BlogHer - oprah - Comments

Listening to Sapphire's book in iTunes

Bailey Alexander — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:44:52 -0600

I'm spending a couple of months aboard our saiboat in northern Italy so I decided to buy the book, turn out all the lights and let her words just wash over me for hours. It was intense but at the end, I was surprised by how much the other students' stories moved me, that was a clever, effective device. Allowing them to compare their pain, own their own story, move on independently.

I sat on a non-profit board in Seattle to help eliminate domestic violence. The issue is everywhere, I've heard it expressed in various languages in several countries, over the fence, walking by an apartment, in different modes of conflict and danger.

I certainly don't equate incest and rape with a color, community, let alone a country. Look at what we do every time we start a war, the first ones to suffer are the children that are raped.

This novel was something else though wasn't it, centered and more effective maybe because the community was known rather than any city, usa.

It was a brilliant use of language, really, in listening to Precious embrace the world thru gradual understanding of a language.

Prior to learning French and Italian, I lived in Rome and Paris so I was illiterate by choice, feeling vulnerable, even if only on the most superficial level, but it was valid. Speaking from somone that understands the power of her own language, the ability to control it, manipulate it, own it, I'm empathetic at the very least, on that level.

I'm not sure that anyone other than a performance poet like Sapphire could have told the story in such an effective manner, with that motive and that result. But I'm so grateful Sapphire went so dark and stayed so honest, if only so the light at the end of the tunnel could feel that much more worth the trouble of traveling towards......

PUSH Attacks the Senses

TreniaP — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:26:45 -0600

Thanks so much for your article. I have been chomping at the bit waiting for this film to come out and now it's here. It has been sold out but I hope to see it this weekend. I read the book when it first came out and I saw Sapphire read some of her poetry and all I can say is this story is a full on attack of all of your senses and sensibilities. It was a very hard book to read, I had to put it down several times. Reading PUSH is a lot like driving past a horrific car accident, you don't want to watch but you just can't help it.

One of the most powerful things about this movie is seeing the aesthetic of Precious on the big screen. I read an interview with Lee Daniels and he talked about how difficult it was to find the actress who portrays Precious because there was nobody out there who fit the character. We have not seen a fat, black woman in the movies in this way and it makes people scared, vulnerable and uncomfortable because she represents all of the things Americans have been taught to fear and loathe all at the same time. Precious represents all of my vulnerabilities and frailties, the ones I try to hide and this film doesn't allow people to hide.

Trenia Parham, The Fat Girl Expert

bridging the gap between weight loss & body acceptance

Get your free 6 Months or Bust Weight Loss Consistencey Plan at

Thank you

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:36:40 -0600

It's terrifying on some level how many people connect with Precious. It tells me that we have a lot of work to do on our humanity, our treatment of children. Thank you.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

And thank you

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:33:58 -0600

And thank you for educating us with your Down Syndrome post. :-)

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

I don't think I could have read it when my children were young

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:32:44 -0600

But not reading it really didn't save me from being overprotective. The nightly news was enough to keep me watching my kids like a hawk.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

You have some crazy adventures there in Canada

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:30:47 -0600

That's outrageous, but I can see it happening here too. People are tripping, Laina.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

Ho'Oponopono

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:28:59 -0600

:-) I remember your post on that! Good way to deal.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

If you want to be a better writer, Suzanne,

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:27:48 -0600

you will read Push.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

I get where you're coming

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:25:54 -0600

I get where you're coming from, Denise, regarding Oprah not choosing Push back then, but she's chosen Precious now and will undoubtedly take flack for that. I think you, as someone with an awareness of race relations in America as well as how topics like incest, sexual orientation, and the welfare system as presented in Push would trouble advertisers and even a suburban fan base, that you can understand why 13 years ago, as she was kicking off her book club, Oprah would choose Mitchard's book. It was a smarter move than Sapphire's novel.

Consider this kind of comment I got on Push at Examiner.com a few months back:

It's a good thing they didn't want to call this movie "Push." We wouldn't want to associate this abortion with Dakota Fanning's GOOD movie.

*Yes, I've read the book. It's a steaming pile of "blame whitey" crap, that reads like it was written by a high school kid. (AABE)

Given the unrelenting scrutiny of Oprah by white America and the fictional character Precious's expressions of her views on Farrakhan and the language Precious uses to speak of whites, that alone makes Oprah not choosing Push as the book club choice for the debut of the club a smart business move. And when you read how some black people, even today, react to anything negative from the black community, how some of them already think Oprah is "too white" and "a traitor," then she would've gotten slammed from that side too.

It could even be that 13 years ago, given Oprah's own experience with molestation, that she wasn't ready to digest a book like Push. It's much more of an in your face book than is The Color Purple.

