(houstonpress.com) His “Madea” character, a hulking, gun-toting, trash-talking grandma, who Perry plays himself, in drag, has sparked cultural critics like Jill Nelson to accuse him of unfunny “body-snatching,” as she said in a recent New York Times article: “[It] generates contempt for and ridicule of and erasure of black women as complex and substantive,” she said. The same article called attention to portrayals by Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx that are similar in tone to Perry’s.
His plays carry a heavy gospel overtone and often veer into blatant proselytizing, and his musical sections don’t so much propel the narrative as spotlight particular performers’ vocal talents. The scenes are intrinsic to a black, churchgoing audience’s shared experience.
Even a more secular black audience could feel alienated by certain shows’ religious implications and, in some cases, supernatural, “witchy” maneuvers, as when characters wildly fling “holy water” all over the living room stage set, as in Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Such antics would be comic, if they weren’t underscored with rousing gospel music.
Perry’s 2005 play Why Did I Get Married? features some of the laziest and most cliché-ridden writing this side of a church pamphlet, but it’s sold with a well-tuned ear toward a ravenous audience. But then, pandering to your audience isn’t necessarily a crime. Stew (born Mark Stewart), a black musician and songwriter who currently has a wildly successful show off-Broadway — Passing Strange, his first foray into theater — doesn’t blame Perry when it comes to catering. (Stew saw such productions as a kid with his grandmother, and he enjoyed them.) “Welcome to capitalism, people,” says Stew. (more…)
Okay folks, today’s word is: Elitist
Characteristic of or resembling a snob: snobbish, snobby. Informal high-hat, snooty, stuck-up, uppish, uppity. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude, self-love/modesty.
One who despises people or things regarded as inferior, especially because of social or intellectual pretension: snob. Informal snoot.
Apparently both the writer of this piece and Ms. Scott have a serious problem with catering to your audience–especially when religious themes are involved.
While I may be finding it hard to find the funny in Tyler’s latest project “House of Payneâ€, I think that as far as his movies go (I have yet to see any of his plays, but from what I hear and the results that I have seen, they are certainly not bad), the man is great at what he does.
Ms. Scott’s comments on Perry are in no doubt rooted in the deep fear numbers of Black folks have regarding White perception when she says “[It] generates contempt for and ridicule of and erasure of black women as complex and substantive”.
Black people flock to his movies mainly because it fills the same void in Black comedy that we have been complaining about and protesting against for years. Perry has a strict policy on cuss words in his films, to how actors kiss, to his no toleration policy on nudity. And guess what? Black folks love it!
News flash: The identity of the entire black race does not rest on the shoulders of Madea.
I may come back to this post later as I am in a hurry to attend a graduation.
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