Oprah’s Latest Movie Pick Is Shamelessly Liberal
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is getting a heavy promotional push from Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, which probably tells you all you need to know.
“Nuke a gay whale for Christ,” read a popular bumper sticker in the 1980s. The giddy level of concentration of hot-button politics in that sentiment was a parody of a conservative’s view of the universe. So what are we to make of Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire? It’s just as densely packed as that bumper sticker.
Don’t let the rambling title fool you, because this movie, which was the “breakout hit,” as they say, of last winter’s Sundance Film Festival, is fiercely focused on one concept: liberal porn.
The title character of the film, which is set in the 1980s in impoverished Harlem, is a teen with a heart trying to make her way through a system without a soul. Precious is an obese, wounded yet spunky girl (played, at times movingly, by newcomer Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, who is so overweight that the fat in her cheeks makes it difficult to read the expression in her eyes).
You can sense the liberal imagination pinging around the world of Precious like a pinball madly ringing up points. She is deeply shy. Ding!
She is an unwed mother. Ding!
She is black and on welfare. Ding!
She can’t read but (for no apparent reason) is hauled out of her dysfunctional school and elevated to a more intensive one where a hip yet sensitive teacher firmly but gently nudges her forward. Ding!
She lives with a cruel mother (Mo’nique) who is so nasty she opposes the poor girl’s wish to attend a better school and even tries to drop a TV on her head. Ding!
She was raped by her own father. Ding!
Her two children are, in fact, the product of this long-running incestuous series of brutal rapes. Ding ding ding ding ding!
At some point, you are bound to wonder whether the pinball machine is racking up so many points because somebody has disabled the “tilt” function.
In other words, this movie cheats a little, until it cheats a lot. It overeggs the pudding, it gilds the lily, it goes over the top and keeps right on going.
For me, the breaking point came when the beautiful, loving teacher turned out to be a lesbian (with of course, a loving, nurturing partner. Yay, lesbians!). There’s even a little speech about the evils of welfare reform, an idea that was then much discussed (and later was codified as law, becoming such a success at lifting people out of poverty that even liberal newspapers were forced to take notice of the plain fact that unlimited welfare is counterproductive and destructive of morale).
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24 Comments
1. Bob:Shamelessly? Why would there be any shame about this movie? This is the kind of drivel that these people are desperate to indulge in. There is no grounding in reality to be found here – the only way they can satiate their thirst for ‘liberal’ causes is to invent ludicrous fantasies such as this. They understandably love it…..and they are not ashamed of that.
Point at them and laugh….the bunch of ‘tards.
Nov 6, 2009 - 7:08 am 2. arhooley:Awww, you spoiled it. And here I thought she might discover that her whole problem was a subculture of dependence and decline and, say, go to some Christian church where she would be taken under the wing of some caring, conservative individuals who would encourage self-discipline and goals.
Nov 6, 2009 - 7:34 am 3. Tex Taylor:You mean to tell me it doesn’t blame George Bush by name? THE SHAME!
If doesn’t have some good old Christian bashing with a Benny Hinn type representing a Billy Graham, and a theme of all religions are equally “spiritual” and equally dangerous like Oprah and Rosie, they obviously have failed in their message.
Throw in some pedophile for a priest and the need for legalization of weed, and we could have had an academy award winner here.
Nov 6, 2009 - 7:57 am 4. XC1:I haven’t seen this movie, so for all I know you’re right and it is manipulative. It certainly sounds like it has that potential, at any rate. But you act as though the fact that it’s about a girl who has these life circumstances is inherently manipulative. Some people truly do have awful lives, so why is the mere fact that the character is in these circumstances manipulative? It seems like you object to that before you object to what the movie does with those elements. Also, what’s your issue with the teacher being a lesbian? You don’t think there are any good teachers who are lesbians in loving relationships? There are billions of movies about inspirational teachers, so what’s the big deal if in one of them the teacher is a lesbian?
As I said, I haven’t seen this and I can definitely see the potential for it to be manipulative. But your initial objections are to what the character’s life is like, and that I don’t get.
Nov 6, 2009 - 8:17 am 5. Now and Then:Fear not. Next week she’s promoting American Carol.
Nov 6, 2009 - 8:17 am 6. Now and Then:And the following week . . .Carrie Prejean’s new movie. Now THAT is one I’ll watch, How about you guys?
http://www.tmz.com/2009/11/05/carrie-prejean-miss-california-usa-sex-tape-solo-reaction-deny-disgusting/
So brave! So Christian! So steeped in down home American values! She’s a hero! A hero I tell you! And what does she get for her courage? Baseless attacks about her character! I hope every girl in America grows up to be just like Carrie. I really do.
Nov 6, 2009 - 8:27 am 7. Brian:N&T..
Nov 6, 2009 - 9:53 am 8. Paul -Indiana:OH NO!! You mean Christian woman actually have sex? That IS news! Your right, I hope woman do not follow in those footsteps!
‘Oprah’s Latest Movie Pick Is Shamelessly Liberal’
Nov 6, 2009 - 10:40 am 9. tammy v:=========
And you expected ……….?
