I’ll admit to not having ever watched, all the way through, any of Tyler Perry’s movies. I lost my taste, long ago, for the general flavour of commercial film, and since his work seemed more or less to follow that path, I’ve stayed away from it. But when I read, this weekend, that he had been tapped to direct a screen version of Ntozake Shange’s play/poem/spoken word piece for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, I can’t say my eyebrow didn’t rise involuntarily. At Jezebel, Latoya Peterson is dubious, as well:
Shange’s work is a major representation of black female womanhood, and even those of us who cannot find ourselves in her stories can still feel the painful echoes. So I am unsure that someone who has not lived this experience can do it justice. Still, despite my hesitations, I am still pleased that for colored girls… will make it to a wider audience.
In more ways than one, Latoya’s preferences are far more relevant than mine to this discussion. On the one hand, though, I think directors wield far more control over the final product of a film than she is supposing. And another thing I think is worth mentioning here is that it appears that originally, Nzingha Stewart was set to direct and adapt the work. Stewart is best known for music videos, and also, coincidentally, is, you know, an African American woman. Symbolism aside, I’m sure she was cast off for rather standard Hollywood reasons: the execs didn’t like the script, not commercial enough. But that bodes rather ill for the job Perry has been brought in to do, no?
Like just about anyone who is creatively inclined, I do think that there is something to the notion that art has an incredible ability to bridge gulfs of experience. The best moments as a reader or audience member, it seems to me, are those of recognition – short of full-on identification, but nonetheless a feeling of knowing something in a deeper way than mere observation.
But I guess, when art is intensely personal and particular to an actual lived experience – like, say, being a black girl in America – I always feel a bit of hesitation about this boundary crossing ability. It is one thing for me to feel touched, to have something I hadn’t understood before illuminated for me by Their Eyes Were Watching God. It would be an entirely different thing, it seems to me, if I were to propose to write on the same subject matter and claim my insight would be as deep and relevant as Zora Neale Hurston’s.
“Write what you know,” they say. Well, there are things I know, but far more things I don’t and cannot. Admitting my limitations has always seemed about as important a step on the road as anything else. And it seems to me that my role as an outsider is to listen and understand, but not to usurp. Twisty once said something in this vein:
There are inner circles of class solidarity into which an outside “sympathizer” simply cannot tactfully incurse or reasonably expect to be invited. Raise money for causes? Sure. Vote for progressive legislation? Duh. Support the movement rather than pretend to sympathize, risk-free, with individuals? Word. But there comes a point at which one must be content to align oneself with the ideology, and then politely get the hell out their way.
I guess what I’m trying to say in a roundabout way that won’t offend anyone is that from over here, I guess I just wish Tyler Perry would get out of the way. Can he produce vehicles for African American women? Sure. Can he talk endlessly about wanting to see more pieces like for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf in mainstream cinema? Duh. But appropriate an authorial role like that of an adapter or director for himself? That seems a little bit too much like an appropriation, to me.
Maybe the only way the film could get funded was with Tyler Perry–a known, money-making director–at the helm? Otherwise, I’m as mystified as you and LaToya.
I should say here that I think Tyler Perry is generally a friend to womanity (and hilarious as Madea) but damn, his movies are so predictable and so cheesy and so poorly written…I sure don’t see him being in the same artistic class as Ntozake Shange.
Ugh! I heard about this over the weekend and wanted to weep. Perry probably employees more Blacks in front of and behind the cameras than anyone in recent memory, but none of that changes the fact that the dude is a hack. Watching his characters cooning, shuffling, and acting like a Rush Limbaugh wet dream is nauseating. Of course the flip side to this is that people go see his movies, so someone out there likes it.
Oooh, I don’t consider Perry a friend to womanity. In fact I think his characters are all minstrelish in one way or another.
one of my college roommates introduced me to the Tyler Perry oevre (with Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which I think is a cut above most of the Madea-centric vehicles) and I think the stories of women in abusive or powerless relationships who rise above and rebuild themselves have merit. Also, I don’t think the benefits of employing POC in front of and behind the camera in a wide variety of roles (from the comic to the heroic) can be overstated – but they’re about as nuanced as the average romance novel. I’d much rather see a film like this in the hands of someone like Mira Nair (anyone see Mississipi Masala?)
