Saturday, April 24, 2010
Precious Dreams
The film, Precious, depicts a poor young black girl in urban America as she dreams of escape. Precious finds herself in destructive and abusive family life and escapes by imagining she is a famous starlet loved by all. She dreams of being white and thin. But she does little to escape her situation until she meets a dedicated teacher willing to love Precious as she is. Precious reflects the desires and disparities of the lower class.. Precious' survival may be dependent upon the images she sees on television and magazines. The plight of the lower class is designed to be self-perpetuating and fosters not only continued poverty but low self-esteem, depression, crime, fear, hatred, violence and a multitude of other societal ills. Class plays a role in the circumstances Precious faces but also in the treatment she receives from her family. Her economic status simply aids in the perpetuation of her class distinction. Precious has no hope of moving above middle class and being accepted. But it may also be said that she has no chance of moving into the middle class either.
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I have not had a chance to see this movie yet, but I really want to! I heard it is amazing! The main character looks so sweet. I saw her on an award show and she was just soaking it all up. So awesome for her. From what you said this movie does sound like it fits into what we have been discussing in this class perfectly. I need to watch this soon. Your paper sounds like it will be interesting for this class.
ReplyDeletei've never heard of this film before, but it sounds interesting. the topics that seem to be portrayed in this film seem to be right on with different things we've been talking about in class. so this is sure to be an interesting paper
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen this film either, but it sounds like a good one. We've seen this theme of acceptance and encouragement played out throughout this class, and I'd be interested to see what kind of research you're conducting, and whether it supports the idea that a better family makes a better person, or mentors help people to live healthier, happier lives.
ReplyDeleteYou provide a succinct synopsis of the film here, but what exactly is your overall argument? How does Precious exemplify your overall thesis?
ReplyDeleteMy overall argument is that the welfare system in conjunction with social class perpetuates itself. Its cyclical and feeds into itself. Precious' mother is an example of the cycle perpetuating itself and Precious herself is an example of one trying to escape the system. The problem is that can she really escape it? Will it take a generation or more for the efforts Precious makes to have a real effect on withdrawing them from the cycle of poverty, crime, depression and the welfare system.
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to see this movie but have not got the chance to. I actually thought about doing a topic like this for my final because I learned a great deal about it while in the social work program. It is disappointing to see individuals go down the path that they have grown up in and never be able to get out of the lower class. I believe people in poverty are classified with many of the traits you mention (low self-esteem, depression, crime, fear, hatred, violence and a multitude of other societal ills.) and there needs to be a way to address this issue.
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