The latest example is one that has been brewing for quite sometime. Playwright turned movie and television mogul, Tyler Perry, whose own personal story reads like an Alice Walker novel, is now feeling the tug at his heels from none other than, Spike Lee. According to Lee (among others), Perry's work is "sending us (Black folks) back." It's "coonery...buffoonery." Characters like Perry's cross dressing alter ego, Madea, the gun toting, reefer smoking, heavyset, no nonsense grandmother who Perry has portrayed in much of his work, as well as, characters like Mr. Brown, the awkwardly dressed, verbally challenged patriarch of the Brown family from "Meet the Browns," have drawn much ire and disdain. His critics believe such displays are reminiscent of a time when the only roles Black artists were granted in Hollywood's golden age were disparaging depictions of themselves.
I like Spike Lee. His early work was ground breaking and thought provoking. My all time favorite Spike Lee joint, is Mo' Better Blues starring Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes. I spent freshman year of high school rubbing my lips, telling girls, the mo' better makes it mo' better. I don't think my rendition had the same affect on the ladies that Denzel's character Bleek Gilliam did. Such is the power of good cinema. Mr. Lee in my estimation has proven himself to be a remarkable story teller as well as a bold and prolific filmmaker, whose brilliance in some respects has shamed Hollywood. Think Do The Right Thing (among others). However, in regards to Tyler Perry he and his ilk seem to be engaging in, what I believe to be at the very least, intellectual dishonesty. Whether Mr. Perry's work is one's cup of tea or not isn't the issue. Personally, I don't care much for his highly successful sitcoms (Meet the Browns and House of Payne) and the recent announcement that he will produce, write, and direct the film adaptation of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf does not sit well with me. For a piece that is so endearing and enduring to many within the African American community, particularly women surely a filmmaker who identifies with the sensibilities of the work should be at the helm: Debbie Allen, Kasi Lemmon, Gina Prince-Bythewood, or perhaps the creator of the work, Nzinga Stewart.
That being said, for anyone who has seriously viewed Perry's body of work and dismissed it as mere "coonery...buffoonery..." might I suggest that at the very least you're either intellectual inept or in the vernacular of the street, a hater. First of all, his body of work is not limited to characters like Madea and Mr. Brown. Works such as "Why Did I Get Married?" "Daddy's Little Girls" and "The Family that Preys" attest to that. Second, anyone should be able to recognize that the Madeas and Mr. Browns are mere tools to draw the audience to the message of the work. Messages that include reconciliation, grace, value of self, community, and God. Third, we are as multifaceted and complex as any people. Everyone isn't and everyone can't be The Cosbys, just like everybody can't relate to Good Times. The Madeas and the Browns are as much a part of our reality, as the Radio Raheems,* Bleek Gilliams,* Nola Darlings,* Flipper Purifys,* or Mars Blackmons* (Remember him Spike? Not exactly a stalwart of positive Black identity). Fourth, Perry's massive success is not rooted in his appeal to the lowest common denominator, as it has been so arrogantly suggested, but, in large part to the simple formula of giving the people what they want; or as Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes) tells Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington) in Lee's Mo' Better Blues: "If you played the shit that they like, then people would come, simple as that." The validity of one's work is ultimately decided by his audience, not critics.
Perry's genius is his ability to communicate his truth, i.e. his reality to his audience; an audience that has been completely ignored by the Hollywood establishment. An audience that prefers to be entertained and lifted, as opposed to having their mental state sullied by "soft porn," grotesque violence, or the Samuel L. Jackson/David Mamet Profanity Showdown. If that's your thing, more power to you. However, no one should knock Perry for tapping into an entire market which Hollywood assumed didn't exist. He is doing what works for him and his audience. This in affect is the very essence of artistic integrity (and might I add good business sense), expressing your truth and honoring and growing with the audience which supports you. Ideally your talent is not about you. It's about the people you reach; and according to Perry's audience he does that quite well. Furthermore, while the haters stew and brew, might I remind you that Tyler Perry is the only African American who owns and operates his own film studio, a fact which I believe should draw our vehement praise, no matter how one feels about his work. As a result, he has and continues to create work for African Americans, who even in this day and age face the challenge of trying to get credible work in Hollywood and the American theater.
The last thing we need to be doing is tearing one another down, tugging at each others heels in hopes of keeping one another in the confines of the "barrel." If Perry's work(s) doesn't appeal to you, fine, move on, and create your own or step your game up. Add a new color to the canvas. Add a useful and productive piece to fill that which you believe is void. We are not a monolithic people. We are Spike Lee, we are Tyler Perry, we are Nzinga Stewart, we are August Wilson, we are Lorraine Hansberry, we are Daniel Beaty. We are a mosaic of voices, faces, experiences, and stories that have the right to exist and be on full display. That was the struggle of our fore bearers. That was the prize that lie before their eyes, the celebration of our full humanity, be it in the work place, at the bus stop, on stage or on screen.
Stop hatin' and come on out of the barrel!
*Character from Do The Right Thing!
*Character from Mo'Better Blues
*Character from She's Gotta Have It
*Character from Jungle Fever
*Character from She's Gotta Have It
*Character from She's Gotta Have It
Copyright 2009 Johnathan L. Iverson Baptiste
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