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Abstract
African American women stereotypes are one of important racial issues in United States that can be seen in many sections of their life. One issue which presents African American women stereotype is an African American movie, Precious (2009). The film is about the bad relationship between mother (Mary) and her daughter (Precious). The aim of this movie is also criticize and challenge the existence of African American women stereotype. As black female in Precious, the stereotypes can be seen from the physical appearance, social condition, and their behavior that are depicted in characters of movie. The purpose of this study is to analyze how African American women represented in Precious movie. In this case, this movie tells and challenges the stereotype of African American women from black feminist perspective. In analyzing the African American women stereotype, theory by Patricia Hill Collins Black Feminist Thought in Controlling Images and Black Women’s Oppression will be used. The type of this research was qualitative research by taking sampling and several actions that shows stereotype issues. The method of the data collection used Precious movie as the data source and another supported data from online and books. The method of data analysis used Narrative and Non-narrative analysis which is supported by Louis Gianneti. The analysis was about the stereotype of African American women in mother and daughter character. This research examines the stereotype “Matriarch,” “Welfare mother” and “Other”. From the analysis, it is found that African American women stereotypes are still significance in U.S. today. Through the stereotypes depicted in Precious movie, it tells the stereotype and their oppression as black female. The existances of black female stereotypes are caused by the oppression.
Keywords : oppression, stereotype, matriarch, welfare mother, other
Introduction
According to Green on her journal perspective on multiculturalism and cultural diversity, racial stereotypes are constructed beliefs that all members of the same race share given characteristics. These attributed characteristics are usually negative such as images of the Sambo, Jim Crow, the Savage, Mammy, Aunt Jemimah, Sapphire, and Jezebelle may not be as powerful today, yet they are still alive (1999). These kinds of black people stereotype have become the racial issues that still exist in black people life, even in the film. Although many critic have appeared in concerning this racial stereotype in dealing with reducing the bad images of black people but the fact of their existance cannot be denied, even in African American women films. For example in Briana McKoy journal about Tyler Perry work on female character and who also known as one of the biggest names in entertainment as a black celebrity, a leading figure in black film, theatre, production, and direction shows that some of his work as director present female character based on stereotypical characteristic like “mammy”, “sapphire”, and “jezebel”.
From the existence of portrayal black female stereotype in film, the racism toward black female still exist in perceiver knowledge because people know and believe on what they see. This action leads people to think about binary opposition on which race is good and bad. Since the “racialism refers to the belief in racial superiority, inferiority, and purity based on the conviction that moral and intellectual characteristics, just like physical characteristics, are biological properties that differentiate the races” (Tyson 360). From the statement above, the difference physical and culture with another lead people to
The Stereotype of African American Women
in Lee Daniel’s Precious Movie (2009)
Ita Erika Br Kemit Puguh Budi Susetiyo English Department, Universitas Airlangga
Allusion Volume 03 Number 02 (August 2014) | Ita Erika Br Kemit; Puguh Budi Susetiyo
have different status. This act of racialism happens not only in the films but also in the real black female life.
One of the film that shows stereotypes is Precious movie. It is about sadistic relationship between mother and her daughter as well as the horrific condition of their life in their own society. The main character Precious follows the life of Claireece “Precious” Jones, a teenage girl living in Harlem in New York City in the late 1980s, an obese, dark-skinned young Black woman whose life has been painful both physical and sexual abuse as she learns to read and write and begins to tell her story. She is kicked out of school when the administration learns she is pregnant for a second time, and told to attend an alternative school. Precious has been physically and verbally abused by her mother, raped repeatedly by her father, HIV positive got from her father, subjected to disrespect from classmates and treated cruelly in the neighborhood because of her weight. She has two children whom are products of incest. The first, born when she was only 14, suffers from Down syndrome and the second born while she is at school. While her mother Mary does nothing but smoke, watch television and collect welfare cheating and believes that education does nothing for Precious, who she would rather also collect welfare if only to bring money into the household (Redmond 2009).
As the setting of Precious movie in Harlem, there is a historical context from black community as the voice women in color. According to Loretta J. Ross who is a national and international leader in movements for racial and economic justice and women’s rights in website, voice women in color sponsored the First National Conference on Women of Color and Reproductive Rights in Washington, D.C., which attracted over 400 women of color, two-thirds of whom were African Americans to promote the women’s right. No national organization of women of color working on reproductive rights existed at the time, and this conference was significant because it was the first conference in history that brought women from the feminist, civil rights, and Black Nationalist movements together to promote reproductive freedom as well as against racism, sexism, and poverty. From black feminist theory of reproductive freedom for Black women, they actually understanding of the role race, class, and gender have played in black female lives as their oppression (Trust Black Women). From the Precious movie, it is based on some of the difficulties in contemporary cultural life and its crisis of perspective. The movie itself delivers the black female life in ghetto society as well as their voice in pain and oppression during the setting of the movie.
