On being big and not being seen

the woman in precious

Abstract

This text is part of a theoretical and research endeavor that moves us towards the problematization of the relationships between cultural artifacts, discourses, and modes of subjectivation. This is a reflection on the poetics of the images from the movie "Precious" which portrays an obese woman from a poor neighborhood in New York. We adopt, as methodological procedures, film analysis in conjunction with Michel Foucault's propositions about problematization, that is, to put under suspicion the forms that lead us to think and understand the world as we understand it. Thus, we chose to discuss and problematize the issue of the feminine in relation to obesity, which, together with feminism and cultural artifacts, are our central arguments in this text. We construct our discussions considering the theoretical contribution of Michel Foucault, Guacira Lopes Louro, Alfredo Veiga-Neto, Rosa Maria B. Fischer, among others and other authors. At school, Preciosa is too big for her table; in the restaurant, they deduce that their portion will always be the greater; at home, is humiliated, violated and disrespected, everything seems to suggest an absolute and indissoluble personal chaos. Human conditions and their traps invite us to turn our gaze to the aesthetic standards considered acceptable and that make the life and existence of Claireece a place of solitude.