Why Tyler Perry Matters!

 

 

 

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family opens this weekend and  will most likely beat Twilight hearthrob Robert Pattinson and America’s Sweetheart Reese Weatherspoon latest movie, Water For Elephant at the box office.

Like For Colored Girls, I am pretty sure I will not see Madea’s Big Happy Family but  will wait until it comes out on cable. Unlike For Colored Girls, which I did not see because it was too damn depressing, I will not see Madea because while I don’t mind the humour, it’s so predictable in the plot line that I refuse to pay $13 for a story, I can pretty much figure out before I sit down.

But no matter that I won’t see Madea’s Big Happy Family and will be panned mercilessly by all the critics, I wanted to repost this because I still believe the title of the post, Why Tyler Perry Matters!

Original Post November 8, 2010

 

 

 

 

For Colored Girls (adapted from the Ntozake Shange play, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is enuf), Tyler Perry’s latest movie opens this weekend and like his previous movies, predominately white movie critics will pan it. Personally, I have no intention of seeing For Colored Girls because the trailer looks too plain depressing and I don’t think I want to shell out $12 for a depressing melodrama. That goes for his earlier movies, I don’t see the point of paying for a movie when I know exactly how it will all play out. Of course, as my brother said, there isn’t a difference in seeing a Tyler Perry movie versus a Michael Bay movie. You know exactly what you are getting when you walk into the theatre. For the record, I hate Michael Bay movies for the same reason I don’t like Tyler Perry movies and I can wait till their movies come on television.

That said,  Tyler Perry’s movies, television shows and plays do matter.

• Tyler Perry movies and television matters because of who is audience truly is. That is something that predominately white movie critics don’t understand. He speaks to people who white Hollywood chooses to ignore or doesn’t think is worth the investment.
• Tyler Perry matters because he figured out long ago that black folks go to the movies just like white people do and like every group, they like to see themselves on screen (big and small.)
• Tyler Perry matters because he casts his movie with strong and talented actors, especially the women, some of which should be more famous and getting more work than they do, most notably, Kimberley Elise.
• Tyler Perry matters because he has built an empire. He went outside the studio system and has become a very rich man because of it. He has laid down the business model for the next generation which is truly impressive and an accomplishment.
• Tyler Perry matters because there are so many damaged people who need to see that they are not at fault for someone abusing them and they are not alone. Recently, I saw Tyler Perry on the Oprah show and they spotlighted a young woman who had been molested when she was young. She had ballooned up to over 300 pounds solely because she did not want to be attractive to men. Persuaded by her grandmother to see Perry’s plays, she saw herself in the characters he portrays on stage, causing a profound change in her outlook. She was truly impacted and sought to change her appearance which she knew was unhealthy and lost over 100 pounds. Weight loss aside, it was her sense of self that was forever changed that really made impact to me why Tyler Perry deserves his due. Watching her segment,  was an “aha” moment for me. My criticisms of his movies or movie critics panning his work really don’t matter. His shows matter to people like the woman in that segment.
• So even though I won’t go see For Colored Girls, I am  pretty positive that there will be those who will be moved by the experience and will seem themselves in one of the character and will forever be changed and for that reason

Tyler Perry Matters!!