Aker Ajak, opinion intern | The Los Angeles Loyolan
Tyler Perry is an anti-Black Black man.
In a Refinery29 article titled “Yes, Tyler Perry Is Still Obsessed With Unstable Black Women,” journalist Sesali Bowen claims that Perry is obsessed with painting Black women as bitter and always in unsuccessful or even abusive, relationships. This image that Perry has shown the public with movies such as “Acrimony,” “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” “For Colored Girls” and so many more have been extremely damaging to how the public views Black women. Why is it that in most of his movies Black women are always suffering? We are beaten, cheated on, and left to the side in his movies while everyone watches.
If Perry cared about enhancing Black voices in the entertainment industry, he wouldn’t be shining such a negative light on the women in his movies. It would be hard to find a few movies of his where a Black woman isn’t seen as any negative adjective associated with stereotypes against Black women. Perry himself even masquerades as a boisterous large Black woman in his own movies and puts forth the same stereotypes that are still bringing Black women down to this day.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t chuckle at a few of the most famous “Madea” lines. However, this doesn’t excuse the fact that the image he is projecting isn’t a good one. When we think about how Black women are shown in his movies, we must also think about how this can affect Black children, especially girls, when it comes to self-esteem. Writer Cassie Da Costa states in “Tyler Perry Built A Movie Empire by Selling Out Black Women” that Perry’s movies reinforce the ideas that the public already has about Black women. This can make Black children in general feel insecure about themselves.
As a young Black woman, I have felt as if I had to fight against the stereotypes that Perry has shown in his movies because I didn’t want to be seen as bitter or aggressive. From toning my voice down to being extra nice, I had to be everything Perry’s movies said I shouldn’t be. What baffles me the most is that although he is very clearly anti-Black, he still garners so much support from the Black community.
The fact that he is one of very few famous Black directors that make movies “for Black people” is dismal. An Entertainment Weekly article titled “‘Madea’: Bad for black America?”, notes that Black people in general always feel a need to support any Black voices in the public. This may be the reason why we would much rather see negative things about us coming from a Black man rather than nothing at all.
Perry is successful because he makes movies that Black people can somewhat relate to. From the inside jokes that only the Black community would understand to the well-worn comedy tropes, I can understand why his platform has grown so big. However, the Black community should understand that we are more than what Perry makes us out to be. I am not bitter or ill-spirited.
I’ve made a choice to stop supporting Perry until he stops shining a bad light on girls like me, and I believe that everyone else should do the same. We can’t advance as a people if we support directors like Perry.
This is the opinion of Aker Ajak, a freshman political science major from Omaha, Nebraska. Email comments to astory@theloyolan.com. Follow and tweet comments to @LALoyolan on Twitter, and like the Loyolan on Facebook.