Film titan Tyler Perry as Madea, the character that made him
It's possible that the Boondocks, Season 3/Episode 8 entitled "Pause," video may not be available online for long, but last night Twitter went aflutter over the show's skewering of Tyler Perry. The movie mogul is despised in some parts of the black community where it's declared he furthers negative stereotypes of African-Americans.
Such critiques may be observed as evidence of a class struggle issue between the upper class Spike Lees of the black community and the blue-collar, church-going folks with southern sensibilities. Tyler began and continues to build his empire through the southern-style, church-loving drama tradition that still thrives in African-American culture.
Nevertheless, over the years during his rise to success, there have seen some scathing, homophobic posts about Perry from some black bloggers who say they hate the man. In addition, the African-American Books Examiner has seen a few conversations about the native New Orleanian roll through Twitter as black social activists, PhDs, and media critics bear verbal claws and fangs and rip the black director to shreds.
What this writer sees in these debates is that Perry faces the same kinds of criticisms African-American novelist, folklorist, and archaeologist Zora Neale Hurston received from the "intellecutal" black writers of her era, including Richard Wright.
Miss Hurston voluntarily continues in her novel the tradition which was forced upon the Negro in the theater, that is, the minstrel technique that makes the "white folks" laugh. Her characters eat and laugh and cry and work and kill; they swing like a pendulum eternally in that safe and narrow orbit in which America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears….
Her opponents also spread rumors about her sexual orientation. Interestingly, some of the people who lambaste Perry today love Hurston's work and defend her as a genius. Time will tell how critique serves Perry.
No further comment on last night's episode of Boondocks except to say that in it you'll see a Rocky Horror Picture Show spoof, former hookers talking about giving "it" up for Jesus, and the "no homo" clip that made the rounds earlier this year. Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder suggests Perry uses love of Jesus and Perry's religion to cloak homosexuality and indulgence of some other behaviors some Christians call sinful. However, while much is made of Perry dressing as a woman to play his most popular character, Madea, theater historians will attest that men dressing as women for the sake of laughs is a time-honored tradition among thespians.
It seems McGruder, whose middle name is "controversy," may be the type to let Boodocks episodes stay on YouTube, but Adult Swim may not. So, watch them while you can. McGruder may anger a whole lot of folks at once, but the young man does have a gift for cutting satire. In this case, his satire is closer to personal ridicule, however, than political commentary.
View Boodocks "Pause," parts 1-3 at the WSATA cross-post of this piece.
Comments
"Negative stereotypes" aren't the #1 reason Tyler Perry is despised by many. Just making bad movie after bad movie is enough. Saps eat up (or is it "drink up", as in Kool-Aid) and then try to defend TP because he praises Jesus in the last reel, despite 70 prior minutes of debauchery. It's always funny to watch TP loyals claim racism when critics damn his pictures. His films are thematically vapid and contradictory (as brilliantly skewered last night by "The Boondocks"): how are cross-dressing, shirtless men, and messages of devout Christian faith supposed to co-exist in the same picture?
The whole colorism issue only complicates matters. Not to mention the rather liberal borrowing from more professionally written and produced films, and from known Atlanta area drag queens' stage acts. It's possible to make decent comedy-melodramas for black female audiences. These aren't them.
My people shouldn't be this desperate to see themselves on film. And let's not even discuss the TV shows
KC, it's still a class struggle. One has to be educated enough and exposed to a broader spectrum of the arts to know that Perry's work is limited and formulaic. Some people who love Perry's work had never been to a play of any kind until they went to a play by Tyler Perry, and when he moved to movies, they followed him.
People loving Perry's work is not the problem. It is the symptom of a greater problem--one of economics, education and exposure--and all the critiques of Perry in the world won't change that because the people who think Perry's a genius don't grasp the kind of criticisms of his work you're making here, which is like trying to get a street lit lover to know the difference between street lit and literary works or the difference between the worst romance novels and Toni Morrison's Beloved.
