Precious Movie Project
EPS 591
Debra Rosenberg
March 6, 2017
Northern Arizona University
Mark L. Adams M.d.
Synopsis
Precious (2009) is a movie based on the novel Push which was written by Sapphire. This is a disturbing and emotionally powerful movie about a young sixteen year old that is an illiterate and overweight black girl from Harlem whose life has been defined by physical, sexual and emotional abuse; one of extreme dysfunction. This movie takes the viewers through the mind of a raped victim, her name is Precious. The movie captures her horrifying struggle of darkness to the light of a new life. At the age of 12, Precious gives birth to a Down syndrome baby girl she named Mongo who was being raised by her grandmother.
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Precious became pregnant with her second child when she was sixteen. After her high school principle found out about her pregnancy, she arranged to have her sent to enroll in an alternative school for girls, in hope of Precious changing her life’s direction. Precious ends up finishing her GED and was granted a literacy award for her writings ( http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/precious-based-on-the-novel-push-by-sapphire-2009).
The purpose of this project is to determine how the movie relates to material covered in Personality Adjustment EPS 591. I will report observations pertaining to humanistic, behaviorist, and psychoanalytic theories of personal development of the character
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She demonstrates self –efficacy which is where one’s belief about one’s ability to perform behaviors should facilitate expected out comes (Ormrod, J. 2012). Precious was given a supportive emotional environment through the helping skills of her teacher, caseworker, and male nurse. They allowed her to determine the pace and direction for her therapeutic healing by using the Humanistic Perspectives of Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow (Weiten, Dunn, & Hammer, 2015, p.49-53). Through Client-center theory she was able to finally find herself, and get in touch with her real feelings by following these three steps: Genuineness, Unconditional Positive Regard, and
Precious and her family members are invisible to the larger world because they don’t posses any skill that enables them to make even the slightest difference in the world. The tests that Precious take show her lack of intelligence and only amplify her inferiority to the people around her. When you’re invisible, nobody treats you with respect; in the beginning of the book, everyone treats Precious like worthless trash. Though, later, she becomes visible again through the people she meets at the alternative school, and the birth of her second baby, Abdul.
Precious’s chronosystem are the transitions and shifts in Precious’s lifespan. Precious was pregnant which led her to be kicked out for school and placed in an alternative school. Regarding development, this transition was very beneficial for Precious as she was able to be in a better learning environment. Her chronosystem also includes the transition of Precious moving out from her home into a halfway house. This is also developmentally positive for Precious and her baby to live in a nonabusive environment.
The character’s demeanour changes the entire atmosphere of the movie due to experiencing serious trauma through bullying in childhood. The
The movie Precious is a movie about a sixteen year old girl nicknamed Precious. The movie shows her difficult life as she lives with her mother. Precious is a teen mother expecting her second child, who is also her father’s child due to him raping her. She is verbally and physically abused constantly by her mother and lives in a very unhealthy environment overall. She takes care of herself and her mother and is told what to do everyday. In the movie she begins to turn her life around when a teacher has faith in her and she begins to get an education, and learns she is not what her mother thinks she is.
Claireece ‘Precious’ Jones is a sixteen year old African American, illiterate and obese girl who lives with her abusive mother, Mary, who is unemployed and neglectful. Claireece has gone through tremendous sexual abuse including being raped by her own biological father several times from she was only three years old that has resulted in her bearing one child and another on the way. This resulted in her having severe hatred for herself, her race and taking a toll on the socialization process of interacting with others, Her family completely survives off welfare and her mother comes up with all types of plans to get as much money as she can from the government because she is lazy and had selfish motives. Precious was no longer able to attend high school upon her second pregnancy so she was forced to enroll in an alternative school where she began to be lead by her inspirational new lesbian teacher, Miss Blu Rain. Precious often escapes her reality through daydreams wishing of fame, fortune and being loved. Eventually, she gets her life together and triumphs over all the tribulations in her
In the movie “ Precious “ by Lee Daniels, Gabourey Sidibe plays a sixteen-year-old, illiterate and overweight girl named Precious, who lives in Harlem, New York. She lives with her mother Mary Jones, who was abusive to her. The abuse and oppression was so traumatic for Precious, she would often dissociate herself from the situation and pretend to be someone else. Losing track of time, her situation and herself was her coping mechanism; throughout the movie it appeared that she would have these dreaming episodes where she would be another person in a much better situation. Precious became pregnant twice from her biological father, who had abandoned the family and infected both she and her mother with the HIV virus.