This is the leberal wet dream! Every victim rolled into one. I am so sick of everyone glorifying the victims in life. We are all victims at one point or another. The key is to rise up and GET OVER IT! If she dosen’t; well too bad! America offers her all the helps she needs, if she is willing to put in the work. I don’tneed to see another stupid movie about it. This is why I rarely watch movies anymore. They are either too sexual; constantly putting men down, or playing the victim role. Enough already!
Nov 6, 2009 - 11:11 am 10. moho:“Push” by Sapphire is getting a heavy promotional push from Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, which probably tells you all you need to know.
Given your audience, I’m sure that’s true. But probably not in any way you’d admit.
Nov 6, 2009 - 1:18 pm 11. Delia:Yay Lesbians!
Remember, we have to constantly remind black people that they are perpetual ‘victims’ for life.
@6.,
Since when is masturbating wrong?
Nov 6, 2009 - 6:16 pm 12. Katie:I can’t comment on “Precious” but I’m surprised by this article’s criticism of Tyler Perry. The Perry movies that I’ve seen are strongly pro-family values and pro-religious.
For example, in Perry’s most recent one, the heroine is a young woman who, at the beginning of the movie, is a married man’s girlfriend with a drinking problem. During the course of the movie, she returns to the church and becomes involved with a young man with traditional religious values. At the end of the movie, she ditches the married man, marries the religious man, and the newly weds take responsibility for raising her deceased sister’s three children.
There isn’t anything here for a conservative to dislike.
Nov 6, 2009 - 7:08 pm 13. Gary Rosen:shmoho’s favorite movie is “Triumph of the Will”.
Nov 6, 2009 - 9:46 pm 14. ExPat:I think the last time I ever attend a movie theater was when I took my son to see “Ghost Busters” back in the ’80s. But “Precious” sounds so intriguing and bold and provacative for a Hollywood production (and recommended by Oprah no less) I may have to goand stand in line! Can’t wait.
Nov 7, 2009 - 3:08 am 15. misanthropicus:“the beautiful, loving teacher turned out to be a lesbian (with of course, a loving, nurturing partner).”
Well, this appears to be an under-developed point, since the Hollywood (& LA Times) lesbians, besides having “a loving, nurturing [??} partner”, have also:
listen to Hildegard von Bingen, who was/is a “vegetarian mystic” -
1) been engaged in a long, long, long term relationship -
2) are vegetarian,
3) rear adopted kids from Moldova or Malawi,
4) spend week-ends marching for whales,
5) run poetry work-shops in inner-city youth at risk,
6) are “golden hearted”),
7) conclude every phrase with the melancholy-tinged wisdom “this is all about after all”, or “war has never solved anything” -
9) painting, pottery and Kumbaya pastel quilts also important activities –
… so, maybe they pull back Precious and inject in it a few of these (and so many other beautiful traits) lesbians exhibit 7/24 -
Nov 7, 2009 - 5:53 am 16. misanthropicus:Re #13/Gary Rosen: [...] shmoho’s favorite movie is “Triumph of the Will”. [...]
Gary, two comments here:
1) mojo has no idea of who Leni Riefenstahl was,
2) actually, while Reifenstahl’s association with Hitler deserves contempt, her work, albeit stylistically dated (I am not a post-expressionism type), is still impressive – actually when FDR saw a montage of her work (done by Bunuel, I think), he was very impressed by the power and determination conveyed by her work -
Best regards -
Nov 7, 2009 - 6:04 am 17. homero:watch Gran Torino if you want to see a good film.
Nov 7, 2009 - 6:15 am 18. moho:Gary, two comments here:
1) mojo has no idea of who Leni Riefenstahl was,
If it were true, what difference would it make?
Nov 7, 2009 - 10:49 am 19. Gary Rosen:“If it were true, what difference would it make?”
So I guess you’re admitting you have no problem idolizing a Nazi propagandist. BTW, here’s something for you to crow about – Hezbollah pressured a school in Lebanon to drop “The Diary of Anne Frank”.
“he was very impressed by the power and determination conveyed by her work”
I used to be very impressed by the power and determination OJ Simpson showed as a football player.
Nov 7, 2009 - 2:47 pm 20. Typical White Person:It was Bush’s fault
Nov 7, 2009 - 6:54 pm 21. Typical White Person:But she did ger a free cell phone from the welfare officer.
Nov 7, 2009 - 6:55 pm 22. Mary Grabar:Liberals love to exploit poor people in this way–for Art of course.
Nov 7, 2009 - 8:21 pm 23. moho:So I guess you’re admitting you have no problem idolizing a Nazi propagandist. BTW, here’s something for you to crow about – Hezbollah pressured a school in Lebanon to drop “The Diary of Anne Frank”.
LOL. I’d like to see how you got to that peculiar observation. You’d have to be a real SFB to get there from what I said.
Nov 7, 2009 - 8:38 pm 24. Rise Above:You should applaud this pic. Perry and Winfrey have risked their reputations to expose the grotesque dysfunction of the black underclass. (Expect a Jackson/Sharpton counter-attack before the Oscars).
By virtue of their talent and ambition, both Perry and Winfrey rose from that abusive underclass… Perry’s films, as mentioned by Commenter Katie, promote religious belief and strong values (in the persona of cigarette-smoking, gun-waving Medea).
What’s not for a conservative to like?
Nov 8, 2009 - 6:05 pm