Tyler Perry has racked up a lot of anti-woman points in his portrayals of Black women. From movies that condone violence against Black women (A Family that Preys and Daddy’s Little Girls), to portrayals of Black professional women as emasculating and unable to balance career with family (Why Did I get Married? and A Family that Preys), to say that his portrayals of women have been unkind is an understatement. While his recent portrayals of women in I Can Do Bad All By Myself , mark progress, it seems that Black women’s portrayals are at the expense of Black men’s.
A few things to note about I Can Do Bad All by Myself: It exposes the role of sexual violence in the lives of Black women. It affirms the need to believe survivors of sexual violence. It resolves that the cycle of not believing survivors can be broken. These are important steps for the man that currently has a monopoly on Black filmmaking to take.
For what it’s worth, it’s also important to note that Black women of all sizes, ages and complexions have had prominent roles in his films and particularly age and complexion diversity is a feature of I Can Do Bad All By Myself. It is my hope that a leading lady with locs or natural hair is in the works.
On the other hand, in the words of Mary J., an actress and soloist in the movie, I Can Do Bad… “ain’t all roses.” The movie plays to the fears of some Black men that for every step forward Black women take, Black men must take two steps back. The movie portrays the lead character of “April” played by Taraji Henderson as complex, making sense of a traumatic past. Her partner “Randy,” played by Brian White, is the villainous, brutal buck, Black male who cheats on his wife (with April) and preys on younger women. There is no context provided for his behavior or his actions other than he is just another ain’t shit Black man. The depiction of Randy is worsened because he is juxtaposed with the light-skinned, Latino, “Sandino,” played by Adam Rodriguez who assumes the role of father and husband that the seen, and unseen, Black men in the film do not.
I truly believe that making a movie that exposes the realities of sexual violence against Black women doesn’t have to accompany towering negative portrayals of Black men. Positive Black male partners could have shown up opposite Gladys Knight or Mary J. Blige. Black directors who want to offer complex portrayals of Black masculinity must develop the practice of giving visibility to perpetrators of sexual violence in our midst and seizing opportunities to include Black men that model feminist behavior. I am genuinely glad that a man of color exhibited this behavior. I am also glad that I Can Do Bad… featured an intra-minority romantic partnership against the backdrop of America’s sometimes-sordid state of Black and Brown relations. But it means something that despite all the footage under his belt, Tyler Perry has yet to produce a film with a Black feminist couple, that features how they succeed in their careers while making equal contributions to their households as parents and partners. Tyler Perry must aspire to make that movie.
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"Tyler Perry has racked up a lot of anti-woman points in his portrayals of Black women."
Really??? Its hard to find a black woman who doesn't absolutely adore Tyler Perry. In fact, the vast majority of his fan base--over 60% of attendees of his films & plays--are black women by most estimates I've seen. In fact if it weren't for black women he'd be some poor, starving artist doing community theater in New Orleans. So its hard to square this assertion with the actual data.
http://www.racialicious.com/2009/09/15/scattered-thoughts-on-tyler-perry/
From the Latoya's post and the various comments left on it, it sounds like Tyler Perry's fans tend to lean more conservative. I've read far more WOC voices criticizing Perry than I have celebrating him.
Racialicious is a poor barometer of WOC, or at least AA women. Its awfully extremist.
This might be an issue of 'feminist' thought versus 'womanist' thought. Its ironic because the reason AA women find Tyler Perry so enjoyable is because they find him uplifting, empowering, and 'keeping it real' all at once.
If feminist thought has no place for someone millions of WOC find uplifting & empowering, you gotta wonder about 'feminist thought'.
But have you actually read any analysis on the films portrayals of black women? The OP is correct. That's like saying Sex and the City's audience is mostly women so it obviously can't be promoting sexist stereotypes or harmful images of women at all because well, women are the audience. If you've read any feminist reviews of the show or movie, you'll see that's not in fact true.
The first time I watched Sex In the City (I'm not a fan, but, found it tolerable)
I immediately researched the writer to find that my hunch was right. The writer is a "white" gay man.
I just knew it wasn't written / directed by a woman.
That said, I appreciate the scene in the film when Sarah Jessica Parkers character looks in the mirror after the wedding is cancelled, while on the not honeymoon.
It was her idea to go sans make-up ~ gutsy and it worked.
as form men being portrayed negatively, It's not my cause to fight for.
