Similar Themes - Essay Example

Precious and The Blind Side are two movies which share similar and contrasting themes, wherein the main character – a black American – undergoes an unhappy childhood, poverty, deprivation, but is given the chance of a new life by unlikely/unexpected benefactors. Both films deal with poignant narratives about the lives of their respective protagonists, hence their being hailed as remarkable motion pictures in this generation.

The two movies under scrutiny tackle a list of common issues. Both Precious and The Blind Side have American black lead characters that come from poor families. Claireese Precious Jones a.k.a. Precious (Precious), lives in the ghetto area with her unemployed mother, who only lives off of the government’s welfare assistance. On the other hand Michael Oher (The Blind Side) merely sleeps on the couch of one black maintenance guy who works at Wingate School since he was separated from his mom, who is a drug addict. Both of these main characters are also victims in their respective families – Precious was sexually abused by her father, and physically abused by her mother. Likewise, Michael or “Big Mike” has been a “ward of the government” because of his mom’s drug addiction, and her mother doesn’t even know who his father is. In the same way, Precious and Michael started off in the film as aloof or distant from everyone. For Precious, it was due to her mom’s penchant on calling her “stupid”, and telling her to “forget that school shit” because school will not give her anything. Her mom repeatedly drilled in Precious’ head the conservative notion that the woman’s existence is only to bear children and take care of the home. Similarly, from Michael’s standpoint, it was because of his fear of getting rejected since he had no family left to run to. Getting accepted into Wingate with the help of a friend was a blessing, but he didn’t want to be a burden to anyone so he isolated himself from most people. Both Precious and Big Mike grew up in environments which were not conducive to learning, hence their illiteracy at their age. The 2 characters are also somehow insecure of their looks because Precious was obese, and Michael was tall and bulky. In both cases, the school acted as a kind of a sanctuary where each of them was able to discover his/her true self-identity and to eventually find hope, new friends and achieve better lives. Precious and Michael were both able to rise above their past and turn over a new leaf. At the film’s end, both characters are transformed and get a clearer vision of the paths they wanted to take – with Precious finally deciding to leave her mother for good and taking both of her children despite having HIV, and Michael whole-heartedly making up his mind to be a legitimate part of the Touhy family.

In contrasting the two movies, it is worth noting that Precious is based on the fiction novel “Push” by Sapphire, while The Blind Side is based on a true story, where the images of the real Michael Oher are even shown at the later part of the film. Precious has a lot of heavy melodramatic confrontation scenes between Precious and her mom, especially the disclosure dialogue with the social worker towards the end of the film. The Blind Side includes some touch of drama, but it’s not of the melodramatic type. There are more light moments in this movie, yet it still maintains its heart-warming impression on the viewer since the Touhys are shown to be sincere in their intentions of taking Michael under their wings. The film Precious is also said to present a more accurate picture of the black community, particularly Harlem in the year 1987. The Blind Side did not show much of the black neighborhood that Michael belonged to, but instead focused more on the way that Big Mike slowly captured the hearts of the Touhys. Precious tackles more serious issues since it deals with rape, incest, teenage pregnancy, violence and physical abuse. In The Blind Side, it is the predicament of homelessness and being an orphan which is focused on and then immediately addressed as soon as Mrs. Touhy finds a soft spot for Big Mike. Some critics say that The Blind Side somehow creates the impression that every black American needs a white benefactor to assist him/her to be able to overcome obstacles in his/her life, like how Michael was helped by the Touhys, which, in a way, leads to the film’s fairytale-like ending. Hence, Precious is said to illustrate a more realistic view of how dilemmas are dealt with by black women facing similar concerns. As this film shows, Precious decides to go through life on her own without her mother, notwithstanding her young age, just because she knows that her children are her responsibility no matter what. This Precious realizes, by experiencing love and acceptance from her friends and mentors, regardless of what her mother did to her as a child.

As a whole, these two movies have their similarities and yet can still stand out autonomously and create their own unique mark in the film industry. Each film is worth watching since it has its own distinctive story to tell. Both films deal with issues that are significant and close to the heart, which makes them both remarkable and memorable at the same time. The most important lessons which can be learned from both films are: 1) triumph against adversity and obstacles in life; 2) hoping for the better; and 3) acceptance of change.