Why Some Blacks Prefer 'Blind Side' to 'Precious'

Dec. 7, 2009— -- There are two new films at the box office depicting poor black teenagers trying to escape their gritty urban lives. But only one of them is drawing criticism from many members of the black community.

"Precious," the critically acclaimed drama about an illiterate black teenage girl abused by her mother and pregnant with a second child by her father, has come under fire by a number of blacks, including Washington Post columnist Courtland Milloy and former Time magazine columnist Jack White.

Meanwhile, blacks, for the most part, have been noticeably silent about "The Blind Side," the Sandra Bullock-helmed movie based on the true story of a Memphis family, the Tuohys, who take in a poor homeless black boy, Michael Oher, who becomes an NFL star.

Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips finds the discrepancy puzzling.

"While everyone is fussing about 'Precious,' a movie like 'The Blind Side' is going to make a pile of dough and seems far more racially patronizing," said Phillips, the white co-host of the syndicated show "At the Movies."

"'The Blind Side' is telling a really good story about one African-American character completely through the perspective of the white family."

"That's absurd and patronizing in itself," Armond White, chief film critic of The New York Press, said of Phillips' comments.

The reason for the discrepancy, said White, who is black, is simple.

"Some black people find 'Precious' offensive and they don't find 'The Blind Side' offensive," he said. "There's more humanity there. 'Precious' is like a horror show, a freak show. There's nothing but misery, debased behavior and degradation. One film is about Samaritan-ism, humanism, kindness, love and brotherhood, and the other is about degradation and ignorance.

"I'm happy that people aren't buying it ['Precious'] and prefer to buy 'The Blind Side,'" he added.

Indeed, "Blind Side" opened last week just behind the "Twilight" juggernaut, raking in more its first weekend -- $34 million -- than "Precious" has grossed since its limited opening Nov. 6. Granted, "Blind Side" is being marketed as a Hollywood mainstream film, whereas "Precious" is being sold more as an art film.