Marie had just traveled from her hometown of Ville Rose, where discarding your child made you wicked, to the city of Port-Au-Prince, where children are commonly left on the street. Marie finds a child that she thinks could not be more beautiful, “I thought she was a gift from Heaven when I saw her on the dusty curb, wrapped in a small pink blanket, a few inches away from a sewer as open as a hungry child’s yawn” (79). Marie has suffered many miscarriages, so she takes this child as if it were her own, “I swayed her in my arms like she was and had always been mine” (82). Marie’s hope for a child has paid off, or so it seems. Later, it is revealed that the child is, in fact, dead, and Marie fabricated a story to sanction her hopes and distract her from the harsh reality of her life, “I knew I had to act with her because she was attracting flies and I was keeping her spirit from moving on…
Miller, F. C. (1999, September). Using the Movie Ordinary People to Teach Psychodynamic Psychotherapy With Adolescents -- Miller 23 (3): 174 -- Acad Psychiatry. Academic Psychiatry. Retrieved December 10, 2010, from http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/23/3/174
It is important to know that Horney’s theory focuses on the idea of neurosis. This involves the notion that when someone is affected by fear or deprived from basic psychological and physical needs in their early stages of life, it causes conflict with one’s defences in building their real self (Langenderfer, 1999). It is important to understand this concept, as Precious’ neurosis changes throughout the movie. Thus through Horney’s theory one can understand that Precious suffers from Basic Anxiety (Fadiman & Frage, 1994). She develops a Basic hostility/ Basic Evil towards her parents, which are the repressed feelings that Precious has of hostility, which cannot b...
The 2009 film “Precious”, based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, tells the tragic story of sixteen-year-old Claireece Precious Jones; an overweight, illiterate who is now pregnant with her second child. Her life at home is a complete nightmare; her mother, Mary, verbally, emotionally and physically abuses her daily. Her father, Carl, molested her on multiple occasions and impregnated her twice then disappeared. Precious was kicked out of public school and took an offer to attend an alternative school where she meets her inspirational teacher Miss Blu Rain. Precious begins to believe in herself and prepares herself for her future. She becomes engaged in class and learns how to read and write; she was called stupid and dummy all her life and
The counselor accomplishes the above by expressing empathy, developing discrepancies, going along with resistance and supporting self-efficacy. Moreover, the counselor guides the client toward a solution that will lead to permanent posi...
The purpose of this report is to analyse the personality of the character, Will Hunting from the film Good Will Hunting using the psychodynamic and humanistic theories of personality. The main characters discussed in this text and their relationship to Will can be seen in appendix 1.
.... Precious was finally proud of herself for doing well in school. In addition, her friends, her teacher, and her social worker were recognizing her efforts–these were some of her external esteem needs. Finally, at the very end of the movie, it is arguable that that she was self-actualized, even though this stage is never able to be satisfied because as one grows psychologically there are always new opportunities to continue to grow. However, for the time being, she was happy and free from her mother.
Most people have experienced some form of violence in their family. Many of these dramatic events involve children becoming victims of abuse. In the movie “Precious” an African American sixteen year old female is tormented by her parents. Precious is the victim of several different form of abuse including: sexual, neglect, psychological, and physical. She is pregnant with her second child, both her children biological parent is her own father, who constantly rapes her. Precious’s mother is envious of her daughter because of the sexual relationship he has with his daughter. This creates conflict among them resulting in physical and psychological abuse. Precious escapes from realty by imaging herself as a glamourous star. With the help of her
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