But Tyler Perry Sucks!

On September 2, 2009, Lionsgate sent out a press release announcing the most heartbreaking news of the day: Tyler Perry (Madea Goes to Jail) finalized a deal to write/direct/produce a big screen adaptation of the 1975 classic and landmark For Colored Girls Who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange.

A moment of silence, please.

WTF! What about Perry’s body of work makes anyone believe he could handle this complex piece? Yes, his business acumen is to be applauded and replicated, but his filmmaking ability sucks!

For Colored Girls, a choreopoem, made up of 20 poems, performed by seven actresses, addressing the provocative issues of abandonment, rape, abortion, and love took New York by storm. Upon its release the play was heralded as revolutionary and progressive. Not the two words that would ever come to mind in describing Perry’s work.

Perry’s characters are one dimensional and ridiculous. His storytelling is preposterous and riddled with logic problems. But somehow he keeps packing the theatres. Is he really telling stories that black folks can relate to or is he the only game in town, so by default he gets all the attention?

Through his movies he claims to celebrate black women (probably the reason For Colored Girls seems like a good match), but his work is consistently tired and unpolished. He drags out the same old themes in every movie. A Black woman is downtrodden (most likely by a black man). She goes off the deep end. While out in the "wilderness" she finds a “good” black man, but can’t initially see his goodness because she is all bitter bitch. But eventually God will speak to her heart and she will get Prince Charming and the Technicolor life she deserves. The End.

As a black Lesbian, of the feminist persuasion, I know Perry’s cockeyed stories are not for me, but still. I can’t believe his “mentor” Oprah hasn’t pulled him to the side and clued him on the need to up his creative game. I know that money rules everything around us - his seven films have consistently opened at the top of the box office and Lionsgate can’t stop patting themselves on their richer backs – but there has to be a call for good storytelling and solid, believable characters.

And how could I have gotten this far in my rant without bringing up his wig wearing alter ego Madea. She was initially created in his stage play era and is no doubt his most popular character. Is it only me or isn’t it offensive and weird to have this mammy figure (played by Perry in drag) schooling black women how to be better - women?

I have not gotten a satisfactory answer from any of his fans why they accept this campy caricature as legitimate in the face of the homophobia that plagues our community. They mostly poopoo my concerns and write it off as good clean fun. Maybe I could accept that if there was something else in the marketplace challenging his noxious product. But with Hollywood’s continued practice of only allowing one Black, Latino, Asian film up to bat at a time, there is nothing to compete for those precious opening weekend eyeballs.

And there doesn’t appear to be any stopping Perry. In the last few years Perry has spread out to television with his two lame half hour comedies House of Payne and Meet the Browns, released a book featuring the wisdom of Madea, and recently opened his own movie studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It also doesn’t diminish his power that his stories focus on black women, so quite a few talented black actresses are lining up around the block to work with him.

In reality, I am not really hating on Tyler Perry. I am imploring him to go to his lab and stay there, coming out only when he has learned to tell a compelling, rich, and good story. But if a gun-totting Madea comes screaming out of the wings and shoots Lady in Red I won’t be surprised.