Representation: Black Hollywood - Precious[15/11/10]

The main group of people represented in the movie 'Precious' are African Americans, mostly those from a relatively deprived background. They are shown to be unsuccessful most of the time, through precious and her mother, but also ambitious through the dreams of precious. In addition to this there is a varying number of skin tone's of black people shon throughout the movie, and it appears that the lighter the shade of their skin, the closer to success they are, with precious the darkest skinned at the lowest point and the character played by mariah carey, a fair skinned lady, at the top of the chain. Some of these representations may be seen to conform to the stereotypes of black people today, for example the stereotype of black people being of a lower class and not doing anything to help themselves out of this situation, is backed up by the character of Precious' mother, who seems to live solely off government benefits instead of going to find a job. The area of Harlem ties in with many of the representations of black people, with it being a well known lower class area of america, it sets the scene perfectly for the situation in which the characters live their lives. It may have been expected that the targeted audience (Black People) would have related well with this movie, empaphising with precious' lifestyle and being able to seen a part of themselves within her, however it did not go as to plan and many black people were disgusted by the film, refusing to watch it and attempting to prevent others from watching. Instead it was those of a richer background who were able to take time to watch and enjoy it and effectively be sympathetic to those living in real life situations similar to those depicted within the film.