The film was directed by Lee Daniel who is African American actor, film producer, and director. The writer chooses Precious because this is a cruel relation about mother and her daughter in black community as well as show a rare depiction in Hollywood movie from black point of view. Furthermore, this film also supported by well-known people, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry who also have bad childhood experience and they become as executive producer of this film. The concept of black female character oppression in Precious movie leads them to the black female stereotype in their own society which actually shows the character in pain. From this perspective, black female informs the experience from their own community and developed into art through the regulation of media in the purpose to show what happen in African American woman life.
Methodology
The writer choose Precious movie as the object of the study because, at the same time this movie indicated the black female issue such the oppression of Mary and Precious character. Therefore, Black Feminist Thought is the suitable theory to analyze this movie since this theory mostly talks about the stereotype and oppression of black female. Thus, the appropriate theorist of this issue is Patricia Hill Collins who is black feminist. The writer choose the controlling image and black women’s oppression because based on Collins’s statement, “portraying African American stereotypes help justify U.S. black women’s oppression” (69). Therefore the writer take three black female controlling images as the theoretical framework, “others”, matriarchy, and welfare mother to justify Mary and Precious oppression.
The writer uses qualitative method in analyzing this movie As Creswell (258) say that qualitative research is “a means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem”. Precisely, the problem and goal for this research is mainly related to black female
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The setting of this scene was taken in Mary’s household in living room as well as the kitchen. At the beginning, Mary and Precious are talking to each other about their daily conversation. While Mary just relaxing at the sofa, watching a glance of television, smoking, waiting her meal like a boss; Precious is busy washing dishes and preparing dinner for her mother.
The scene is using medium shot which contains two figures and eye level shot to catch the action of the characters. The camera focuses to the character of Precious that guides the viewer’s eyes to Precious who is preparing dinner for Mary. This focus function is also to get the attention of viewer of what Mary did to her daughter. At the same time, Mary throws an ashtray right in Precious’ head and makes her fall to the floor. It happens because she cannot provide the cigarette for her (06:21).
Mary :‘You get my cigarette?’ Precious :‘No they didn’t have it. I played the number, though. I couldn’t box it’. From Mary’s action to her daughter in doing physical abuse to her daughter, she becomes an assertive mother because she punishes Precious who cannot afford cigarette for her. It is indicated that Mary cannot deliver herself as a good mother but as “bad” mother because she punishes her daughter unreasonably for the cigarrete. This action also leads Mary’s character as unfeminine way of act because she cannot deliver a good and smooth guidance in teaching the principal behavior to her daughter. In addition, she makes her daughter as a servant for her own good. From those actions, Mary is depicted as bad and failed mother in keeping her daughter.
However, the Precious movie and the image of Mary as matriarch (bad mother) is not only representing the characteristic of matriarch image above but also looking for the reasons behind those characteristic and explaining Mary’s oppression. Moreover, “the overarching purpose of U.S. Black Feminist Thought is also to resist oppression, both its practices and the ideas that justify it” (Collins 22). In this case, the movie Precious delivers the idea in explaining the image and oppression of black female. Because in black feminist thought as Collins says, “the stereotype can serve as function, they can serve to hide or to normalize oppression by making it seem something that the oppressed person wants to do or something that comes from the oppressed person’s nature”. Thus, the image of the matriarch depicted to Mary as a mother with the characteristic as aggressive, assertive, unfeminine, and the factor of her daughter failure at school as if becomes her natural characteristic. However, the Precious movie especially the character of Mary also delivers her oppression. From this perception, Mary is considered as a really bad mother but it is important to see what is behind the objective of her character as bad mother that comes from the oppression as black mother. According to Collins, “the image of the Black matriarch serves as a powerful symbol for both Black and White women of what can go wrong if white patriarchal power is challenged” (77). With the characteristic of Mary as aggressive, assertive, and unfeminine, she actually has already challenged the patriarchal ideology and there is punishment to Mary who is abandoned by her own male because she cannot deliver herself as a submissive and nurtured character. Moreover, according to Collins, “the matriarch or overly strong black woman has also been used to influence black men’s understandings of black masculinity” (77). Through this concept, many black males reject and avoid black female because they are too assertive. In Mary’s character, she cannot deliver herself as the ideal patriarchy figure as submissive and nurtured so that is why her male avoid her. It can be seen from the short scene of the black male who also Precious’s father when he is abusing Precious. He prefer to abuse Precious rather than make love with his spouse because Precious has more submissive characteristic.
