In his Sunday NYTimes Arts&Leisure cover story, "Two Films, Two Routes From Poverty," A.O. Scott writes about Precious and The Blind Side and how it is "useful to imagine these movies in dialogue with one another." It's a point that Armond White made in his review of The Blind Side this week, in which he writes: "Every aspect of The Blind Side rectifies the corruption represented by Precious." White's original review of Precious (read it here) has stirred up a hive of, what White terms, "outrageous displays of self-righteousness, fake compassion and gullibility."
Scott credits White with being at the center of the fray over the depiction of African Americans in Precious. He calls White "the great contrarian of American film criticism" and counter's White's argument with the one from Raina Kelley who, in an essay for Newsweek, who wrote about what lies beneath the idea that African Americans are seen as victims and a deeper issue of "the fact that black people have begun to accept as unchangeable the lot of those stuck in the ghetto." Felicia R. Lee also wrote a piece on Friday, "To Blacks, Precious is 'Demeaned' or 'Angelic
", in which she quotes White from a recent interview as saying, "Black pathology sells. It’s an over-the-top political fantasy that works only because it demeans blacks, women and poor people." He also made sure people didn't pay as much attention to Cadillac Records and Akeelah and the Bee because they were not negative enough.Obviously this debate will not be solved in any review or essay published in a newspaper (or even in great speechifying) and will probably persist all the way through Oscar season (it's the sort of publicity that's impossible to buy). What is most heartening is that we still have newspaper and magazine critics who are interested and able to engage in cultural critique of this level, that we have a mature, conscientious medium that allows for great writers to continue to forward ideas instead of get mired in the base jibes and petty feuds found on many websites and blogs.
You can hear Armond White live tonight at the Walter Reade Theatre during the Keep Moving: Michael Jackson's Video Art program at 6 p.m.
