Tyler Perry and the Multifaceted Black Audience
We will not come to an agreement about his work, and that is perfectly fine.
I haven’t watched a Tyler Perry film in years.
That isn’t to sound bourgeois, it’s just the truth. I remember enjoying the Madea stage plays and movies with my family members, making jokes and quoting the comical characters with my friends. There was definitely a time when I found his films enjoyable.
But eventually, I just got tired of it.
It felt like I was seeing the same plot repeatedly. There’s always a struggling God-fearing Black lady, usually with a lot of emotional pain due to abuse. There’s always some decent looking guy who is the cause of this pain, there’s always some old all-knowing matriarch who helps guide the story, and — of course — the notorious bad wigs.
On January 17th, in partnership with Netflix, Tyler Perry released his new film A Fall from Grace. The story follows public defender Jasmine Bryant as she uncovers what really happened to her client Grace…
