"Precious" was definitely one of the most complicated depictions of abuse I've ever seen. The hype didn't detract from my experience because the story was well told. It wasn't naive and didn't claim that any problems were solved, which made the love, especially self love, even more powerful. Ian drew my attention to the controversy about skin color and casting. (Does Hollywood Still Have a Brown Paper Bag Test?) That criticism is totally founded, but its still a good film. I really agreed with what Theresa Wiltz wrote about the mother's character on theroot.com: "we recognize the humanity in the monster, without wanting to forgive her of her trespasses." I think that's really important and uncommon in a story about abuse and violence, because denying the humanity of abusers encourages observers to distance ourselves from the problems that really do lead people to hurt each other. This phenomenon came up in this week's This American Life rebroadcast in the section about Elizabeth Smart.
No comments:
Post a Comment