Thoughts on Tyler Perry

Thoughts on Tyler Perry,

Tyler Perry’s popularity among the masses is literally spilt in half. Many people don’t like his works. They complain about the stereotypical black characters and that its not comical for a man parodying around like a woman. However his works always involve forgiveness, overcoming obstacles in life, and moving on to becoming a better you.

I understand how some people don’t like the stereotyping of the black characters, but its usually the comedy relief characters. And if the main characters are like that, by the end of the movie they have grown to become a different person.

I also understand they can be repetitive as well and that can be annoying sometimes. But overall I still believe they are great movies with really good messages.

Your thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Robert Lee on November 20, 2010 at 7:55pm

I made a 4min video about a year ago titled "Why I hate Tyler Perry aka Madea $$$" on youtube. Most people agreed with my statement made in the video. But Tyler's little fan club threw in their corny 2 cents worth. Check out the video and tell me how you guys feel.

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Permalink Reply by X-D-D-M*9 on November 23, 2010 at 12:08am

This kind of sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtYVpLAZmI
Hahahaaaa...

I was never a 'fan' even though I supported his right to put out his work. He has his genre locked down and it serves an audience like a lot of the severely overrated Quinton Tarantino stuff that fools jock so goddamn hard. They both have a style and an audience and both put some garbage and some better stuff.

Tyler has his own sound stages, the buildings and real estate where films are shot. Many very powerful people in the film business do not hold these type of properties. This would be a major thing for Black film, media and business if I was not so suspicious of how he became so successful and questioned the messages he was putting out. This 'interpretation' of Ntozake Shange's book & play "For Colored Girls" and the way it apparently has been oversensationalized leads me to believe he some truly deep seated problems and is working them out in very unorthodox ways onscreen. You really have to wonder why he seems to be at most ease and in his element wearing a woman's clothes.

The subtly and not so subtly devisive messsages he places in his work are what most bothered me early on. The way dark-skinned men were always the villian and light-skinned men the saviour was obvious and The Boondocks savagely parodied how crazy Tyler's work was. The line that makes me laugh to this day is when a character in the Perry-based Winston Jerome play says "I am bald and dark-skinned, which means I hate you and I hate Jesus!...." If you haven't seen it, you MUST check that out.

All the same he's a fool with an opinion. He'll get none of my cash though.

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Permalink Reply by Eris on November 23, 2010 at 10:00am

Daoud said:

This kind of sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtYVpLAZmI
Hahahaaaa...

I was never a 'fan' even though I supported his right to put out his work. He has his genre locked down and it serves an audience like a lot of the severely overrated Quinton Tarantino stuff that fools jock so goddamn hard. They both have a style and an audience and both put some garbage and some better stuff.

Tyler has his own sound stages, the buildings and real estate where films are shot. Many very powerful people in the film business do not hold these type of properties. This would be a major thing for Black film, media and business if I was not so suspicious of how he became so successful and questioned the messages he was putting out. This 'interpretation' of Ntozake Shange's book & play "For Colored Girls" and the way it apparently has been oversensationalized leads me to believe he some truly deep seated problems and is working them out in very unorthodox ways onscreen. You really have to wonder why he seems to be at most ease and in his element wearing a woman's clothes.

The subtly and not so subtly devisive messsages he places in his work are what most bothered me early on. The way dark-skinned men were always the villian and light-skinned men the saviour was obvious and The Boondocks savagely parodied how crazy Tyler's work was. The line that makes me laugh to this day is when a character in the Perry-based Winston Jerome play says "I am bald and dark-skinned, which means I hate you and I hate Jesus!...." If you haven't seen it, you MUST check that out.

All the same he's a fool with an opinion. He'll get none of my cash though.

Saw it and I can't believe I haven't seen it sooner! That was HILARIOUS....and on the point as well.

I know my previous answer was a little...short compared to what I wanted to say but I was busy at the time. I might as well say what I feel now;

I think the man is overrated, VERY MUCH SO. Of course, I can't really hate the guy THAT much so in the end, its not the man that bothers me, its just the lack of varity in his films as well as his super-fans that feel that everything he touches is gold. I haven't seen all the Tyler Perry films nor am I excited to see them because personally, they don't interest me...AT ALL. I saw Dairy of a Mad Black Woman, Madea's Family Reunion and The Family that Preys and of the three, I felt that MFR was the best, only because I realized at one point that the movie COULD have gone on even if Madea was not in it. Some tweaking here and there and it would have been something, I don't know, ORIGINAL? I mean, the wedding at the end of the movie actually made me cry but whenever Madea showed up I was like "WTF? Am I watching the same movie?"

The Family that Preys was AWFUL but again, this is my opinion. It was soap-opera antics and melo-drama filled in with out crap I didn't give a shit about. It felt like it was going on for HOURS and I left the theater not feeling enlightened by rather shocked that THIS is the formula a lot of black folks want to see in films. I mean, for fucks sake, giving the man his credit is good but he isn't the end all of end of black movie directors nor should his movies be a formula for all black cinema and stories. If this is all people want, we are FUCKED.

Of course, this is coming from a woman who wants to see more blacks in cinema BESIDES the stories of being tortured or victimzed. As a writer I just feel kinda....sad that this is the only thing people seem to want, despite the fact that there is so much more to be done and told.

Black people can do other films that don't involve me dressing up as old women and church. Fuck.

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Permalink Reply by Compound Egret on November 23, 2010 at 11:14am

Haven't seen every one of his plays or movies, but I have enjoyed a lot of the ones I've seen. I think TP is a great example of DIY and sticking to your own vision. He started with literally nothing and built his business from the ground up.

If you don't think there's enough variety in his films, take his example and merge it with your own vision.

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Permalink Reply by JICA on November 23, 2010 at 12:38pm

i like his movies, and not all of them are stereotypical, matter of fact a lotof them portray both stereotypes and non sterotypes such as loud mouth madea and her successful children.