Comments on: Why I Hate the New York Times Magazine.

By: The Obamas’ Marriage. « PostBourgie

The Obamas’ Marriage. « PostBourgie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:02:06 +0000

[...] New York Times magazine (quadmoniker, avert your eyes) has a whale of a story this week about the relationship between Barack and Michelle Obama. It [...]

By: anon

anon — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:14:00 +0000

If the goal of this article was to make Lee Daniels seem insufferable and pretentious; they succeeded.

By: Adams

Adams — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:24:39 +0000

I understand what the author was trying to suggest, but I think her phrasing lands with such a thud [with me] because it’s evident that she didn’t spend much time interrogating a) why an audience might feel repulsed by an poor, overweight, female body; and b) how deeply fucked up that is.

By: literanista

literanista — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:19:25 +0000

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-18/the-journey-behind-precious did it much better

By: Kjen

Kjen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:36:33 +0000

“When Precious’s plight lands her in a special school, she blossoms: the audience’s initial rejection of Precious, even repulsion at the sight of her, slowly gives way to a kind of identification.”

Actually I can understand the assumption that the audience was suppose to be repulsed. Generally, when there is an fat, black and poor body on screen, they are suppose to fulfill the role of funny person, mean or pathetic. Rarely if ever are they really meant for the (assumingly white) audience to identify and emphathize with.

As for the style of the piece – eh, entertainment feature writing 101. New Yrk Times Mag or not, its the norm.

By: Adams

Adams — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:47:46 +0000

Ok, I went back and reread the piece, and the author didn’t use the word “natural,” but Hirschberg certainly seemed to imply that that her reaction was somehow typical:

By: thewayoftheid

thewayoftheid — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:40:02 +0000

Epic takedown. Love it! I hope someone shows Hirschberg this entry.

By: Adams

Adams — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:26:19 +0000

When the author felt the need to point out that Mo’Nique ordered THREE!ORDERS!OF!JUMBO!SHRIMP! I was through with this piece. Actually, I was done near the beginning when the author mentioned a “natural” repulsion she assumed would have attended the sight of Gabby Sidibe. Excuse me, what?

By: kaya

kaya — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:33:15 +0000

i was annoyed that it told the whole story of the book on the first page. some of the appeal of the book was the shock value in lots of the events of precious’ life. i’m glad i read the book before reading the article. maybe they should have a SPOILER ALERT at the top of the mag. ugh.

By: quadmoniker

quadmoniker — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:08:31 +0000

I was just thinking I also meant to say something about Hirschberg’s weird aside about the Jewish outsiders who founded Hollywood. She just, in general, skirts the real issues the film may raise and instead makes offhandedly racist comments and uses lazy writing techniques.

And the article doesn’t even try to answer it’s own question, “Is America ready?” for the movie. It just tosses in some quotes about Obama.

By: shani-o

shani-o — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:29:53 +0000

Right. The nastiness about Mo’Nique (who I don’t care for at all) bugged.

By: quadmoniker

quadmoniker — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:51:36 +0000

Yeah, I would have liked that too. What was weird is how Hirschberg was trying to make it a story about Daniels. But then when she talks about the cast, it’s always an aside that’s pretty mean. All she mentions about Gabby is that she’s also obese, but seems to have a good handle on it. That’s all we get to know about this otherwise unknown actress who by all accounts gives a good performance.

By: ladyfresh

ladyfresh — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:24:02 +0000

oh and quad…you’re right that article was disturbing/annoying. for a movie about hope against one of the main characters many demons (societal views on obese women) i can’t believe the writers comments on monique’s(sp?) order of food/choice of restaurant weren’t more…sensitive i guess.

i mean really let’s now made pointed comments about the fat woman’s restaurant and food preference? it seemed low esp amidst the lack of an in-depth story

By: ladyfresh

ladyfresh — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:18:39 +0000

i definitely have that ’suck it up’ and go feeling. i refuse to see monsters ball . I avoided reading the book(can’t do it/not happening). I wasn’t clear if GD’s discomfort was with the article or the movie or both. i’m thinking if it was the movie it seems to be Lee’s MO of incentive to galvanize the audience to see the film….and i’m not sure if i’m comfortable with that, but yes, yet and still i’m going.

By: keke

keke — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:58:00 +0000

yes you have it right. I have seen monster’s ball and the woodsman (haven’t seen shadowboxer yet). Daniels really pushes his audience to the limit and it does become uncomfortable to watch some of the scenes in his films. I cannot imagine what is is like being on the movie set. I would have to throw a party every night if I were an actress for one of his films.

I decided to read the book “Push” and it is an extremely uncomfortable story. I started reading it yesterday and I will probably finish it tonight. I just want to be done with it. There have been moments when I had to put it down cause its so freaking sad. Given the subject material Daniels has tackled in his past films, the story of Precious seems perfect for him. I am still undecided if I want to see the film. I want to support it and it helps that the movie has received such great reviews but at the same time, I’m not sure I want to see the story played out on the big screen. The book is difficult enough, I’m not sure I can turn around and watch the movie now.

I did skim through the article, yes it is a silly piece. I don’t feel that I have learned anything new or important about Daniels, the actors, or the film-making process. I did learn that the fantasy Vouge photo shoot Daniels wanted in the film didn’t happen ( andre leon talley immediately shot it down) and I learned that Lynn Hirschberg was ridiculously obsessed about Monique’s food preferences.