I have heard several people say that they do not support Tyler Perry films because it portrays an image of black people as foolish, black men as abusers, and because they all have the same storyline. While I wholeheartedly agree that the story line in many of his movies is the same, I take away a different sentiment about his work. While I think Tyler Perry has learned to be a great business man, entrepreneur and even producer through his writing of stage plays and movies, I’ve never thought of him as a great playwright. He writes the story he knows, and has garnered a huge following. Why should he change the formula? Ok, I hear you. That was fine for his first 2 movies, but now since he has such a mass following, doesn’t he owe it to the community to flip the script? Shouldn’t he write more socially conscious films that paint a more positive picture of the community? Well, I would argue that he does….In the midst of Madea and the abusive black man, there is always the God fearing man who loves the woman thru her pain and doesn’t believe in sex before marriage, there is always a professional degreed character, and Madea always letting somebody down stay with her rent free. Somebody always finds God and changes their life. LOL! Pretty predictive J So then he tried to change it up a bit, with “Daddy’s Little Girls” “Why did I get Married” series and my personal favorite “The Family that Preys.” But ultimately, even in part of those films, he goes back to his old formula. And I am totally convinced it’s because that’s what he knows to write. Spike Lee, although he had different story lines, wrote in the same voice thru all of his written films. I can even see that in the movies that Denzel produced….they have a niche that works for them and they work with it.
I think the REAL issue with Tyler Perry is that he is the ONLY vision of us that is being shown in the movies. Hollywood is filled with varying images from gangster to villain to family man to idiot to genius of mainstream America, so one image is not taken as overly offensive or how EVERYONE acts. I don’t remember too many white people getting upset at “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” And that’s because there are sooo many different depictions of them on screen that stoned out teenagers don’t bother them. So whose fault is that? Is it Tyler’s? Or is it our fault for not supporting films such as “The Great Debaters” “Antwone Fisher” and “Rosewood” as we do/did “Boyz in the Hood” “Baby Boy” and “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” Now I am not talking negatively about any of these films…I saw and enjoyed them all. But how do we get varying images of ourselves on the big screen? We are not a one dimensional people, and I honestly don’t think Tyler has the writing talent to even begin to portray us varied ways. But he does have the studio and production capabilities….
Just my two cents…….and I write this while watching “Welcome to Death Row”, a documentary about the personalities and rise and fall of Death Row Records
