For Your Entertainment

Last Sunday at the American Music Awards, America got a taste of the "real" Adam Lambert, uninhibited, confident, and ready to shock audiences with his sexually charged performance. Everything about the performance was constructed... complete with its placement at the end of the show, and CBS' feigned lack of knowledge about the content of the piece when faced with many audience complaints in the aftermath. Lambert was also clearly in on the joke--his new single, "For Your Entertainment," can be seen as a self-reflexive, tongue-in-cheek commentary on his visibility in the public sphere as spectacle. And his performance provided plenty of spectacle. With pole dancers, men on leashes, simulations of oral sex, and a male/male kiss, Lambert sauntered across the stage completely owning it all. Was it excessive? Yes. Was it exhibitionist? Clearly. But since when has entertainment ever not been preoccupied with spectacle, especially of a sexual nature?

Don't we all remember Britney's striptease? Madonna's unholy writhing on the floor with a wedding dress? Janet's breast? All examples of women who have utilized their (hetero)sexuality to create controversy. Lambert's performance was no different from these overt displays of sexuality, except in its queering of conventions. His (homo)sexual behavior on the public stage becomes, well, freakish. The hyper-visibility of his queer desire is in contestation with the public's desire to see a very heteronormative display of sexuality. So why is the general public still so unnverved by gay male performers that break convention? I've observed that in the music industry, this attitude is incredibly pervasive. Not since Ricky Martin has a male musical artist received so much attention based on his questionable sexuality. It seems that not winning American Idol was the best thing that could have happened to Adam Lambert. Unlike his counterpart Kris Allen, he can fully explore his aesthetic without the strict regime that AI status brings with it.

Precious

My roommate and I went to see Precious, which is now in limited release across the country. The theater was packed with brown folk, which excited me because this is a film that everyone should see and support.

Precious is based on the novel, Push, by poet and singer Sapphire. It explores the interiority of an illiterate black teen, Claireece “Precious” Jones, who goes through just about every imaginable hardship one could imagine. Verbally and physically abused by her mother and raped by her father (who in turn fathers her own two children), Precious enrolls in alternative school and begins to find self-worth despite her circumstances. The film is directed and produced by Lee Daniels, of Monster’s Ball and The Woodsman (one of my favorite films) fame. All of his films examine subjects on the fringes of society through themes of love, struggle, and ultimately redemption.

Paula Patton was completely believable as a teacher who takes Precious and her classmates under her wing. Her understated performance was a breath of fresh air amidst superficial portrayals of the Educator who Saves the Children character type. Mariah Carey’s role as a social worker was brilliant in its subtlety and Lenny Kravitz also held his own with a bit part as a male nurse. Mo’Nique completely transformed for her role as Precious’ mother and her sheer intensity on screen is something to be reckoned with (ahem, Oscar nod!), and the entire movie is held up by the charisma that newcomer Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe’s brings to such a heavy movie.

Watching Precious was a very visceral experience for me and the harsh realties of Precious’ existence juxtaposed with interstitial imaginative fantasy sequences that displayed her hopes and dreams were a clever device to use in a film that would be completely devoid of lightness without them. I most enjoyed the school scenes with Precious and her classmates, which provided a necessary change of pace from the largely pejorative tone of the film.

The film achieved gritty realism through its unwillingness to sugarcoat the very authentic experience of a young black girl’s struggle with her identity. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie about the “black experience” that has done this so successfully since John Singleton’s Boyz in the Hood. I recommend everyone see it and hopefully it will be receiving much Academy Award buzz in the coming weeks!