Interesting shift in your presentation, however, since this particular article does not claim "racism" is behind critiques of his work.
It's interesting that you quoted Richard Wright, who was such an angry writer, he alienated many of his peers. I find it funny that he criticized her characters for eating, laughing, crying, working and killing. His characters did much of the same thing, except laugh really. He mocked her for using the language that she did to evoke the characters she grew up with. Meanwhile, as an early cultural anthropologist, she was documenting folklore and language and preserving it for future generations. Richard Wright could've learned much about self-acceptance from her. Zora was loved by many originally. As I remember it, Zora was mostly hated for her feelings on segregation, which were very much misconstrued.
(continued...)
But that's neither here nor there. Tyler Perry does not create masterpieces like Zora did. I would never compare the two. This isn't about Black people holding each other down, either. This isn't about successful, up North Blacks looking down on Tyler Perry's southern, church-going audience. The fact of the matter is, he makes mediocre dramadies with buffoonish characters. He's not the most terrible director/writer, however, and doesn't deserve to get so much criticism. He employs black actors and other workers and he at least tries to examine important themes in his movies, albeit in a shallow matter.
As for cross-dressing being a part of thespian history, that shouldn't apply here. We're talking about a Black male who made most of his fortune because he cross-dressed. And let us remember what Dave Chappelle said about Black actors/comedians being forced to cross dress to become successful. That is worth mentioning.
I see what you're saying about Tyler Perry's audience not being able to grasp the criticism about his films. But the problem is, with the little attention/ funding given to Black films, most of it will go to Tyler Perry-type films rather than films that are of a more intelligent nature. The White movie studio execs will say, "This is what Black people want. This is what represents them as a whole. Let's make more movies like this." Meanwhile, the audience doesn't have enough of the more intelligent films available to really make a decision.
And whenever a director/comedian/actor garners even a little fame, the studio execs will try to force a dress on him/his characters and put him in simplistic, buffoonish roles. That is Hollywood's version of "inclusion."
Thank you for sharing additional insight, Rell. I still think the ability to see what's wrong with Perry's work is related to social class because social class is a factor in exposure to a broader range of artistic expression and analysis of those expressions. I'm sure there are autodidactics who are exceptions that can analyze Perry's work and are not considered upper class, but most people who intelligently analyze Perry's work are not self-taught.
I am biased in FAVOR of Zora Neale Hurston's work, and so, all I can say is there are critics of her work other than Wright who feel it was pedestrian. I disagree with them, but that's another story.
I did not say Perry's work is of the caliber of Hurston's. I said the same kinds of criticisms are lobbed at him that were lobbed at her. While some African-Americans are angry at Perry for images he paints of black people to black people, others are embarrassed b/c his success lets him perpetuate negative black stereotypes to whites.
I am not a big fan of Perry the moviemaker but I do admire the fact that he has built an empire and employs a lot of people. Having gone with some of my less-intellectual relatives and friends to his movies what they like is that the movies don't require heavy lifting, there are clear villains and heroes, there are people who look like them and live something like they do. Not all movies have to have messages of social uplift.
I also like Spike even when he is overwrought (the Girl...movie comes quickly to mind). I find Aaron McGruder funny and clever. What I like is to have a smorgasbord. I would ike to see more of Julie Dash. I loved Daughter's of the Dust but had to watch it two times to really understand it. I would like more movies from the woman who directed Eve's Bayou. I liked Undercover Brother. I hae a range of tastes and I don't get embarassed by any one movie depiction of Black people any more.
It would be nice if Tyler & Spike got together just once.
Thank you, Can-Can. I also enjoy a variety of types of entertainment. I think McGruder is brilliant, and while Perry does not cause me to laugh nearly as frequently as McGruder does, I don't think the director's work is the pale horse of the apocalypse that some people seem to think it is. Sometimes it seems no one wants to let anyone breathe who sees life and experiences it differently from them.
