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Sunday evening on 60 Minutes there was a segment about Tyler Perry by Byron Pitts. What ensued over the next 24-48hrs was quite interesting to say the least. I engaged in a thread on a friend's facebook page about said piece. Here are some excerpts of my responses.
"....TP makes a point when he says that there is an audience he speaks to and gives them a msg in a way that they can understand. "art" is subjective. for instance, everyone doesn't like bjork but i think she's amazing... he talks about drug abuse, spousal abuse, relationships, family, etc. all of the characters are not buffoons. there is room enough for everyone. if he wasn't actually actively trying to bring a msg to the table i would agree totally but the fact is that he is."
"he attacks, as aforementioned, abuse of all kinds to show his audience they can win. a lot of the ppl who patronize his works do feel like they can see themselves in them. "why did i get married?" was a departure from madea. even though one of the characters was one of those over the top kinds she still had a bit of an arc.
speaking of him directing a movie that you couldn't tell was directed by a black director: don't you think spike lee "suffered" from that stigma until oh i don't know 2002 when he released "25th hour"? then came "inside man" in 2006. he had his 1st major break out in 1980 with "she's gotta have it". so that's over 20 yrs of knowing that you're watching a movie about "black" issues by a black director. the challenge is to dig deeper. there is a reason behind every artists "theme" in their chosen medium. tyler's is that he suffered major abuse and watched his mother go through it, as well. he has an audience, albeit which does not include many of us on this thread, that support him wholeheartedly. he doesn't promote prostitution, nor any type of demoralization of women, so likening him to say, Gucci Mane, is a bit extreme to me.
re people who support gucci mane and the like: there is supply and demand. if ppl keep buying it, it keeps getting pumped out. "real" artist sometimes don't like to liken themselves to attracting financial gain b/c they think that success somehow makes them less "real". THAT is the problem. gucci mane won't be around forever b/c his content is lacking. but "indie" artists have to put themselves on, too."
"tyler made his movies using his own money precisely b/c he didn't want anyone to be able to dictate how his ish was made. he used the $$ from all of his plays to fund them and kept putting money back into himself to further himself. that's how he built his studio in the a. what is incredibly strange and hi-larious to me is that as a filmmaker myself, i am actually defending someone who i don't align myself with artistically. his hustle, though, 100%. lionsgate is for distribution and only recently as investors. please believe that this man is doing things his own way. he had another director do his 1st movie and that didn't work out so well because he wanted it his way and this i know 1st hand. partnering w/lionsgate puts more $$ in his pocket while allowing him to write his own ticket. he only got to that point b/c he showed a following on his own. he put himself on. just as spike lee did. but i think it's a bit early to say that someone can't grow. after spike's 1st 6 films would someone say they could see him directing the likes of edward norton in a film as his lead? probably not. but he did."
What I find incredibly interesting is that it seems as if people are looking to Tyler Perry as some type of savior. "Why isn't he representing black people like this?" "Why aren't his plays focusing on that?" "He's selling out." Next you'll hear someone say: "Tyler Perry doesn't care about black people." Geeez come on people. Tyler Perry, nor Spike Lee, Oprah, Will Smith, etc are here to save the black race. These are real people. Artists on all mediums are real people. Guess what, real people are flawed. Surprise! I read an excellent post by another blogger but one problem I had was that she stated that Tyler Perry talks about how he's grown up with abuse but the fact remains that he grew up with both parents. What?! You've got to be kidding me. Growing up with an abusive parent is worse than growing up with a stable single parent. Artists usually use their chosen medium as a place to show the world as they saw it, see it or want to see it. I am not of Tyler Perry's demographic, his films do not speak to me on a level deep or surface. His grind, however, does. Before I turned off my cable, I caught a couple of episodes of "House of Payne". Definitely not my cup of tea. I'm partial to shows like "Girlfriends", "The Game" (when they were on) and "Private Practice", if we're discussing mainstream tv.
"Bottom line is his pieces effect people. I might not be you but look at the box office numbers." -Shak
Sideline critics crack me up. Tyler Perry erected his own studio in Atlanta and employs so many people and shows through actual proof of his existence that you can make your dreams come true. But dude, you still can't win! Time out for the competitive mindset. There is more than enough out here for everyone to do and be more without having to down someone else without offering a solution. Sideline critics always want to say what's wrong with what you're doing but have never tried it themselves. Instead of talking about what's wrong with what he's putting out let's address why so many people need to get their information in that manner. Why do people need "a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down?" Most times people seek out entertainment to escape their daily lives. I think that's one of many reasons. To treat the problem and not the symptom is key. Bring on the creative mindset. Do you volunteer in your community? Do you seek to expose those less fortunate than you are currently to things/places/people more than they're used to experiencing? If not, you're truly no better than the person you're slamming. I'll bet that when you spend your time being a part of the solution you'll have less time to focus on what you deem to be such an ergregious error in judgement and start to see the light that we all possess. And maybe that person who is doing something differently than you would have chosen can inspire you, too.
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