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March 17, 2010
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Thanks to the Academy
I’m thrilled ‘Precious’ didn’t win big
S tacey P atton
First, I’d like to thank
m em bers o f the A cad
em y for not aw arding a
slew o f O scars to w hat
N ew Y ork Press film
critic A rm o n d W hite
called “the biggest con
jo b o f the y e a r” - P r e
c io u s: B ase d on the
novel Push by Sapphire.
C all m e a hater. 1 d o n ’t care!
I ’m th rilled that d ire c to r Lee
D aniel ’ s b lo ck b u ster hit did not win
big at the O scars.
T hough the gritty film w as n o m i
nated in six categories, it earned two
O sc a rs - o n e fo r b e st a d a p te d
screenplay, and M o ’N iq u e took the
prize for best supporting actress.
I give big props to M o ’N ique and
G ab o u rey Sidibe for their courage
and skill playing such harrow ing
roles. A s one o f m y w riter friends
pointed out, w hen you are a black
artist navigating H ollyw ood, so m e
tim es you enter the door th a t’s open.
But w hile a p arade o f critics have
heralded Precious fo r its trium ph o f
social realism , it also cram m ed all the
w orst path o lo g ies and stereotypes
o f urban p o o r black people into one
film
S cenes like the m o rb id ly obese,
tw ice-pregnant, illiterate teen ru n
ning through the streets o f H arlem
w hile stuffing h e rse lf w ith a bucket
o f stolen fried chicken w as a th ro w
back to racist depictions from the
an tebellum South.
D aniels’ film also depicted blacks
as stupid, hypersexual, prim itive,
filthy, unhealthy, crim inal, abusive,
lazy, and violent. N eed I say m ore
ab o u t th is p erp etu atio n o f toxic
th em es?
A s I w atched the glitzy and g lam
orous aw ards cerem o n y I cringed
w hen M o ’N ique w on. It’s not that I
d o n ’t think she d eserv ed h er aw ard.
I d id n ’t w ant the c ontent o f the film
to be celebrated.
In h e r a c c e p ta n c e s p e e c h
M o ’Nique said: “ I would like to thank
w ith glim pses inside w orlds som e o f
us never en co u n ter o r d o n ’t w ant.
the A cad em y for show ing role as L eticia M usgrove, y et an
Films like Precious might provoke
that it can be about the other Lee D aniels’ film w here a black moral outrage and get people talking
perform ance and not the m other at tim es abuses her m orbidly about im portant issues like child
p o litics.”
obese black child w ho ends up d y abuse and rape. But do they really
But M o ’N ique forgets ing.
help us understand that kind o f suf
that w hen it com es to film s
The black fathers in both film s are fering as well as the social context and
portraying black folks, the good-for-nothings and are killed off. strictures that breed such violations
w h ite -d o m in a te d H o lly B erry’s graphic sex scene w ith the o f vulnerable people?
w ood industry has co n racist character played by Billy Bob
O r do they sim ply rep ro d u ce ste
sistently p roven itse lf to Thornton stirred a great deal o f dis- reotypes and cast blacks, the poor,
by
be an anachronism , n ev er sep arat
ing p o litics, race and stereotypes
from o u r stories.
M o ’ N ique w on for play ing a lazy,
heartless w elfare m o th er w ho sexu
ally and p h y sically abuses h er ow n
child.
Sidibe, the film ’s m ain p ro tag o
nist, becam e the first black w om an
to be nom inated for best actress
since H alle B erry w on in 2001 for her
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m ore black actors and actresses are tu re?
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Stacey Patton is senior editor o f
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