I have a love/hate relationship with Tyler Perry's movies. I love the messages of emotional & spiritual growth in Perry’s (TP) movies, but outright HATE the amount of exaggerated coonery and buffoonery in most of his films and plays (NOT ALL). For example, the elders recreationally smoking weed in “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” was just “EXTRA”! I don’t find elders getting high funny. No, I don’t need my entertainment to always be conscious & self-righteous, but filled with tomfoolery -No, Thanks!!! Yes, he shows Blacks in some of our splendid diversity (socio-economic classes/education, complexions, interests, etc.). I appreciate that because we are indeed a diverse people (with various ethnic groups that TP will surely highlight soon-hopefully).My problem. Correction. My HUGE problem is that many times I feel I am watching a BAD satire about the black working class. There are exceptions, such as Cicely Tyson’s character in the “Diary of a Mad Black Woman”, but again it’s Cicely Tyson (Shouts outs to St. Kitts & Nevis)! (Click on link to better understand, Ms. Tyson, the actress, humanitarian, activist, lecturer & overall BAD sista!)http://www.morehouse.edu/newsroom/2009/commencement/pdf/Cicely_Tyson_Biography.pdf Moreover, Shamar Moore’s character in the above mentioned movie is another great exception. However, TP must do better than “Meet the Browns” & Madea the character.
Ironically, I appreciate how Madea addresses tough topics in his/her (see, that’s the other HUGE problem) way. I won’t describe my frustrations about the cross dressing thing, I will let Dave Chappell sum it up about Black males, cross dressing & taking a stand about emasculated images:
(And yes TP cross dressed previous to Hollywood, but the impacts of an emasculated black male is dangerous to the psyche just as much as the overly hyper-masculated black male. These unbalanced & unrealistic images are an annoying thing to me & thousands of others. Why aren’t there more Denzel Washingtons getting a break in Hollywood?! TP hire them! I know Spike Lee does…
At any rate, due to positive audience reaction of Perry's previous movies, I'd figure our North Star Women Group should organize to see “I Can Do Bad All By Myself”. So we gave this one a try. Afterwards, we debriefed and discussed the positive messages over dinner.
My overall rating of the movie, I Can Do Bad All By Myself, is a 5.5 out of 10. Having said that, I will explore the saving graces of the film & why the numbers were NOT in the negatives. Reason #1: I’m sure it will facilitate positive self-growth (i.e emotional, spiritual, educational, etc.) in people, especially women. Reason #2: The topics were necessary for women to face & discuss (e.g. forgiveness, self-love, abuse of self (i.e. drugs), settling in a “relationship”, abuse of children, etc.). My # 1 concern with ‘I Can Do Bad All By Myself’ is that April went straight from an (emotionally) abusive man to the next. Sure the latter man was a great guy. But couldn’t the movie highlight her actually ‘doing bad all by herself’ before marrying this awesome man? She also was abusive to herself and had little self love. She needed some healing time! That is simply not realistic to be immediately healed after these things.
So, I’m not mad that I supported it, but I didn’t walk off having my life changed either. However, there are other movies that spoke directly to me, such as “Family Reunion, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, & Why Did I Get Married?”. So there is something for everyone; I am not mad at that. I simply want TP to be more sophisticated with his writing & character selection while still highlighting various experiences within the Black community. Is that asking for too much?
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