For almost five weeks I resisted seeing the movie “Precious”. I didn’t want to see the movie because I’m tired of the omnipresent stereotypes in the media and popular culture about African Americans, particularly poor African Americans. But I finally saw the movie this week because I was curious and I was concerned about yet another graphic depiction of Black women as hyperactively sexual, Black men as brutes, and Black mothers as lazy welfare queens.
Let me explain why I saw the movie. Two weeks ago I overheard a conversation between my physical therapist and another patient. This other patient was a white man who excitedly told my therapist that she had to go see the movie. He said that Monique did a great job in playing the physically abusive mother of a teenage girl who had been raped by her father. Then he explained that he had retired after thirty-five years of teaching and that this is how it was with these kids – they are really afraid of their parents. I think that he genuinely believed that the movie offered some insight into Black life. And this is why movies like “Precious” are so very dangerous.
There is very little in popular culture that reveals the textured layers of Black life in America. Most books, movies, and television shows are about Black people who are superrich – Black entertainers or sports icons – or about Black people who live in abject poverty. There are also television shows like “Meet the Browns”, a sequel to the buffoonery and antics of minstrel shows which were popular in the first half of the twentieth century. There is very little in popular culture that reflects the rich diversity of black socioeconomic life. The fascinating lives of the black American middle class are left largely unexplored.
Racial segregation is still a salient reality of twenty-first century life. Black and white children attend schools that are either predominantly Black or white. Neighborhoods are also racially segregated. So are churches. Americans of all races come together in the workplace but our personal lives, for the most part, remain separate. Many white Americans get to “know” Black Americans only by consuming the images of African Americans in popular culture. Take for example, the response of a student at Boston College to a presentation I made about the role that racial discrimination plays in impeding the advancement of people of color in the corporate workplace. He explained that, in his opinion, discrimination was not the problem. He thought that there was something in African American culture that prevents Black achievement. When I asked him to explain his position, he referred me and the rest of the class to a television show called “The Wire”.
The movie “Precious” is a compelling piece of fiction. But, it is just fiction. In an interview with Katie Couric, the author of the novel on which the movie is based explained that her work was a “montage” of several people she had met in her life. The movie is dangerous because white Americans and Americans of color live, play, worship, and learn separately. Some white Americans will believe that they are learning something about Black people when they watch the movie. The universal nature of child abuse – the fact that it poisons the lives of families of all races and at all economic levels – will get lost because there are so few healthy images of Black Americans in popular culture.
One commentator lamented that there is “clearly a segment of [Black Americans] that worries about what white people think.” We have to worry about what white people think. I research and write about racial discrimination in the corporate workplace. The senior executive ranks at all major American corporations are almost all white and are predominantly male. White people make decisions about the lives of Black professionals and working people. We have to wonder whether the decisions white managers make about hiring, promotion and pay are influenced by the parade of negative portrayals in the media and popular culture. And, even Black Americans who start their own businesses must worry about what white people think when they go to financial institutions for capital to fund their businesses. These decisions are also made primarily by white Americans.
There is so much that has been said about the movie “Precious”. There is much more to say about the way such projects are funded and the role of private companies in determining the content of pop culture. I’ll save that for another day.
Let me explain why I saw the movie. Two weeks ago I overheard a conversation between my physical therapist and another patient. This other patient was a white man who excitedly told my therapist that she had to go see the movie. He said that Monique did a great job in playing the physically abusive mother of a teenage girl who had been raped by her father. Then he explained that he had retired after thirty-five years of teaching and that this is how it was with these kids – they are really afraid of their parents. I think that he genuinely believed that the movie offered some insight into Black life. And this is why movies like “Precious” are so very dangerous.
There is very little in popular culture that reveals the textured layers of Black life in America. Most books, movies, and television shows are about Black people who are superrich – Black entertainers or sports icons – or about Black people who live in abject poverty. There are also television shows like “Meet the Browns”, a sequel to the buffoonery and antics of minstrel shows which were popular in the first half of the twentieth century. There is very little in popular culture that reflects the rich diversity of black socioeconomic life. The fascinating lives of the black American middle class are left largely unexplored.
Racial segregation is still a salient reality of twenty-first century life. Black and white children attend schools that are either predominantly Black or white. Neighborhoods are also racially segregated. So are churches. Americans of all races come together in the workplace but our personal lives, for the most part, remain separate. Many white Americans get to “know” Black Americans only by consuming the images of African Americans in popular culture. Take for example, the response of a student at Boston College to a presentation I made about the role that racial discrimination plays in impeding the advancement of people of color in the corporate workplace. He explained that, in his opinion, discrimination was not the problem. He thought that there was something in African American culture that prevents Black achievement. When I asked him to explain his position, he referred me and the rest of the class to a television show called “The Wire”.
The movie “Precious” is a compelling piece of fiction. But, it is just fiction. In an interview with Katie Couric, the author of the novel on which the movie is based explained that her work was a “montage” of several people she had met in her life. The movie is dangerous because white Americans and Americans of color live, play, worship, and learn separately. Some white Americans will believe that they are learning something about Black people when they watch the movie. The universal nature of child abuse – the fact that it poisons the lives of families of all races and at all economic levels – will get lost because there are so few healthy images of Black Americans in popular culture.
One commentator lamented that there is “clearly a segment of [Black Americans] that worries about what white people think.” We have to worry about what white people think. I research and write about racial discrimination in the corporate workplace. The senior executive ranks at all major American corporations are almost all white and are predominantly male. White people make decisions about the lives of Black professionals and working people. We have to wonder whether the decisions white managers make about hiring, promotion and pay are influenced by the parade of negative portrayals in the media and popular culture. And, even Black Americans who start their own businesses must worry about what white people think when they go to financial institutions for capital to fund their businesses. These decisions are also made primarily by white Americans.
There is so much that has been said about the movie “Precious”. There is much more to say about the way such projects are funded and the role of private companies in determining the content of pop culture. I’ll save that for another day.