Mary’s Aggressiveness, Assertive, and Unfeminine Characteristics Mary’s characters as a cruel mother can be seen in her characteristic as aggressive, assertive, and also unfeminine. It can be seen from her appearance as big body, threatening, and bossy. It can be assumed that if somebody denies her rule and demand, she will react like an angry man.
The Stereotype of African American Women in Lee Daniel’s Precious Movie (2009)
Figure 2: Mary as aggressive character (10:59) This scene shows that Mary is very aggressive by her gesture and her face. In this scene, Mary just slaps her daughter aggressively with a fry pan after Precious’s school headmaster come and communicates by ‘buzzer’ with Precious about alternative school.
Mary :‘You brought that white bitch up in my house! You... Why would you bring that bitch up in here?’ Precious :‘I didn’t bring her here’. Mary :‘You are dummy bitch, you will never know shit. Don’t nobody want you. Don’t nobody need you’. She shows her anger by her words and hard intonation to her daughter and blames her by taking white people to her house. The camera is using over the shoulder shot and eye level angle. Over the shoulder shot is using here to explain the gesture and motion of Mary who facing the camera as being aggressive as well as assertive. It also explains Precious’s character where the camera is putted in her back as the object of Mary’s emotion. This also explains the dialogue between Precious who sees Mary in front of her as being aggressive based on her motion. This motion also shows Mary’s failure to show a good attitude to her daughter and become a fail mother who cannot supervise and teach her daughter well. Moreover, the gesture and expression shows that she is unfeminine but she is like an angry man. The eye level shot indicate that the viewer of this film observe what happen to the characters in their household.
Welfare Mother
Welfare mother in Precious movie is depicted to Mary. This image appears through the concept of Collins (79), “welfare mother is portrayed as being content to sit around and collect welfare, shunning work and passing on her bad values to her offspring”. It can be assumed that the image of welfare mother is a lazy mother and since she depends on the social welfare given by the government. This image fits to Mary who only sits in front of television, sleeps, smokes, and eats in her household.
Mary as Lazy Mother
Figure 3: Mary is spending her leisure time (08:17)
The Stereotype of African American Women in Lee Daniel’s Precious Movie (2009)
This scene is important to explore to get more understanding about the welfare system and government to its citizens including Mary’s family. The figure above is taken in Citizens Advice Bureau where Ms. Weiss played by Mariah Carey works as a social worker. This scene takes place inside the building of Citizens Advice Bureau. This picture uses medium and eye level angle to observe particular scene of Ms. Weiss as the social worker who determines Mary’s financial. Ms. Weiss is giving advice and help people with their money and other problems that Mary and Precious face. This picture only concentrates on the figure of Ms. Weiss that represents the importance of her appearance as the representation of government who helps and assists their citizens. The shot of this scene does not confirm to both of the characters. In the picture above, the shot goes to Ms. Weiss who is standing and staring up at Mary. From Ms. Weiss’ gesture, she looks powerful. The expression of Mary’s face and her response as a citizen is not appear in this picture because the shot only goes to Ms. Weiss, it also becomes the prove that how much the figure of Ms. Weiss is powerful and important as the representation of government who rules the citizen. The camera also focuses to the figure of Ms. Weiss as well as her face expression that looks like sad after hearing the bad condition of Mary and Precious’ life. The medium shot of this picture, takes the viewer to see the circumstances of this room and Ms. Weiss point of view in trying to help her client’s problem through social welfare. In her office, there are two posters of black people which are belong to African American family that says “take care of your children” and the poster of African American happy family. It can be related to the purpose of Ms. Weiss as the representation of the government who ordering black family to take care of their children as well as the government’s expectation of government to help black families live well. One form of government’s help is by giving the social welfare. Social welfare is available in many countries in the world; United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, United States, and China which mostly have the same character in giving aid to citizen. Based on the functional meaning welfare money is called as contribution to poor people in U.S.
