Reflection on "Precious"

Before Bavaro actually told us we were going to watch this movie in AP, I already watched half of it when it first came out. This is actually one of my favorite movies and I'm glad I got to watch the ending of it.

Anyway, this movie definitely spoke to me in various ways. I love the fact that the film revolved around a low class teenager, with two kids, an abusive mother, a long series of brutality throughout her life, but also that Precious had a life full of positivity and spontaneous dreams. Although the ending sucked, it definitely shows how someone who grew up from nothing can actually make it in life.

A lot of people in and around Philadelphia live the same type of life: underclass, abuse, rape, and hardships. It's what a person does that makes or breaks them and this film definitely showed that through the character of Precious. Another aspect of the movie which really made me come to love the film was the fact that the main character, Precious, wasn't a skinny white girl, but instead a black woman with meat on her bones. Most movies nowadays portray the main character as someone who is beautiful or at least has the "potential" to be beautiful. The fact that Precious never judged herself or lowered her self esteem based on her weight was awesome to me. You got to see her grow as an individual internally instead of externally.

Another reason why this movie hit me so hard was the idea of having big dreams. Throughout the movie, Precious has this dream to become a superstar and have guys all on her: to be rich and famous and to have more attention from people. What you notice that doesn't change is her own appearance. Precious wants to change her lifestyle, not the way she looks. In society today, I believe that is the complete opposite. Rather then having bigger dreams then changing ones' appearance, most people today don't make the extra effort to turn their lives around.

If the producer of this movie didn't add the "dreams" theme of the entire movie, I believe the movie would have no purpose. By the ending, you see one of Precious's dreams come true: the ability to move on with her life and be independent. Although her biggest dream doesn't come true, you can tell that that is her next step. I think that's key to life: have the ability to make your dreams come true, but strive for even bigger ones no matter how far out of reach they may seem to be.