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Is ‘Precious’ a “Racist Freak Show”?

Critic argues that the Oscar-nominated movie is much worse than ‘The Blind Side’

Critics have generally seen Precious, a film about an overweight, abused, HIV-positive girl who triumphs over everything, as a gritty and tough movie. The same critics see The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock as a rich white Southern woman who adopts a black kid, as condescending or even racist. Critic Charles Taylor argues that these critics have it exactly backwards: Precious, is a “racist freak show” that piles misery on top of misery and “negates every idea of black progress,” leaving audiences with the idea that black urban life is a horror show. And he says that The Blind Side, which is based on a true story and doesn’t sensationalize it, is more honest about the problems black people face in American society as well as portraying characters who “act like human beings and not ideologues.”

Independent Film Channel

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