There are waaaaay too many films and TV shows depicting the heroic single DAD and not enough single mom stories out there. Men are more often the hero, etc etc. blah blah, men are GLORIFIED in film enough,
regardless of skin tone.
Yes, there are parts of Sex and the City that I truly love and go against the grain and push the envelope and whatnot (it's one of my guilty pleasures) but there are definitely parts that irritate the crap out of me upon further reflection.
As for the "as form men being portrayed negatively" part of your comment, was that part to the OP? Because I didn't say anything about men's portrayal in Sex and the City or Tyler Perry movies.
yes, sorry that was not @ you
You don't know any of my friends then.
One is a Director, rolls her eyes and sighs a loud "gads" at the mere mention pr Perry.
Another is an actress and acting coach, her daughter is a successful black actress- "...can't stand that man's low level work!!"
Yet another is a painter, mother of 2 and grad student.
And my sister who is a mother of 2 and a writer.
They can't stand him, although one did admit to enjoying Medea's character in Diary of a Mad Black Woman" (compared the character to my matter of fact ways).
storytelling is not easy. You certainly can't please all the people all the time. For a true woman's POV, seek out films written, directed and produced by women.
Support our films as they come out so more can be made- it's an integral ingredient for progress within a capitalist structure such as ours. The industry can be so much better, but, we have to consciously contribute.
And remember, Tyler Perry was the child of an abusive home. He has his own issues that he continues to work out via the storytelling medium of film. In other words, it could be so much worse.
oh and the lead actress from one of my films said, "I like his spirit and I think he wants to represent women well, but, he isn't a woman, so it just doesn't quite make it".
just because many black women like his movie's doesnt mean they arent anti-women. i've watched most of tyler perry's movies and i found them all extremely offensive in their portrayal of women. some parts were silly (and mostly the entire movie was just so bad) so i do laugh while watching them, but i still find them offensive and wouldnt say that i actually liked any of them. they're all based on conservative "wholesomeness" about basically being a good housewife. that's what i see as tyler perry's ultimate message.
I think Tyler Perry does his films nicely. He is not out there seeking to paint a picture of perfect black people in natural hair who have long standing history of two parent households, middle -upper income class status and high education levels. NO. Tyler Perry does so well because its reality. EVERYONE has problems, no matter how perfect they try to look to outsiders NOBODY is perfect and that what his films are about. They mostly revolve around religion-Christianity to be exact. In Family Reunion, one of the lead actresses DID wear locs and her sister had worn natural curly hair.
Of course there will always be people upset, but he makes films to entertain and ther eis a huge BLACK audience that IS entertained by those movies. Not every black person likes it, but that's life, black people are individuals who happen to be are part of a specific racial/social group. Not a group of individuals with one singular mindset.
true
And in WHY DID I GET MARRIED, Jill Scott and her second husband had a equal relationship. Janet and her husband had an equal relationship their problem was dealing with the loss of their son.
His movies are NOT perfect but let's not pretend that his movies are all about poor women looking for a man to save them from themselves or men whoa ren't about squat. There is typically always a great man and a horrible man, a great woman and a horrible woman and it ends with the great man and the great woman getting together in a loving relationship where the other person is accepted just as he/she is.
One of the main points black feminists address in the black community is how black women are told to support their men at the expense of themselves.
Sariyie, I have heard this argument before about the The Color Purple, Waiting to Exhale and even Thelma and Louise, "Why are the men always bad? Can't they have one nice upstanding [black]man in the movie?" Most of the films did have at least one decent man, but these movies are about these women's problems in relation with men. They do not need to throw in a band of merry men to show that all [black]men aren't bad.
Of course there need to be more positive portrayals of black men in movies, but not at the expense of showcasing black women's experiences.
On a side note I was very surprised and happy that Mr. Perry decided to put a Hispanic man as the love interest in his movie. It is funny how no one bats an eyelash when every black actor gets a Hispanic actress as his love interest (as a substitute for a Caucasian actress) but as soon as a black actress gets a love interest of a different race she is "abandoning her brothers". And Mr. Perry has had many positive portrayals in black men in most of his movies.
Well I'm not going to go into why I've not cared for his movies outside of Why I Did I Get Married which was good. His flaws are well documented but I will say every time I think of him doing Colored Girls my soul bleeds.