# So, just how is the movie "Precious" inspirational? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198 "2013-01-14T18:28:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/61 "2013-01-17T06:21:32Z")
Oh, and I hate the movie Dirty Dancing because it is hypocritical about unprotected sex, so I get he movie hate. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/62 "2013-01-17T06:28:21Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > I made the leap from (paraphrasing) “precious’ story is unbelievable” to “I wouldn’t believe a story like that from a real person.” It appears I was wrong, and I apologize. Almost every sad story I hear has people in it who didn’t believe the victim, so I get defensive on their behalf. I wouldn’t have to believe something so far fetched, because if it were real life, the evidence would be apparent. It would be easily verifiable that there are two children born to a child who has AIDS…clear signs of abuse. I would believe it in the way I would all of a sudden start believing in God if he appeared in front of me. That doesn’t mean I would ever believe it without seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/63 "2013-01-17T09:00:09Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > 1. Very Dark. Several shades darker than what this society is willing to consider attractive usually (though I find her skin tone gorgeous). > > 2. Morbidly Obese > > 3. Poor > > 4. Sexually abused by dad > > 5. illiterate > > 6. Pregnant \*twice \*by dad > > 7. physically abused to the extreme (kicked in the head while giving **birth** , for instance) > > \*\*8. sexually abused my mom. > \*\* > 9. gives birth to a baby with Downs Syndrome > > \*\*\*\*10. saddled with AIDS > > * * * > > . The Aristocrats! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/64 "2013-01-17T14:07:52Z")
I think everybody has valid points, but does it make me a bad person that I _still_ want a Precious lunchbox and action figures? ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/65 "2013-01-17T15:51:37Z")
No, not a bad person. A deeply troubled person, perhaps, but not a bad person. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/66 "2013-01-17T16:49:44Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > And that’s just the first half-hour! > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Then she becomes a roadie for Kanye. > [@Sampiro](#): > > But it gets her a date with Chris Brown… Which inevitably leads to a speechwriting job for NRA chief Wayne LaPierre. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/67 "2013-01-17T17:33:30Z")
Fiction has different believability standards from reality. That’s because fiction is created in order to get something across to an audience - a story, a message, a moral, all three… So we interpret fiction in that light. When a fictional story just keeps ladling on great big gobs of misery with a misery topping and an extra dish of misery on the side, then we don’t just see ‘Omigod, that poor girl is having a terrible life.’ We know that the author deliberately \*chose \*to heap on the misery, in order to have a specific effect. So we read it as ‘The author of this story is going wayyyy over the top trying to tug at our heartstrings, and she’s quite possibly trying to play on white middle-class prejudices about Da Ghetto.’ I haven’t seen _Precious_, but the review summaries sent me and my husband into heartless snorting giggles. It’s like the old (Wilde?) quote about how one would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing. Reality, on the other hand, isn’t created on purpose in order to get anything across to the audience. So we don’t read it in terms of its intended message and how well it communicates that. Quite possibly there actually is one kid one there whose life story matches Precious’s - unlikely, yeah, but definitely not impossible. If Brynda said she had a client with a life story very close to that, I wouldn’t disbelieve her. In reality, it could happen. But in a work of fiction, it’s implausible and silly. It’s misery porn. ---
**Author:** ![UFBB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/96bed5/32.png) [@UFBB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UFBB)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/68 "2013-01-17T17:45:38Z")
Aaaaannnnd Astro wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/69 "2013-01-17T18:05:46Z")
[QUOTE=Nzinga, Seated] 1. Very Dark. Several shades darker than what this society is willing to consider attractive usually (though I find her skin tone gorgeous). 2. Morbidly Obese 3. Poor 4. Sexually abused by dad 5. illiterate 6. Pregnant twice by dad 7. physically abused to the extreme (kicked in the head while giving birth, for instance) 8. sexually abused my mom. 9. gives birth to a baby with Downs Syndrome 10. saddled with AIDS [/QUOTE] > [@astro](#): > > The Aristocrats! [LUXURY!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/70 "2013-01-17T22:57:38Z")
I watched part of the interview with Sapphire and Lee Daniels included on the DVD, and the first thing Sapphire said was that the character of Precious was a composite of people she’s met who have such problems. Um, okay, that’s not going to make for a convincing character though. I had to turn it off after Lee Daniels immediately went into ass kissing mode, “Oh, even though you’ve never had any of these problems, what I noticed about the book was how honest it was. It was so amazing how you described…” I turned it off. Honesty was not something that I saw portrayed in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/71 "2013-01-17T22:58:54Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > …at what point does Coleman Francis fly in on a Cessna? I laughed for ten minutes when I saw this! Bravo!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/72 "2013-01-17T23:11:24Z")
Kathy Lee Gifford presents _Urban Poverty_. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/73 "2013-01-17T23:17:04Z")
All I could think as the movie progressed is the old joke. I’ll spare you all but the punch line - > [@](#): > > “Golly, ma’am”, said the cowboy, as he began to remove his pants - “This just ain’t your lucky day, is it?” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/74 "2013-01-18T01:28:20Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > …Brynda said she had a client with a life story very close to that, I wouldn’t disbelieve her. I liked your whole post, but this bit I just can’t let go. The client Brynda described was not the equal of Precious. Heart disease is awful, but it aint AIDS. AIDS has way more drama and stigma and is way less likely for a child in the 80s through hetero sex. That is why Sapphire didn’t give Precious ‘heart disease’. Being a middle aged isn’t the same as having all of these horrors visit you while you are still a CHILD like Precious was. Being abused by your parents isn’t the same level as giving birth twice by a parent to a kid suffering from Downs. Being white and poor in this society isn’t the same level of hardship as being black and poor in this society. Brynda showed that there are some fucked up people out there, but we all know that already. The only dispute is whether the people are fucked up on the level of Precious, and we all know the answer to that. Even if you had a kid born into abuse, live in misery for one year and die a painful death…their story would be maybe worse than Precious but NOTHING LIKE PRECIOUS. By the way ‘aristocrats’ kills me after my list. Just kills me. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198/75 "2013-01-18T17:08:43Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > The client Brynda described was not the equal of Precious. No, I said \*if \*Brynda said she had a client with a life story that matched Precious’s, I’d believe her, although it wouldn’t make Precious’s story one bit less ridiculous to me. I agree with you - the client she actually described isn’t the same thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-just-how-is-the-movie-precious-inspirational/647198.md?page=3)