Precious Movie Psychology

In the movie Precious by Lee Daniels, the family dynamics are saddening. There is abuse, neglect, jealousy. Precious is raised in a single-parent household by her mother. Her mother is sexually abusive, physically abusive and mentally abusive. The mother does not work nor does she try to provide for Precious, in the movie Precious is seen doing all the “motherly” duties. Precious is too cook for her mother and be her maid service. The jealousy between the mother and daughter is, Precious was raped by her father who gave her two children. Instead of the mother seeing this as a serious issue that needs to be addressed, she finds herself to be jealous.

According to the biological years of Precious she would be in the fifth stage of Erikson's theory. I think due to her trauma with her mother, and sexual abuse that she is actually in the first stage of Trust vs Mistrust. Precious was neglected by her mother her entire life, and was sexuall abused. In the beginning of the movie Precious has no friends or anyone that she confided in. She had an imaginary boyfriend that would visit her through flashbacks or when she dissociates. Towards the ending of the movie Precious begins to advance in this stages, she made friends at her new school, and she had a very trusting relationship with Ms.Rain.

She was eager to continue with school, she worked extremely hard to raise her reading level up from a second grade reading level to an eighth grade reading level. She also moved her children out of the bad environment they were in and worked extremely hard a being a great mother, despite the relationship she had with her own mother. She experienced so much and at the end of the movie you can see her walking with her children, showing her resilience of being free from the troubles her mother bought her, to bettering her life for her own