Jungian Analysis of the movie Precious - Aisha

[AishaNicholson]

Introduction

Precious the movie is a film adaptation of the novel by Sapphire. The plot of the story portrays a young african american woman Precious Jones who is pregnant with her second child,she was impregnated by her father, precious faces both verbal and physical from abuse her mother. Her home life is a mess filled with hopelessness and despair, precious psychological perception of herself is that she will never break away from her shackles of ignorance and poverty. She soon realizes that she is going to have to dig deep within herself, use her internal and conscious resources to uplift herself and with the help of her new mentor, precious grows from strength to strength both as a well rounded human being and a mother.

Journey

This clearly out lines the movie; Precious the protagonist takes both a psychological and emotional growth. This can be seen as a journey or transition Precious Jones' journey could be seen as an ugly duckling growing up to be a swan. She faces obstacles along the way from both herself meaning insecurity. having not being as smart as other people. Her mother plays a major role in her self confidence and insecurity's, she belittle's her, talks down to her, referring to her as stupid. " you will never be anything in life" her mother often exclaims. But lucky for Precious her teacher Miss Blue encourages her and tells her that there is a big and better world out there, but she just has to take advantage of it. The journey that Precious faces brings her to hell and back, being faced with all the adversities she continues to strive no matter the odds, allowing her to find peace of mind and self acceptance.

Light and Darkness

Light versus Darkness is clearly visible throughout the entire course of the movie these battling forces summarizes the film light in this sense means hope, intellectual growth and coming of age. Darkness suggest doom and gloom or in Precious' situation ignorance and despair, these two factors create conflict throughout Precious' coming of age. Darkness seems to have allows foreshadow Precious' future, darkness can be personified in the form of Precious mother. Her mother could be described as one of the main antagonist, she sucks all hope from Precious. talking her down and killing her self confidence by abusing her daughter, Precious' mother kills her character.... Ignorance played a major role also being an antagonist ignorance allows Precious to feel trapped, neglected and unwanted. Lacking knowledge Precious doesn't see the light inside her, but in contrast to this Precious' teacher Miss Blue opens a door for her, a breath of fresh air by giving her chance of education. Miss Blue gives precious faith and in doing so Precious becomes open to the things that matter, she then realizes her responsibilities and then decides to take action, by being the pilot of her own life and destiny and by not living for the will of others but for herself.

Mentor

Mentors play a vital role in Precious' well being, her teacher Miss Blue serves as both a beacon of hope and as a mother figure, she encourages Precious to do good in school as that is the door way out of her horrid life that she hates so much. Miss Blue provides love and moral support for Precious by doing this, Precious feels needed and loved. Miss Blue allows Precious to see that she cant just live for herself alone but for her kids too, the role that Miss Blue plays in Precious life is very important in Precious coming of age, as without her Precious would be lost. Miss Blue's role is not just that of a teacher but as the mother Precious never had. she is the first to inspire change in Precious from a misguided girl into a clear headed women with dreams and aspiration.

[Evangeline]

I definitely agree with you in the light vs darkness archetype. I think that this is present even visually in the film. Many of the scenes in the movie portray Precious's reality as very dark, sometimes she even seems to blend into the background. But in other sequences, the scenes are much brighter like when Precious is daydreaming of being famous and hoping for a better life.
There are some heaven vs hell archetypes in the movie, as well. Precious's house is literally a hell and getting outside from that is an escape. When she is in the classroom and learning with Miss Blue it is much more like heaven. I believe she feels more at peace, at least as much as someone can be in her situation, when she has escaped from the personal hell that is her family life and home.
I think Precious's mother and father play roles of the devil figure. They are cruel to her but at the same time give her knowledge of the evils of the world, something many people can be oblivious to. Precious was forced to "eat the apple", so to say. Knowledge was never a choice for her and it come to her through violence and neglect.

[Mr. C]

Aisha - great choice of media and great analysis. (And Evangeline - nice addition with reference to the lighting of scenes). It would be interesting to do a Jung/Frye comparison when it comes to the main female characters in this film. With such a powerful exploration of the depths of human degredation, it is quite possible to explore almost all of the archetypes. Fantasy vs. reality might be a good symbolic polarity to explore too. Again, good work here.

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