i am writing my next column on PRECIOUS and am interested in hearing everyone's take on the film. i read 'PUSH' a few months back because when i went to see the film, i wanted to have a source of comparison and analysis. there have been some unfriendly reviews and some raving commentary. i am looking forward to finding a new entry point to understand this film. i enjoyed the colorlines article 'the black matriarch as villain' in which juell stewart notes,

But beneath the film was something that I found to be problematic: a reliance on the villainization of Black matriarch—rather than a mention of systemic race issues—to make the larger message of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” more palatable...This is a problematic image to see in white media, but it’s even more disheartening to see in examples of Black media. What’s so problematic about Mary is that the woman is made into a monster with no redeemable qualities—a decision that isn’t only lazy on behalf of the filmmakers, but also wholly irresponsible to the African-American community...To ignore 1987 Harlem as the foundation for the permanent Black underclass created by the Reagan Administration through its abhorrent social reform policies—including the War on Drugs and welfare reform—is to ignore a crucial aspect of his characters’ lives...The racialized image of the “welfare queen” is a cultural remnant from the 80s that persists to this day. And it is an image that Americans continue to buy into despite plenty of evidence that suggests otherwise. My problem with Mary’s character isn’t so much that she does so many horrible things—it’s that she’s portrayed as doing them without any reason whatsoever.

juan williams is also not pleases with 'PRECIOUS' and so-called 'ghetto lit.'

'Precious' Little of Value in Ghetto Lit

by Juan Williams

The black imagination as revealed in gangster lit is centered on the world of drug dealers— "dough boys" who are heavy with drug money—and the get-rich-quick rappers and athletes who mimic the druggie lifestyle. And there are lots of "ghetto-fabulous" women, referring to themselves as bitches, carrying brand-name handbags and wearing big, gaudy jewelry. Attitude and anger are everything. The dispiriting word "nigger" is used freely by black characters talking about one another. There are guns and drive-by murders; hot sex that emphasizes the pleasure of getting it on with no strings attached; women without husbands and children without fathers; people who brag about being street-smart and then drop out of school and find themselves unemployed.

[...]

Also increasingly absent are textured stories about rising above the realities of poverty, alienation and racism. Those redemptive works, with their calls for black people to be seen as fully human—think of "Native Son" or "Invisible Man"—are on the remainder table. It is hard to believe, but legendary black writers telling stories about the full scope of the black experience, from Langston Hughes to Toni Morrison, are being pushed aside. Inspirational books on black history or the civil-rights struggle are now for the classroom only. Even libraries now stock gangster-lit novels, because they bring new readers in the door.