrayed in the most heinous way possible, and real poverty, while on the other there was the uplifting themes of Precious’ innocence, the compassion and difference of a single teacher, and hope for the future. Sapphire the author had said (see article above) "I wanted to show that this girl is locked out through literacy. She's locked out by her physical appearance. She's locked out by her class, and she's locked out by her color," and it could not have been more true in watching the movie. The audience was made to feel such tremendous frustration and hopelessness by seeing worst of all possible situations…the life that Precious led.
The most conspicuous part of the movie was Precious’ weight. She is noticeably overweight, and from the way that the actress portrays her, it was clear that she had very low self-concept and esteem. Sapphire, the author, comments “overweight girls who didn't fit into the confines of our society's beauty paradigm, girls who were essentially "locked out" of the broader culture” (see above article). Issues of health and well-being entered in to the picture as well as Precious is seen at one point being forced to eat by her mother after fixing a dish ‘incorrectly’, and at another point she steals a basket of chicken wings from a restaurant to eat for breakfast. In obesity stigma theories, perceived control and responsibility for the obesity is often attributed to the individual, although in the case of Precious, one could not help by sympathize with her rather than blame her for such a result? To cope with obesity alone can be challenging and sometimes maladaptive, but in Precious’ case, this was certainly not the only thing she had to deal with in terms of coping. For example, we come to find out later in the movie that Precious’ father died and that he had had HIV. This meant that Precious had HIV since she had been raped by him on multiple occasions. How does one find the capacity to begin to put themselves in her shoes at this point?
Another issue is the racial stereotypes involved. The director made mention in the NY Times article above that this was not necessarily a PC presentation. It was not “Obama’s post-racial representation of African Americans” but rather something more cold and real. My issue with the race dialogue revolved around Precious’ mother. Presented as nothing short of a monster, Mrs. Jones was abusive physically, verbally, and sexually (alluded to in the movie, explicit in the book). Furthermore, she sits around all day watching television and paying special care to preserve what she refers to as ‘the welfare’. This character description, I felt, was nothing short of the most negative stereotypical ‘welfare queen’ that one could think up and then add just a ill-natured human being aspect for a kick. I feel that we are not progressive enough in this country to take on this character in the mainstream. The stereotypes that she represents still pervade society in the form of symbolic racism (Sears, 1988). Specifically, the stereotypes of laziness, dependence on welfare, and devaluing education counter symbolic American values of hard work and individualism, and are used to justify negative affect toward African Americans by some. This is further exacerbated by the father who is not present and who has given Precious HIV through rape. It was truly a trying experience to be faced with something that tenacious and real and then try to find perspective or seek the teachable moment in the chaos.
In trying to look at this film with my Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination goggles, saw two glaring things. I saw the invisible cycle of poverty that those who do not live in poverty do not understand and that those in poverty do not recognize. Class is something that is tied inextricably with race throughout this country’s history, and this film made no attempt to ease the viewers into that message. The next thing I saw was the affect of Precious’ devalued identity. Without seeing the movie it is somewhat difficult to understand the insurmountable odds that Precious was facing, but as Sapphire said, she was “locked out” in every facet of society. She was told by society that she was not pretty, she was fat, and that she was black. She was told by her own mom all her life that she too stupid and too lazy to succeed at anything. I would hate to even guess at what Precious must have thought of herself. The toxicity of being bombarded with messages that devalue you or your group is something very few who are the dominant group of society can begin to understand or empathize with.
Precious was a difficult film to synthesize to be sure. In all fairness I have left out all of the positive, redeeming, and hopeful parts of it, but at the same time, integrating those in this capacity would be extremely challenging. If anyone else has seen this movie, will see this movie in the future, or if you can comment somehow on the effect of a devalued identity, I’m interested to hear feedback.