HotmfWax said...
Pink, you could not pay me to see such crap...Think about it."For Colored Girls" is pure marketing genius to subliminally program your(black females) minds and also work a certain "anti-black male" viewpoint into your subconscious and leave you believing the false thoughts about how "sorry your black males" are.
Be careful in what you identify with.
"In For Colored Girls, the black men are largely egregious (rapists, down-low HIV infectors, crazy murderers and so on). While this project is mainly about the liberation of black women and the conversations that they need to have with one another, the men in the film are also a part of that conversation.
We now live in a time when black people have been given relative power and wealth to green-light film projects. Yet many of our movies portray black culture as mere pathology. And we seem to be okay with it. Surely, if white directors had us in their films in this unflattering way, the NAACP would be up in arms. Double standard? I'd say yes."-end quote
Same Oscar praise as "Precious".
And just like "precious" predictive programing of "negative themes" black people in regards to incest, lesbianism, HIV, obesity and weak parental mentoring it will be celebrated as "Oscar worthy".
Just like Halle Berry's Monster's Ball was celebrated as "oscar worthy" for poverty, the death penalty and "doggie...." well you know what I mean.
Joanna said...
When I spoke to a close friend of mine yesterday, she asked if I
was going to see this movie. I said I had no desire to see it, and she
got kind of annoyed. She said "Oh, that is because you are not Black".
So when I told her I did not want to see this movie for similar reasons
as those expressed in this post, she got pissed like she made the movie
herself.
20 comments:
When I spoke to a close friend of mine yesterday, she asked if I was going to see this movie. I said I had no desire to see it, and she got kind of annoyed. She said "Oh, that is because you are not Black". So when I told her I did not want to see this movie for similar reasons as those expressed in this post, she got pissed like she made the movie herself.
I sometimes sit and watch movies like this (especially after they come out on video lol).
BUT, I don't draw any useless parallels as if the movie reveals a truth I need to acknowledge for my own life.
I take these flicks for what they are... Entertainment that may contain an ounce of truth about humanity based on a contrived and often shallow story line (that may or may not result in a quickie "feel-good" moment, much like winning a good game of cards). Anybody looking to these movies for answers to life's real dilemmas are in trouble.
Joanna, I was called a crab in a barrel today for saying that I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry movies and probably won't bother to see this one. There are a lot of people that are taking criticism of Perry to heart. Like you said, it's as if they made the movie themselves. I guess I'm supposed to pay for and endure a shitty movie because I'm black and you don't get it because you're not. Ridiculous.
i am not sure how i feel about the film. i have not seen it. i read the book when i was in 9th grade and purchased it many yrs ago...i love poetry and often pick this book off of my bookcase to read over and over...
i will encourage all to read the book of poetry...originals are most always better than movie remakes.
I guess I'm supposed to pay for and endure a shitty movie because I'm black...
This reminds me of "buy Black" initiatives.
My father once told me about a Black-owned restaurant that opened in our area. The owners picked a bad location that had no parking lot and poor access to parking on the street. The service was poor and the restaurant was often closed during posted hours of operation.
Yet blindly-loyal patrons (plus the owners and employees) would routinely criticize Black residents for avoiding the place to get a better meal, with better service, at the posted times of operation.
My father's experience mirrors what I often see when it comes to Black-owned __fill-in-the-blank___. We're expected to buy a ticket, grab a meal, or cop a widget no matter our need, preference, or expectations of quality for that matter.
This kind of "welfare" mentality promotes laziness. If your product isn't for me (whether by quality or demand), you have a responsibility to either step-up the quality or learn more about your target market. Seeking "welfare" sales and criticizing non-patrons is pure laziness.
Local groups with "buy Black" initiatives get the side-eye from me. Can I get a better reason to patronize than the color of the biggest investor???
@pink, someone called you a crab in a barrel? lol who the fuck even says that anymore?
Perry works from a point of view of an angry gay man.
I HATE House of Payne and Meet the Browns - Cosby, Everybody Hates Chris and Bernie Mac are better representations ofreal Black men.
Perry never had a strong male figure to show him how Blck men act in reality.
His point of view seems to come from the (aparently) bitter women who raised him.
I'll never pay to see anything Mr Perry has anything to do with.
I HATE House of Payne and Meet the Browns - Cosby, Everybody Hates Chris and Bernie Mac are better representations ofreal Black men.
-UBJ
I remember when the Cosby Show was first coming out, Black kids used to criticize the show and me for watching it, because it "wasn't really Black". They would say that no Black family has both the parents present, nor would either of them be doctors or lawyers, and they wouldn't have a house that big. The most ignorant shit I've ever heard.
I refuse to watch anything Tyler Perry has laid his hands on, for the simple fact that his "success" is built on reinforcing negative stereotypes Black people unfortunately consider defining of what it means to be Black. Supporting his films just because he's Black, and accepting his tired message because he THINKS it's representative of Black people, in particular Black women...isn't Black at all.