Welfare state can be defined as financial assistance to impoverished Americans which is supplied through the taxes paid by the working class. One of the main goals of welfare US is to improve the quality of life and living standards for the poor and underprivileged. Welfare help is usually extended to people groups other than just the poor and underprivileged such as the elderly, the disabled, students, and unpaid workers, such as mothers and caregivers (Welfare Information). The main function of welfare money itself is to help and give a good contribution in black female financial by creating the welfare system with equality and the ability to help those that are truly in need. It is portrayed as giving as much as it can to black women who are desperately unable to fend for themselves. However, in the representation of Mary as a welfare recipient, the function of welfare itself as the help for the poor and underprivileged goes to a failed way.
The image of welfare mother also delivers the oppression toward black female. Related to the oppression, according to Marilyn Frye who is a feminist, talk about the oppression usually mask black female from the truth. Frye talks about “the existence of ghetto, of racial segregation is a product of the intention, planning, and action of white for benefit of white, to secure and maintain privileges that are available to whites generally, as member of dominant and privileged group” (3). From this perspective, the people particularly black female who live in ghetto “the risk place” becomes part of structure in which oppresses the ghetto citizens. From this reason, white people protect themself by making such structure in order to make the privileges to white people. From the movie, the people appear in ghetto place only black people who also show their bad attitude. In this perspective, when black people gather together in ghetto community their condition are getting worse. The intention of white people is also a planning to occupy them as the one who owns prestigious works. From the movie, the ghetto place where Mary lives is also the product planning of white people to keep their privileges as the one who own, control and rule the country. Thus, the ghetto place or risk place is a planning from white people to the member who lives there especially African American.
Based on the history of slavery era, the reason why elite people gave financial contribution and assistance to black female play a significance purpose. According to Collins’ (78), “the image of black women in slavery was breeder women that provide ideological justification for efforts to harness black women’s fertility to the needs of a changing political economy”. It can be assumed that this image leaves
Allusion Volume 03 Number 02 (August 2014) | Ita Erika Br Kemit; Puguh Budi Susetiyo
ideology from powerful people who take control on black women and take benefit from them for their own purpose by improving black women’s fertility in order to get more slaves. In this perception, slave owner gives “good attention” to their slaves by pretending to be a good master because they have purpose for their own benefit.
Black Women as Other
The “other” in Precious movie represents the character of Precious. The basic idea of “other” in the movie concerns on how binary thinking shapes understandings of human difference. In such thinking, difference is defined in oppositional terms. According to Keller as cited in Collins’ book, “one such idea is binary thinking that categorizes people, things, and ideas in terms of their difference from one another (70). In the movie, “other” is shown within the difference between white and black women. The character of Precious always falls into fantasy and dream to be white when she got repression. The “other” for Precious here is the standard of beauty like the characteristic of white women.
White Female as the Center of Beauty
The center of beauty for Precious is white women. According to Collins, ‘Other’ deals with prevailing standards of beauty particularly skin color, facial features, and hair texture within binary thinking (89). It fits with Precious character who thinks beauty is not like her own figure as black female but the standard of beauty is like white female. In this case, Precious’ dream and imagination occur throughout the movie as the way she reflects herself to be white and considered as beautiful woman.
Figure 8: Precious is looking at the mirror (22:09) In the first 21 minutes of the movie, there is a scene taking place in Precious’ room. It shows the wall of her room covered with many white women celebrity posters. After exposing the room, the camera moves to Precious who is preparing to go to school. She sits facing a mirror, however; the mirror does not reflect her big fat black body. Instead, it reflects a skinny white woman who has wavy long blonde hair. The camera uses medium shot particularly over the shoulder shot which contains two figures. White female in the mirror is facing the camera as the reflection of mirror while the camera’s position is in Precious who is looking at the mirror. In brief, white female is the center of this scene and the camera also focuses on what Precious seen in the mirror as the reflection of a white woman appearance that is considered of what beauty look like to her. The concept of beauty has already constructed in Precious’ mind. As for Precious, she is constructed as “other” because she is different with white women. Furthermore, she try to get satisfaction on the way she sees herself in the mirror. She wants to be normal by becoming a white blonde girl as her inner desire. Moreover, Precious’ room wall is covered by white women celebrity posters that become the source of standard of “beauty” for Precious. The posters in Precious room are considered as the media to deliver the standard of beauty like white women. Then, the power of white people in the regulation of media is to present themselves who have the power to control the standard of beauty. This actually becomes the problem of Precious wishes to be like a beautiful white female with a lighter skin, blonde hair and skinny body. Thus, Precious Jones represents black woman
