People Are Actually Disturbed By Madea? Shudder the Thought!

I was fortunate enough to receive an email from our consistent supporter, Sergio (of the Bloodsport blog) earlier today pertaining to what I consider to be a legitimate critique of filmmaker, Tyler Perry's movies. But it apppears that there are a number of criticisms that are floating around cyberspace (and beyond) as it relates to Perry's brand of neo-minstrelsy. First, let's take a look at a snippet from the article Sergio referenced:

Courtesy of the Washington Post:

At the AMC Magic Johnson Capital Centre 12 in Landover, where Madea is being shown 14 times a day, I was hoping to get a clue as to why this man in drag is so popular. And with the movie featuring guest appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Dr. Phil, Judge Mathis and Al Sharpton, perhaps I'd even get in a laugh or two.

Boy, was I wrong -- on both counts.

All around me you could almost hear the funny bones cracking -- deep guttural laughter coming not only from kids in the audience but from my peers in the AARP set, as well.

And there I sat, silently ranting: There is nothing funny about this black man in pantyhose. And where is all of this cross-dressing-black-man stuff coming from, anyway? First, comedians Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence star in high-grossing movies as the fattest, ugliest black women that Hollywood makeup artists can conjure up, and now here's Perry with his gussied-up version of the same butt of the joke.

By the way, I don't want to hear diddly about Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire or Milton Berle in high heels. Having a black man play super mammy is not the same thing. Perhaps it would be were it not for America's perverse, systemic and centuries-long efforts to humiliate African men and women and turn them into slaves.

Click herehere for the remainder of the Post article and then check out another article excerpt with similar concerns:

Thanks to EW.com:

If you happened to buy a ticket to Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail without knowing what you were getting into, you might think you'd stumbled onto a cheery comedy about an overgrown granny with anger-management issues. A black Mrs. Doubtfire, say, with car chases and reefer jokes. You'd never suspect that you had strayed into the midst of a culture war — one that's been simmering inside the African-American community since before blackface. ''I loved working with Tyler Perry, but he's a controversial, complicated figure,'' says Viola Davis, who costarred in Madea Goes to Jail and recently snagged an Oscar nomination for Doubt. ''People feel the images [in his movies] are very stereotypical, and black people are frustrated because they feel we should be more evolved. But there are very few black images in Hollywood, so black people are going to his movies. That's the dichotomy. Tyler Perry is making money.''

A lot of money. Jail has already earned more than $75 million, making it Perry's highest-grossing film to date. And his seven movies — starting with his 2005 big-screen drag debut as Madea in Diary of a Mad Black Woman — have grossed more than $350 million combined, putting him on track to join John Singleton and Keenen Ivory Wayans as one of the most successful black filmmakers ever. He may already be the most divisive. At a time when Barack Obama is presenting the world with a bold new image of black America, Perry is being slammed for filling his films with regressive, down-market archetypes. In many of his films there's a junkie prostitute, a malaprop-dropping uncle, and Madea, a tough-talking grandma the size of a linebacker (''Jemima the Hutt,'' one character calls her). ''Tyler keeps saying that Madea is based on black women he's known, and maybe so,'' says Donald Bogle, acclaimed author of Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films. ''But Madea does have connections to the old mammy type. She's mammy-like. If a white director put out this product, the black audience would be appalled.''

Click on the link below for the EW.com piece in its entirety:


Tyler Perry: The Controversy Over His Hit Movies

What do you guys think about the articles' assertions? Is Perry the only one making movies with Black imagery in mind? Is it a matter of a lack of diversified imagery for people of color or is this a matter of oversensitivity? I suspect you know what we think but what say you?

Oh and then there's the lack of good programming (or rather non existent Black programming) on network televison as well:

No Smooth Ride on TV Networks’ Road to Diversity

And after you read the above NY Times piece, all I can say is...is it incuumbent upon Whites to produce Black programs? In some ways the answer is "yes" and in many ways "no." If one looks at the issue in the affirmative (and not the "action" kind) race should not be a handicap when it comes down to providing good acting roles and showcasing talent. But one must ask, where is the Black "brain trust" when it comes down to developing movies and tv shows with depth and sophistication. And if these programs come to fruition, will a Black audience (and other racial/cultural groups) be willing to patronize such an effort?