Big Ups Big Ups ^^
I remember when I was a young dude. 18 or 19.
The "Color Purple" was in theaters. I went down to Georgetown to catch it at theater off of M Street.
I remember because I was alone. I heard about the flick, and wanted to check it out. So I just hopped on the crosstown G2 to check it out.
I remember while making my way to the theater, encountering smiles, head nods and a general sense of good will from the majority of the people I encountered. Which, as a handsome young black college student, had become pretty much the feedback from people to which I had become accustomed.
After this movie.
Things changed.
I remember the very moment when the film was over and the huge crowd was leaving the theater.
Right after Oprah almost cut Harpo's throat ... I remember the hostile, tense stairs from women as we were forced to squeeze past each other to get through the exits.
Liberal white women and edgy pseudo radical sisters alike had cast aside their masks of warm smiles and bubbling empathy and replaced them with cold hard glares accusatory looks.
In 1 hour and 20 minutes of film I had been transformed in their eyes from a promising young black survivor of white oppression to a dangerous black male oppressor impulsively prone to violence and rape.
I've wanted to kick Steven Spileberg's ass ever since.
Chosen, the sad thing is that he wasn't even using the term correctly! How the hell am I a crab in a barrel when I'm not in that industry and support quality black movies? I probably watch more independent black movies than most. If you're going to use an outdated term, at least understand what it means.
As for the "buy black" initiatives... I would LOVE to but I agree that the commonality of black skin is not going to be the reason I support your business if you can't get there on time to open when you're supposed to or if you don't put the care into doing a decent job. I'm not going to lower the bar for a black business because it's black owned. There's no reason why we can't do better.
"As for the "buy black" initiatives... I would LOVE to but I agree that the commonality of black skin is not going to be the reason I support your business if you can't get there on time to open when you're supposed to or if you don't put the care into doing a decent job. I'm not going to lower the bar for a black business because it's black owned. There's no reason why we can't do better." Pink
I feel you Pink.
I can't fuuug with them Plantation Negro "Do It Cuz Youz Bwak and Iz Bwak" muhfuggas.
They need to understand that the Plantation underwrites and promotes that Tyler Perry shit because they will never be threatened by a population of Tyler Perries.
See if they finance and promote brothas making movies about black men marrying women, making babies and raising empowered children.
Nahhhhhh ....
But fuck it.
Don't need them anyway. That's the way it should be.
Watch brothas make it happen on their own.
"I've wanted to kick Steven Spilberg's ass ever since."-DV
That's funny.
That "Amistad"(it's the European judicial system that makes for a happy ending about some slave revolting) bull.
D, I didn't initially feel the "Cos Cause." I'm sure I probably parroted what I heard from other black folk at the time. Thinking back, there never were any black shows like Cosby's. Cosby was probably the first time a family could be black and win. Win economically. Our conditioning via Hollywood was the reason I believe for black folk having an adverse reaction. We were use to loosing in fantasy world. I think that subconsciously set a tone for us.
Perhaps the Jeffersons were close, but his character was more like "we living amongst white folk now" type of sentiments. That was more mockery of objectives coming out the 70's.
One problem with Cos, if you provide imagery of children then make them characters other children can identify with. Hip Hop was pushing its way up into mainstream at the time, making a tremendous impact and THEO COULD NOT GET A FADE.
If anything there was anything that was unrealistic for being in school in the 80's, it was having a lawyer mother and a doctor father and no edge-up and fade.
I know it sounds petty, but we're talking '84-'92? Hip-Hop was carving a new image for blackness. Bill Cosby had to compete with that.
I think there was a clash in popular culture. Cosby Family on TV, Run DMC on radio. Two distinct black images. My homeboy told me he discovered Run DMC from a white friend of his reciting the song "Proud To Be Black." If it had an impact on white youth like that, black youth were probably judging everything by the standards of Hip-Hop. That's probably why till this day I'm a victim of post-traumatic non-fade.
I think the difference then as oppose to know is that it was a time of the first "non-tragic" black family at a time of the first unstoppable juggernaut musical youth. One expressing through prime time, while the other expressing what time it really is.
Yall are too all or nothing for my taste. As is often the case in life, I think the fair assessment of Tyler Perry lies somewhere in the middle.
Yeah the movies may be cliched and stereotypical, but so is everything else out. Moreoever, there is an attack of male female relationships period, not just among Black folk.
Dont hold Tyler Perry to a standard higher than we hold everyone else. Shit, if there are millions to be made peddling bullshit, far be it from me to begrudge Tyler his piece of the pie. Because if Tyler goes away, there will be some other filmmaker to fill the void ASAP!
Now the truth is --- I didnt personally relate to ANYTHING in For Colored Girls. I aint never been raped, aint never been a hoe, aint never had a backalley abortion, am not a Hoarder, and have never been in an abusive relationship. Doesnt mean others cant relate. And certainly didnt make the movie any less entertaining.
