The movie Precious was recently crowned with several Academy Award nominations and two Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actress (Sidibe), Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique), Best Director (Daniels), Best Adapted Screenplay (Fletcher) and Best Film Editing (Klotz). Although the movie certainly has many moving moments that are both powerful and shocking, it is ultimately demeaning the idea of black American life and perpetuating the negative stereotypes already in existence. In fact, the movie portrays nearly every negative stereotype associated with blacks: poor, on welfare, stealing, obesity, pregnant, no father figure, promiscuous, fried chicken, abuse, and dysfunction in the family. This movie most certainly says that black people are messed up and dysfunctional and clearly a threat to society. Hollywood is perpetuating these perceptions of blacks that people have, causing even more discrimination against them.
People are quick to adopt these perceptions instead of thinking critically about them. The people in this movie are actors playing a character. This does not mean that all blacks live in abusive homes, have had multiple children by the time they are 16, and are obese because all they eat is fried chicken. People need to understand that Hollywood is a business, and therefore they have costs to cover and are looking to make the most money possible with each film. Sadly, a film such as Precious is going to attract more viewers and make more money because of the negative stereotypes. However, anyone could be in an abusive home, or have a child out of wedlock, or be obese, despite their race. Even the movie’s preview strongly portrays the negative stereotypes of black life as one of poverty, abuse, and neglect.
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