An “American” Subaltern & Anti-feminist Portrayals in Lee Daniels’ Precious

• In Event: The Canary in the Mine: Black Women and the State of America

Abstract

Lee Daniels’ film Precious (2009) offers a portrayal of black, female poverty in America, putting several modes of black femininity in dialogue with one another. Drawing on the work of Gayatri Spivak, this analysis shows how the film represents the character Precious as a subaltern who must adopt hegemonic discourses and ways of knowing in order to escape dire poverty. Within the framework of indigenous-subalternity, the heroine’s escape from poverty, as messaged through film, presents a covert anti-feminist agenda by its moving the audience towards blaming the women of the film, and away from taking to task failed social structures.

Presenter

• Brooke C. Midkiff, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill