One of my mentors recently posted a critical review of Tyler Perry's most recent film, Why Did I Get Married Too? Having not seen the film, I was most interested her description of Perry's appeal to "a demographic of women—working-class, Christian African Americans who identify as heterosexual—who do not have movies specifically marketed to them."
One interesting issue is that Black viewers would like to applaud Perry's success, even as they question the real quality of his work. This conflict is symptomatic of a broader ambivalence: what we like isn't necessarily what's good for us.
To what extent is a Perry a trailblazer, and to what extent is he a profiteer of poor taste?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"If you want to be a bitch, then here’s your bitch!' gesturing to the man in the cake. Gavin storms out of the office, into his car, and then gets hit by a truck and dies. No, I did not make any of that up."
ReplyDeleteHaving never seen a TP movie, I'd like to for that line alone.
It is rather unfortunate that y'all have never seen a Tyler Perry movie because they are highly entertaining. As an Atalien, I have seen several and I have laughed and cried in each. He is not a trail blazer, he's just expanding an already existing genre (ex. waiting to exhale and stella gets her groove back). Society enjoy caricatures and stereotypes exist for a reason. I personally think we should challenge societal acceptance of the negative aspects of those stereotypes rather than the fact that those stereotypes exist and that people profit from them.
ReplyDelete