Family Violence In The Film Precious

The film Precious takes place in Harlem in 1987, and focuses on the life of an overweight, abused, illiterate 16 year old named Claireece Precious Jones. Precious is a victim of incestuous rape and is impregnated twice by her biological father, and when she is not being sexually abused, she 's getting mentally, physically, and verbally abused by her mother. Her mother lives off of the welfare she receives, and does not do anything else besides smoke and watch television. Precious mother also does not believe that a formal education can improve Precious’ life, and she would prefer having Precious collect welfare in order to bring money into the family. In order to escape the abuse, Precious daydreams of having a glamorous life as a celebrity, and with people that care about her. Precious later sent to an alternative school,

As she learns how to read and write, Precious gains self-respect and begins to believe that she can have a future. After the birth of her son, Precious learns from her mother some devastating news, but despite of this, she is able to escape with her two children from her mother.

In the third edition of Family Violence across the lifespan (2011) by authors Ola W. Barnett, Cindy L. Miller-Perrin, and Robin D. Perrin explain the definition of child neglect. The definition of child abuse varies due to the numerous perspectives. While there is a lack of agreement on a solid definition of the term – experts agree that when a child’s basic needs are not fulfilled, then that qualifies as child neglect. In this section of chapter 3, it is mentioned that for the definition of child neglect, the intentionality of the abuse is an important factor (Barnett, Perrin, and Perrin 2011:85). The concept of intentionality being a factor of child abuse is relevant in