The best blog posts – I think – are short reflections instead of full-blown essays.  I guess “Wow!” isn’t much of a reflection.

I had high expectations for Precious given the buzz about the film since Sundance last year and escalating this fall leading up to its release.  I was not disappointed.  Let me make three sets of observations about the film itself in a general sense, about the controversy sparked by some who believe the film perpetuates vile stereotypes, and about the truly transformative role this film plays in depicting teacher characters.

THE MOVIE:  Every moment of Precious felt authentic to me.  There is a delicate balance in this film between the brutal reality of the title character’s everyday life and her interior life conveyed by fantasy sequences and interior monologues.  The performances are top-notch, the story is compelling, the visual style veers between gritty and glossy as it shifts between Precious’s exterior and interior lives.  In the end, I think receptive viewers will connect with Precious despite the circumstances of their lives because of her humanity and her courage.

THE CONTROVERSY:  Some commentators have rejected this film on the basis of perceived racial stereotypes.  I want to point out that the safety net that rescues Precious and helps her on the road to self-sufficiency includes a teacher, a social worker, and a nurse who all work in Harlem.  They do not help her and come to care for her because of her race (or theirs).  Yes, Precious’s parents are monstrous, but this is not a condition that is racially determined.  Surely, we now have a range of racial representation in popular culture that allows us to see complicated characters without insisting that all African American (or women or gay or Latino or whatever) characters be “positive” portrayals.  I like to think we have matured beyond such dictates.

THE TEACHER:  For me, an expert in representations of teachers in popular culture (see The Hollywood Curriculum:  Teachers in the Movies and Teacher TV:  Sixty Years of Teachers on Television, the latter co-authored with Laura Linder), I reveled in the unprecedented depiction of a woman teacher who is “allowed” to have a sexual component to her life.  Since the earliest days of teacher movies, the “good teacher” characters have led bifurcated lives with men allowed to date and marry and balance the personal and professional while women have had to choose one or the other.  There is no such double standard in Precious.  What a relief – and just in time to make the third edition The Hollywood Curriculum!