Ayani McReynolds

Professor Granillo

English 103

28 May 2019

Discussion Post 10

Below the poverty line with all odds stacked against you, one still has to do you with

political systems or agendas, racism and no support system to help better themselves. With so

many odds that can be stacked against us, the question becomes, “How does one succeed under

the circumstances that is presented to us?” The movie precious is a prime example of having her

I had stacked against her as she battles her mother, colorism, and governmental agendas. By way

of African American criticism and through the lens of Marxism we can analyze the effects it has

on young black females in their ability to succeed, thus precious serves as a reminder that our

circumstances play a huge role in our ability to succeed in rise of anything that we might come

up against.

In the movie, Precious gets pregnant by her father twice. She also gets abused by her

mother and she has a baby boy by her father. She finds out she has now been infected with HIV

by her deceased father, and she is just trying to make a better life for herself and her son. Mary,

precious’s mother, uses precious and her grandson to get checks from welfare. In the mist of this
her teacher wants to see precious succeed, so she tells precious to take the opportunity to go to a

different school where she can do that. We see the battle between her and her mother.

Imagine being told no one will want you because of your weight ,your skin, and your

looks. Unfortunately, in the movie precious was told by her mother that no one was going to love

her because she was fat, black, and ugly. Harsh, I know, but this is the reality that precious has to

live with, the tormenting thoughts that her mother has placed in her head. She deals with an

insecure mother, and is trying to overcome adversity. By way of African American criticism in

intra-racial racism we can see what precious is fallen victim to. Our Critical Theory Today book

states that, “Intra-– Racial Racism is “ The discrimination within the black community against

those with darker skin and more African features.“ (Tyson 362) By Mary making a statement

about her parents it is a pure sign of intra-racial racism. In actuality precious has the skin color of

her mother. Both women appear to have dark skin, but precious is just a shade darker. She feels

as though precious isn’t beautiful because of her dark skin and she treat her poorly because of it.

Another example was towards the end of the movie where we see precious and her mother in a

Welfare Office, and she finally shows her humanity. She has on make-up that is several shades

lighter than what she actually is. ( 1:30:15-1:40:28) In my opinion this is a true signifier that she

is discriminating against herself. She feels as though she isn’t good enough to represent well in

front of people without having lighter skin.

When one watches Precious one has to explore the idea of Marxism that is depicted in

the movie. “For Marxism getting and keeping economic power is the motive behind all social

and political activities including education, philosophy, religion, and government, the arts,

science, and so on. (Tyson 54) If this is the case and, classes or socioeconomic class are built that
means that these are controlled environments. Which means, that’s there is a plan for every

region. How could it be that based off of the economy of the neighborhood that one school is

better than the other? Precious lives in Harlem which is a low income area and if she could do

better, she would, but she doesn’t know how. It wasn’t until her teacher exposed her to a plan

that would help her better herself. Precious’s circumstance is due to being economically

oppressed. They have to deal to deal with the economic structures that are designed to keep them

where they are, economically. We also see Precious, steal a bucket of chicken because she can’t

afford food. This situation falls into a category of Rugged Individualism, or “the survival of the

fittest”. Anything that Precious needs to do to survive she will.

The movie Precious serves as a reminder that given the opportunity to succeed and the

right upbringing any one can succeed . It is important that Precious continues to air because it’s a

representation that economic structures can indeed how you back.