I say we need to cut Tyler some slack. Id rather Tyler than Quentin Tarrantino (sp?).
RJEsq
"I say we need to cut Tyler some slack. Id rather Tyler than Quentin Tarrantino (sp?)"
Don't worry, defenseless Tyler Perry got plenty heterophobes up in his slacks.
And I'm pretty sure Tarantino has no aspirations to win over Perry's audience.
"Now the truth is --- I didnt personally relate to ANYTHING in For Colored Girls. I aint never been raped, aint never been a hoe, aint never had a backalley abortion, am not a Hoarder, and have never been in an abusive relationship. Doesnt mean others cant relate. And certainly didnt make the movie any less entertaining."
To me, the problem is that movies that show Black people in a positive light simply DO NOT GET MADE. They do not get the funding. They do not get the accolades. Those who are in control of the entertainment industry (I am not going to be any more specific, but I think most people know who has the power in Hollywood) are invested in portraying Black dysfunction, and Tyler Perry is the perfect vehicle. And Oprah is his biggest cheerleader. That way, people can "enjoy" portrayals of negativity while pretending there is no agenda, because after all, a Black man made the movie. Who needs D.W. Griffith when they can recruit Tyler Perry to pass on similar messages with a veneer of respectibility?
"Dont hold Tyler Perry to a standard higher than we hold everyone else. Shit, if there are millions to be made peddling bullshit, far be it from me to begrudge Tyler his piece of the pie. Because if Tyler goes away, there will be some other filmmaker to fill the void ASAP!"
No this is wrong, herd mentality on display. Happy to go along and not question, because somebody's making money anyway. That does not make it ok. The point is Tyler's movies are shit, so why support them? It's no different to saying I like chicken so I'll eat KFC because if they weren't making it somebody else would. You don't think about what it does to your heart and where the chicken comes from, in the same way you don't think about what Tyler's movies do to your mind and your self image, especially black men.
Tarantino is a way better filmmaker than this coon, you can't compare them. Easy choice: Pulp Fiction on repeat over a selection of Perry's 'best movies' anyday!
-I'd watch True Romance, Pulp Fiction or even Resevoir Dogs way before I'd watch any dumb ish Perry puts out.
Is it supposed to be good just because he's Black?
-Cos.
How was that show not real?
The decor of their house was less than average by today's standards.
Watch House of Payne with all that cheap Ashley furniture and then look at the house of Cos..
The Payne house is tacky while the Cosby house looks kind of cheap.
Black people have always lived well - it's just that other Blacks failed to accept another Black doing well as being normal.
"Hip Hop was pushing its way up into mainstream at the time, making a tremendous impact and THEO COULD NOT GET A FADE." -GEE CHEE
HA! You right, and I see your point. But hey, you gotta give Vanessa some credit for that "Jammin' on the one" nonsense she was kickin' with Stevie Wonder in the studio...actually, no you don't.
"Yall are too all or nothing for my taste...Dont hold Tyler Perry to a standard higher than we hold everyone else" -???
If it isn't all or nothing...it's settling. And if Tyler Perry isn't alone in the production of wack, garbage media...then to hell with the whole lot of 'em.
Quinton Tarantino's Pulp Fiction was 10 times more Black than everything Perry has ever done combined.
The Plantation controls the behavior of Plantation Negros by producing content (images, news, "education", opinions, ideas, mannerisms), surrounding the with black faces, and relating to it as IF THE CONTENT WAS SYNONYMOUS with Blackness itself.
...
...
The Tyler Perry experience HAS NOTHING WHAT SO EVER TO DO WITH "BLACKNESS".
But it might as well be.
We live in the digital age.
90% of what Plantation Negros associate with "Blackness" was spoon fed them by the Plantation.
The Black experience takes place on TV screens, computer screens and telephone screens.
Tyler Perry does not simply make "black" content for black people.
Tyler Perry's content shapes black people.
(Well, not black people. It shapes Plantation Negros.)
It serves as the image of what "being black" looks like.
Life imitates art.
Life also imitates social engineering.
We must not only understand but appreciate that the Tyler Perry material is not entertainment - IT IS TELEVISED HYPNOSIS. SOCIAL ENGINEERING. MASS MIND CONTROL.
The Plantation shows Negros images of themselves rolling their necks, cursing, eating chicken, getting fat, partying, not having men, never discussing anything philosophical or spiritual or intellectual .... Plantation Negros will roll their necks, curse, eat chicken, get fat, not have a man, never discuss anything philosophical, spiritual or intellectual.
If the Plantation presents black men as either violent sociopaths or homosexual perverts ... Plantation Negros will soon become either violent sociopaths or homosexual perverts.
Which is why at Denmark Vesey Dot Net I portray black men as husbands and fathers.
Supremacy itself.
Method to the madness.
Geeee Cheeee!
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