Oh, I must add, C-C, that I have not been able to watch more than a few minutes of his television shows, however. It's like throw-back humor or something to me. My hope for him is that he grows as an artist to produce something priceless one day that can withstand the critics' arrows. It's what I hope for all writers.
no, Tyler Perry doesnt make the best films, but are they really worse than Belly, Soul Plane, Friday after Next and any number of others? Those movies presented "demeaning stereotypes" too, and I dont recall the kind of hatred directed towards their makers that I see directed at Tyler Perry!
With Tyler Perry there's always an element of personal animosity (certainly with Aaron McGruder there is) - and quite a bit of it is based on what some people percieve his sexuality to be! Ive seen bitter savage homophobic comments about him on black blogs devoted to this subject! M Night Shaylaman hasnt made a really good movie after the "Sixth sense" (well, except maybe Signs) and he's not hated the way Tyler Perry is!
Madea is not "crossdressing" - the character is supposed to be a woman throughout! Shirtless men? Ive seen 3 of his movies and there werent any shirtless men anywhere! "Colorism?" He casts dark skinned actors (like IDRIS ELBA) in his movies too!
Aaron McGruder satire of Tyler Perry and that moralistic , homoerotic character he plays fits "The Big TP to a T". Jesus would even be proud of his depiction of this feeble minded so-called filmmaker and I'm sure "God" busted a nut laughing, of course "The Holy laugh". Perry , has destroyed single handedly the creative literary arts of the "Black Experience" with his obese, greasy chicken lickin churchified humor. The homosexuality tropes,are embedded in his subtext and ignorance abounds in everything he has loosed his bowels upon. Just thinking of his productions makes me want to puke. But, you know he does it all for The white mans money. He a tool of "Institutional Racism" and he to ignorant to know it.
There is rarely a time when Aaron and the Boondocks crew are off the mark. And while "Pause" wasn't as spot on as the Obama episode, it was pretty close. As a boy I must admit I liked TP's works but as time has gone by I've found them as more a guilty pleasure than anything else (just don't ask me about his TV shows, for the love of God). But this satire was different than the usual McGruder style. There was no subtly; he didn't try to hide who he was going after. There was even a story that said Sony had to convince McGruder not to use TP's name outright in the episode. (Wasn't expecting the Rocky Horror Picture Show reference, though.)
I'm not familiar with the works of Ms. Hurston but I find it interesting the comparison with TP's works & other aforementioned black films (Friday, Soul Plane, etc). I do think it's hypocritical to call out TP on stereotypes alone when stuff like "Friday" is hailed as classic. Aaron called him out on the same stuff I would. Basically, I don't care about the stereotypes, everyone uses them to an extent, but your plays and movies are bad and offer nothing new to your audience and don't say much about your skills as a writer or director/producer for that matter.
And then there's the homoerotic Christian theater cult. McGruder no stranger to tackling this issue. That is, people name-dropping Jesus and using God only when it is convenient to them for their own political or, in this case, financial gain. And don't get me started about guys starting cults just to get laid: Jim Jones and Joseph Smith, Jr. to name two of many. I'm not saying this is true of TP, but a hit dog always hollers and if your source was right about TP getting pissy at Turner then there must be some truth to what McGruder is saying.
But if I may, let me take what Dave Chappelle said further. Because as true as it is, there is a second level that Perry himself presents. Martin Lawrence dressed as a woman countless times in his sitcom, which is where his became a household name, but one of his most famous movie roles? Big Momma. I speak of course of the infamous fat suit that the likes of Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy and, yes, TP, have all donned the fat suit and in so doing created some of their most iconic characters, for better or worse, of course.
I respect McGruder and Perry for different reasons because they tackle similar issues in different ways. I love McGruder because he uses satire, which involves smart writing, witty interaction and subtle ticks that you might miss if you don't pay attention. Perry tends to use a specific formula that is predictable if not charming. I think the fact that the formula works like it does says more about the audience.
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