You all might be too young to remember this, but in 1984 this EXACT discussion took place regarding the decision to have Steven Spielberg direct The Color Purple. And before you say “Tyler Perry is no Steven Spielberg”, consider that the Spielberg of 1984 was famous for Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, and Poltergeist. Anybody remember Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? The plucky Asian kid with the funny accent? The blonde damsel in distress whose only job was to scream “Indeeeeeee”? Yeah, Spielberg wasn’t viewed as having a great deal of sensitivity to minorities and/or women. But the movie turned out well and would’ve won Best Picture were it not for Robert Redford being dreamy.
But I digress. The point is that, as Spielberg learned, do your money-making movies FIRST so that you’ve got leeway to make arty stuff later. Like him or not, Tyler Perry is no dummy.
I remember being mortified, as a Jew, that Spielberg had the chutzpah to make that movie.
Think Perry will play all the parts?
I heard about this via FB, from a friend of mine who, as an African-American actress who works in film and tv as well as theatre, has a vested interest in this project. She was mortified, to say the least.
I’m with SarahMC; I don’t consider TP terribly lady-friendly. I almost wrote my dissertation about his early stuff–”gospel plays” AKA the “urban theatre circuit.” I also agree with mkp about his role vis-a-vis employing POC. I just wish he gave them better material.
Oooh, mischiefmanager, I shudder to think.
“Write what you know” does not equal write ONLY what you know. Why couldn’t an extremely talented white person write well and movingly about being a black girl in America? With enough talent, it could be just as deep and relevant as Zora Neale Hurston, just in a different way. Isn’t the artist’s role to imagine and transcend?
I can think of other good reasons that Tyler Perry shouldn’t direct, but I’m uncomfortable saying he shouldn’t direct solely because he’s not a woman of color.
The problem is, mainstream movie studios have little interest in movies that feature marginalized groups. Movies that feature PoCs, or women always take a back seat to whatever film Brad Pitt is starring in. Now add the two together- a movie featuring black women- and the only way this movie is being made in the mainstream is by attaching a well-known successful director/actor to it.
This is the problem most minorities (including women) face. We must always find a compromise. We can get good representation, or more representation, but never both- and even getting just one takes a fight.
…on the other hand, I can see why this might be a case of – if he won’t do it, nobody will. It could be a positive thing, if the alternative is nothing at all.
Not to be a total Tyler Perry apologist but…well, this white chick is going to be a Tyler Perry apologist for a sec here.
I don’t think there are nearly enough movies/tv shows that send the message that black women deserve love, fidelity, respect and a partnership of equals. Tyler Perry, for better or for worse, actively evangelizes that message, albeit in simplistic, cheesy, fairytale-ish way. His whole “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” attitude towards abusive relationships, playas and the breakdown of the family is worthwhile, IMHO. His first few plays also openly and unashamedly tackled the issue of child abuse at a time when it was not discussed in the black community. I don’t really like his movies, but I like the message he’s putting out there and given the way people respond to it, I think it’s clear he’s hitting a nerve and serving a purpose that no one else is.
That said, I don’t think he’s the right person to make “For Colored Girls.”
No.
Just… no.
Perry is NOT the right choice to make this flick. It probably couldn’t get made without his “clout”? Maybe. Flicks like Akeelah and the Bee lead me to believe otherwise. He employs a lot of Black folks who probably wouldn’t ever work? Yeah, but he pays them worse than any TV production company in history. He knows how to write Black women? ::blank stare:: Are you sure you’ve seen a Tyler Perry movie?
The bottom line is… Tyler Perry can’t write a decent screenplay and he can’t direct worth shit. I don’t mind if his production house foots the bill, but for GOD’S SAKE let someone else write the adaptation. And FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST please let someone else direct.
Talk about employing more Black people… how about you spread the wealth a little, hmmm TP? See, when you hire a qualified director, said director hires a cinematographer he trusts, and said cinematographer recommends a 1st AC and 2nd AC and so forth and so on. But when it’s just you doing it all, you take jobs away from experts who need the work, too.
As I said elsewhere, I can give you a list of Black female directors I’d rather see adapt this PHENOMENAL play… Kasi Lemons, Julie Dash, to start…