Tyler Perry's Gender Problem

[ccharles000]

By Courtney Young

Tyler Perry has rapidly become the most bankable African-American moviemaking brand in Hollywood and an entrepreneurial heavyweight. The seven feature films he has conceived and produced have earned more than $300 million at the box office, with an average opening-weekend gross of $25 million--no small feat for films with predominately black casts. He credits his creative inspiration for these films, in part, to African-American women. So far, so good--that is, until you see the films.

Perry's films typically follow the same timeworn narrative: a woman experiences abandonment and/or abuse at the hands of a "bad" man; she takes umbrage, lashing out at those closest to her, most notably a "good" man in her life; she experiences a revelatory moment of change; and she ends the film settled down with the good man who promises her a better life.

Though Perry repeatedly references his admiration for and allegiance to African-American women as a foundation of his work, his portrayal of women of color undermines the complexity of their experience through his reductionist approach to his characters and his dependence on disquieting gender politics. Perry may see himself as creating modern-day fairy tales for black women, but what he may not realize is that fairy tales, in general, have never been kind to women.

The crux of Perry's gender problem lies in his reliance on conservative gender politics that eschew a more progressive, inclusive agenda. Each of his films advances nearly the same message to his audience (which is overwhelmingly African-American, female, devoutly Christian and over 30). Be demure. Be strong but not too strong. Too much ambition is a detriment to your ability to find a partner and spiritual health. Female beauty can be dangerous. Let a man be a "man." True female fulfillment is found in the role of wife and/or mother. To this effect, the black church plays a central role in Perry's vision. While the church championed equality during the civil rights movement and was instrumental in fighting for the advancement of African-Americans along the lines of race, it has routinely adopted a more conservative agenda along the lines of gender. In using a traditional religious paradigm as the linchpin for his work and by investing in prevailing gender politics, Perry is proposing an agenda that reinforces rather than revolutionizes the marginalized way that black womanhood has been portrayed in popular culture.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/young

[Edweird]

1. So, let me get this straight. Tyler Perry's 'problem' is that he makes movies

black christian women like. That's a 'problem'?

He's found his niche. He is making movies a demographic is responding to. The people going to his movies are there because they WANT to be there. It doesn't sound like he is glorifying promiscuity or violence towards women or drug use.

[gleaner]

2. But doesn't the .....

message that he may be sending that ambition and achievement will kill your chances for a loving family ring a kind of a sour note in a society where most women have to work in order to help support their families? And if a woman chooses to work should she not be supported and encouraged in whatever she chooses to do, just as men are? Ambition to better yourself and have a good life are not character flaws.

Also, if Perry is suggesting that only some forms of behavior are "acceptable" for women, and that women need to sit silently by and wait for their destiny to find them instead of actively searching for it is the only way to be happy, doesn't that make for a whole lot of unhappy women who are waiting around for a happy ending that is usually only found in books instead of making a happy ending for themselves? That is not the way the world is. Man or woman you are responsible for making your own life work. People find love that way, too, in fact they are more likely to find it than through following a course of inaction and silence. Love of self helps a lot to make people happy, and you are not going to have that if you let someone else point out to you how inadequate you are for the things you are doing and try to replace them with the things that others want you to do.

Men have been trying to control and regulate women's behaviors for years and it has never made for a peaceful, happy co existence. People need to be themselves and to let everyone else have the same opportunity.

[Edweird]

4. I suspect that the women that are there have already decided how they feel about things

and are watching movies that they enjoy. It would be hard for you to convince me that thesse women are somehow being brainwashed or coerced. I would personally bet that they watch these movies because they identify with the values being presented. I think that there are a lot worse things out there to be worried about than a guy that makes movies black christian women want to go see. I just don't see any controversy.

[pipi_k]

5. Not sure if I'm understanding your point, but I'll try...

I've seen a few of Tyler Perry's movies/plays.

He's not suggesting that black women wait around for someone else to make them happy or to find their destiny in another person.

In fact, he suggests the opposite.

When, as usually happens, the woman's boyfriend/husband treats her badly, she does eventually find the strength to get away...she empowers herself in the end.

The message is, "Honey, you don't NEED a no-good man in your life!!!" It would be nice if he went the little extra bit and suggested that they don't really need a man at all, but at least he's giving women the chance to own their own Power. Which is a really hard thing to do for women who are in abusive relationships.

If his message saves even one woman from a life of grief and abuse, then he's done a good thing..

IMO

:)

[KakistocracyHater]

3. that's what other directors are for

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