Oprah's earned more clout since 1996. She can take more risks now, and like Push or not, backing the book or the movie was a risks because many people don't understand what they read or see when it comes to complex black fictional characters. Like real life black people, black fictional characters are still expected to live either down to or up to some kind of stereotype. Any attempts to be authentic are met with skepticism.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

I'm hearing this often

Nordette — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:04:38 -0600

I'm hearing from quite a few people who say they don't think they can go watch such a movie because it may bring up some painful memories of their own. I've been thinking about seeing it when it comes out on video. Not sure if I'll be able to take it on the big screen with no pause button.

Nordette Adams is a BlogHer CE & you can find her other stuff through Her 411.

Precious is Hope, Light Admist the Darkness of Pain

confusedhomemaker — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:01:20 -0600

I've read Push several times. I got it in an undergrad English class shortly after it came out & connected with Precious on levels that I can't begin to put into words. When I saw it was coming to the big screen, I felt fear that she would not be understood as the reflection of humanity & beauty that she is living through the worst but pushing beyond she is living her name admist it all. I just worried people would see the movie & the story but only see horror & miss Precious herself. She would be ignored and overlooked because seeing her means seeing the humanity that exists within abuse, abuse is something we (as a society) don't want to see or talk about. However, I'm looking forward to seeing the movie because of reviews like yours, where you did see that light admist the darkness of the pain she experiences. I am sure that it will be painful because I know women who are Precious in real life & I feel like I *know* her. But I know that in her there is hope because she tells her story & her story does change lives.

beth aka confusedhomemaker

http://theconfusedhomemaker.com/

Thank You!

butternugsquash — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:24:09 -0600

What an amazing article you've written here!! I haven't yet decided if I'll see this or not - definitely not in the theatre, but perhaps when it comes out on DVD. I certainly never grew up in a situation anywhere close to Precious', but there was abuse in my family & I don't know if I'd be able to watch something this gritty & real.

Thanks also for linking to my post on Down Syndrome! I wrote that as a resource for those seeing this movie who might need to know what DS really is and not how it's portrayed in this movie. I hope people will use the opportunity given them by this movie (and your review!) to learn more about this diagnosis and maybe become more accepting of people who have it.

Anyway - fantastic post. Really....just...wow.

I don't have much to add to

SpendWiselyTexas@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:27:44 -0600

I don't have much to add to the comments above but want to tell you that you this is a beautifully written post. Since having my son, I haven't been able to stomach even the slightest hint of any type of child abuse. I am going to this movie and expect when I come home I'll be twice as overbearing and overprotective as before. I don't think I can read the book until he's much older. The images generated by books are always far more gruesome than those in the movies.

Spend Wisely Texas - Living Well and Spending Less in Texas

Great review, Nordette!

lainad — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:55:17 -0600

I read it about a month ago and promptly passed it onto some girlfriends. It was well-received here during the Toronto International Film Fest.

Here is a side story about that: My friend and I went down in the early afternoon to try and get a ticket for me for the Gala but it had been sold out for weeks. There was a lineup of young black women in the 'rush' line, and we stopped to chat with them. One had been there since 9am - the galla was at 9pm that evening - and the women were all dressed up, hair done and full makeup in the hot, sweltering sun.

My friend, who works for the festival and already had a ticket told me later that despite the theatre being only 3/4 full - they reserved seats for media and barely anyone showed up, none of the rush line got it. Why?

All of the volunteers, who were supposed to count empty seats and let the rush line in, had all left their positions to see Oprah and Mariah Carey walk the red carpet. So those ladies never got to get in. Do you see the irony in this?

What I loved is that despite the horror of what Precious went through, there was a determination that shone through. She was a victim, but didn't consider herself a victim. And if she had, it would have been okay, but she preservered through out the madness. she knew that her, ahem 'father' and her mother were wrong.

Initally, what really disturbed me was the sexual abuse by her mother, but eventually I understood - not any justification, but how it could have happened.

I recently read an interview with Lee Daniels in the NYT and I have to say....it hasn't hit here yet, but based on Daniel's interview, I have to think long and hard before I see the movie. It was a great article, but I put it down not having a favourable review about him. He seems like an opportunist and it rubbed me the wrong way.

Contributing Editor - Race, Ethnicity & Culture

Blog: Writing is Fighting: www.lainad.typepad.com

Metal Writer: Hellbound.ca and Exclaim.ca

BlogHer - oprah - Comments

Listening to Sapphire's book in iTunes

Read more about the risks of "bio-identical" hormones.

PUSH Attacks the Senses

Thank you

And thank you

I don't think I could have read it when my children were young

You have some crazy adventures there in Canada

Ho'Oponopono

If you want to be a better writer, Suzanne,

I get where you're coming

I'm hearing this often

Precious is Hope, Light Admist the Darkness of Pain

Thank You!

I don't have much to add to

Great review, Nordette!