Tyler Perry's bad intentions

I'm sure none of my blog readers will be surprised to know that I abhor Tyler Perry. He's number 2 on my protest list, following closely behind Michael Baisden. I'll save the explanation of my protest list for another post.

Back in the day, I refused to watch The Nutty Professor movies. I did not find it funny that Eddie Murphy chose to dress up as women characters. Sure, comedians do it all the time, even white ones. I don't base my judgement of right or wrong on who else is doing it. If I think its dumb, its dumb to me, no matter what other race is doing it. Besides, 'white is right' is a saying from a bygone era and isn't a guiding principle of my life. Anyway, I didn't find it amusing that Eddie Murphy portrayed black women as overweight, sex-crazed and uncouth. I particularly found his portrayal of the grandmother's character offensive. I was raised in part by my grandmother and did not appreciate the scenes in the trailer where the grandmother took out her false teeth (leading one to draw a conclusion of what she'd do with her exposed gums) or took off her 'granny panties' in order to seduce the 'skinny' Eddie Murphy. My grandmother would never act like that. It just seemed very unrealistic and stereotypical, and as a young woman (I believe this was high school or college) I just refused to support it. My friends didn't understand, and felt I was taking things too seriously. After a while I learned to stop arguing with people who held entertainment in a higher regard than the dignity of black women.

Fast forward a couple of years. I don't consider myself a Martin Lawrence fan but found some of his sitcom episodes funny. For the life of me I couldn't understand why he chose to be the lead character in the Big Mama's House franchise. That movie was on my protest list. Then, a few years later, Dave Chapelle appeared on Oprah and explained how he refused a movie role where he was forced to wear a dress. After he walked off the set, that's when the stories of his insanity were circulated in the press. His explanation made alot of sense to me. To me, if you want to make fun of a woman, at least cast a woman in the role. Why is a black man wearing a dress funny?

So you can imagine my dismay at the wild popularity of Tyler Perry's stage plays. Speaking ill of the character of Madea is akin to 'talking bad about Ms. Jenkins' from In Living Color. Don't nobody talk bad about Madea! Some fans don't take too kindly to that! (I wonder how many black women are familiar with the mythological Madea?) Other women I know will support Perry simply because he's a black man. "We gotta support that brotha!" they say. That's not a good enough reason to me.

The saggy-breasted, gun toting, violent portrayal of black women is disgusting to me. Its irrationally hilarious to me that black women will come out in droves to support that garbage, but when you openly discuss on the internet problems that the black community face, then people don't want to 'put our business out there'. How is it that people can't see the difference? Money is a sign of emotional support (think about how you feel when a man asks you to go dutch on a date..). If we're throwing money at Perry's work then that's a sign to the entertainment powers that be that that's what black people want to see. Forget the biopics on historical black people, uplifting stories that warm the heart, hell even Denzel needs to fall by the wayside, bring on Madea! *sarcasm*

So not only has Perry gotten rich off making the country laugh at the expense of black women's image, he will openly tell you how black women chase him. I read an article where he related how black women were scaling the fence of his mansion, trying to get with him. Now if that were true (WTF?), that's one thing.. but why would he openly admit that? (And isn't he gay anyway?)

Take a look at Perry's body of work (just the movies). What are his characters saying about black women?

• Daddy's Little Girls (2007) - a high-powered, mean, single black woman corporate attorney takes a chance on her chauffeur, a convicted rapist with 3 bad-ass daughters
• Why Did I Get Married (2007) - an overweight black woman puts up with cheating and verbal abuse from her husband, until she decides to love herself (but still takes him back)
• Meet The Browns (2008) - a broke single mom from Chicago goes to Georgia to meet her father's family for the first time. Hilarity ensues from the country bumpkins
• The Family That Preys (2008) - a money-hungry black woman cheats on her blue collar 'good black man' with a rich white man, and even refused to let hubby ride her coat tails and helps the white man 'keep a brotha down'
• Madea Goes to Jail (2009) - After a high-speed freeway chase puts Madea in front of the judge, her reprieve is short-lived as anger management issues get the best of her and land her in jail. But Madea's eccentric family members the Browns rally behind her, lending their special "country" brand of support.

Um, ok...

Black people on the internet have been up in arms over the cartoon of the monkey. Why aren't people upset about how black women are portrayed in Perry's movies? Oh that's right, its about black women. Its only offensive if it involves a black man. My bad, I had forgotten the rule.

If you wonder how stereotypes are perpetrated, how white and other races form ideas about black people they've never met, look no further. We are telling America what to think about us by the garbage that we overwhelmingly support. Ultimately, though, we can't blame Tyler Perry for this garbage, we should blame ourselves for propping him up with our pocketbooks. Hallelujer!

Here's an interesting take on Perry's work, from someone who's actually seen his plays.

And another, from Courtland Milloy, a columnist at the Washington Post.