Tuckerscreator
(4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
10/25/2011 00:00:00
Good assessment. A shame there's so few other people to help fill the racial film gap he currently occupies.
qtjinla15
Since: Dec, 2010
01/14/2012 00:00:00
I enjoy his works, so if you don't like it its simply not for you. No one can appease everyone and not everything has to be ground breaking or inspirational.
marcellX
Since: Feb, 2011
01/14/2012 00:00:00
^ I actually see where the reviewer is coming from, it's not that it's bad or unenjoyable, it's just that it's repetitive, to the point that it's handled almost exactly the same but with different characters and done to such an extent that it opaques the original parts.
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The Problem with Tyler Perry
As a mad black woman, I am well acquainted with the Tyler Perry plays and films and thus am able to see both the benefits and the downsides that he presents. On the pro side, Madea is hysterical, irreverent, and does voice some of the concerns that some black families have to deal with on a regular basis. On the con side, the Tyler Perry fandom is part of what makes non-Tyler Perry watchers so irritated. Not to say the Tyler Perry problem is not his fault, but a large part of what's wrong with the entire franchise is due to both parties.
You see, when the plays first started out, they were, excuse the pun, a Godsend. The black community never really had one source for down-to-Earth entertainment that dealt with the common problems in our community. Tyler Perry came along and gave them something to bond over because the plays were actually really funny and the singing was excellent, though the acting...less so in some instances. Then the plays got popular. Going mainstream certainly isn't a crime, but some folks started to notice a decline in quality for later plays but everything was still peaches. Then the first film, Diary Of A Mad Black Woman came along. It was intriguing and inspiring, the acting was pretty good, and it was probably the most faithful adaptation of all his films, and it was commercially successful. Next, we had Madeas Family Reunion, which wasn't as well done and didn't succeed as much, but it still made a decent amount of money. It's at that time that I fear Tyler Perry figured it out.
He doesn't have to try.
He can copy/paste the same movie or play over and over again and the black community will still see it, regardless of if it's good or not (I'm looking at you, Daddy's Little Girls, you piece of tripe.) The rare instance when he DID try to think outside the box (The Family That Preys), it went largely unseen. Therefore, we're going to keep getting the same thing unless we ask for more, for better. But sadly, no one is and that's the problem. I pray that one day Perry lives up to his potential because he's shown it numerous times, but complacency is a hard habit to break, especially when it gets you in Forbes magazine. Here's hoping.