By Courtland Milloy
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I went to see the Tyler Perry movie "Madea Goes to Jail," in which Perry plays a wise-cracking black grandmother, Madea, short for "Mother Dear" and ebonically pronounced "muh deah."
With an extensive criminal past that includes "supersize stripper," attempted murderer and check fraud artist, Madea is a near-cult figure among many African Americans, especially women. Thanks in large part to them, Perry's comedic creation debuted as the No. 1 movie in America over the weekend, raking in $41 million and 34 percent of the weekend moviegoing audience, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
At the AMC Magic Johnson Capital Centre 12 in Landover, where Madea is being shown 14 times a day, I was hoping to get a clue as to why this man in drag is so popular. And with the movie featuring guest appearances by Whoopi Goldberg, Dr. Phil, Judge Mathis and Al Sharpton, perhaps I'd even get in a laugh or two.
Boy, was I wrong -- on both counts.
All around me you could almost hear the funny bones cracking -- deep guttural laughter coming not only from kids in the audience but from my peers in the AARP set, as well.
And there I sat, silently ranting: There is nothing funny about this black man in pantyhose. And where is all of this cross-dressing-black-man stuff coming from, anyway? First, comedians Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence star in high-grossing movies as the fattest, ugliest black women that Hollywood makeup artists can conjure up, and now here's Perry with his gussied-up version of the same butt of the joke.
By the way, I don't want to hear diddly about Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire or Milton Berle in high heels. Having a black man play super mammy is not the same thing. Perhaps it would be were it not for America's perverse, systemic and centuries-long efforts to humiliate African men and women and turn them into slaves. Continued =>
20 comments:
This might be arguable, but I think Spike Lee IS the person who hasn't cooned to make a living in Hollywood. Sidney Poitier didn't coon to my recollection and neither did Cosby. Denzel has never cooned to my way of thinking either. I don't believe you need to compromise your ethics to make it in the world...
Those are good examples M. I agree with you.
Over the past 40 years, those names stick out.
The rest of them brothas been wearing dresses or dressing ZioNut memes about blacks in blackface.
Poitier married a white lady? that does qualify?
Actually, I give Perry credit for being one of few people in Hollywood who HASN'T conned out. Sure, he hits those familiar black notes-- drug addiction, baby mama/daddy drama, etc. But i've never looked at one of his characters and just saw a flat out stereotype. Even his most cookie cutter characters tend to have SOME depth to them.
Spike's been drankin' his hatorade.
err... cooned I mean. Of course.
And to anon, his marrying a white woman has nothing to do with the concept of coonery. Maybe look up the definition first before joining teh intarnets conversations. Kthx.
@ M Rigmaiden - But all of those listed are over a certain age and went through some form of Segregation.
What about today's celebrities?
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Spike Lee still have to rely on Hollywood to get his movies out there, while Tyler Perry (owner of one of the largest independant film studios outside of Hollywood) does not?
@the doc.
I agree that marrying a white woman is not coonery...
But to say madea and brown ect... Isn't coonery is bat the fuck shit crazy!!
@Saran.
So tyler perry's coonery is ok because it made him self sufficient? And I do believe tyler perry relies on lionsgate to get his movies out.
Peace!!
"is bat the fuck shit crazy!!" Keith
Ahhhhh!!! LOL.
Whew. That's 'grab your stomach funny".
The Doc and Saran said it best best. Ttyler Perry's movies are not bad!!! He owns the studio to produ ce them and his movies gross millions of dollars for Hollyweird. Spike being jealous, Tyler movies have a good message of love and redemption. He is a Christian last time I check, so what if he pokes fun at life in the black community. So what! I always leave his movies thinking about the real message.
People need to stop being so sensitive and get off all this racial stuff. To me, Tyler Perry' movies are cool because they endorse the importance of religion, family and innocence. There is no sex, no titties and p*ssies out, etc. It's just clean, simplistic film.
What's clean and simple about a man wearing a dress?
Could Tyler Perry get distribution for these films if he portrayed a more empowered dignified version of blackness?
Tyler is useful for the Hegelians. His version of "black" fits snugly within the limits of the Plantation paradigm and serves to polarize "blacks" from others by portraying them as soulful, down-to-earth clowns and silly, non-threatening Negros who ultimately do what they are told. (DMGs)
DV,
You are being too simplistic. Peep Tyler's method: he draws people into the theatres by playing the role of an older black woman, then he teaches the importance of Christianity, religion and family. It's no different than 2pac drawing you in with "How Do You Want It" and then hitting you with "I ain't mad at 'cha."
Whose head got faked?
"he draws people into the theatres by playing the role of an older black woman" ... IWW
"he draws people into the theatres by playing the role of an older black woman" ... IWW
"he draws people into the theatres by playing the role of an older black woman" ... IWW
No. Grasshopper. You got it wrong.
He draws in financing and distribution by wearing a dress and pretending to be a woman.
There is nothing about the black experience that makes us disproportionately attracted to men dressed as women.
Tyler Perry was granted a monopoly on "black film making" and people consume it because that's the only new black shit at Blockbuster.
Not ... because they were "drawn in" by a black man pretending to be a black women.
Gender blurring and Plantation Negrodom is the price of admission for blacks attempting to play in Zionist Hollywood.
Perry's "Why did I get Married" is a good movie. I don't think it has gotten as much attention as his Madea films, which is unfortunate. I think it's one of those rare black movies that does promote the range of images we like to see. It stands alone as being pro-family and pro-marriage which is unheard of right now.
"Tyler Perry was granted a monopoly on "black film making" and people consume it because that's the only new black shit at Blockbuster."
If I didn't know better, I'd say that sounds like haterism. Perry was playing the "Madea" character on stage for a decade before his first movie, so how can that be true? All he did was knock suckas like Huges Bros. and John Singleton out the box.
Yeah, exactly Iwonder. Perry basically knocked down doors in Hollywood when nothing black was coming out. Also, he based the Madea character on women he knows from his own family. (He IS from Texas, and a friend I know from there says he has relatives who were just like Madea, pistol toting and all.) Yeah, his portrayal of her is a bit over the top, but I don't think he ever plays her as mammy, just a crazy "big momma".
The black man in a dress thing... yeah, i'll give you that one. But when he does a movie like Daddy's' Little Girls, sans madea, they hardly ever do Madea numbers. She's a popular character. It is what it is.
Err.. just to clarify, as re-reading it my words might be a little unclear.
The friend happens to know relatives of his own who act like that. I'm not saying he knows Tyler Perry or anything. Coincidentally they both know gun-toting relatives. And they're both from Texas.
Hmmm....
DV, okay a man wearing a dress is an insult to your manhood, ok, I get that. It's okay to laugh at it you know. There is so much more to his movie DV, and no. Tyler, hopefully, will not have two black people lying down in bed having sex, and showing their naked bodies. Nahhhhh
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