Why I Like Tyler Perry

According to conventional wisdom, I should regard Tyler Perry films the way Mongolians regard NASCAR…that is as a nonexistent blip on my radar. I am white, female and fifty-something. Even if aware of Tyler Perry, I should, by some accounts, be put off by his product. But I’m not.

I enjoy Tyler Perry films in much the same the way I enjoy foreign films. They show me a world outside of my normal view because even though I have co-workers and friends who are African American it is not the same as being able to share their perceptions and Tyler Perry helps me do that to some extent.

Because of Tyler Perry I have become aware that the African American Christian experience emphasizes a God who is an unlimited source of strength and comfort. Because of Tyler Perry I am introduced to an old woman who is a force of nature, wild, untamed and completely true to herself and by extension true to those she loves. I am referring, of course, to Madea as played by Tyler Perry himself. In Tyler Perry’s world strong women, old and young, are celebrated, accepted, even exalted. And honorable, decent men are treasured and honored.

I know that Tyler Perry’s world is meant to be a tonic against the racism that is still endemic in this society. But I find it just as bracing against the hollowness of a mainstream consumer society. We could all use a truth telling grandma like Madea.

As for the recent “Why Did I Get Married?” which is sans Madea, I saw the video of the stage play and was quite taken by it. I am sorry that the movie does not have the character of “Poppy” or the singing and the talent of Cheryl Pepsii Riley and that most of the women in the movie are thinner than those in the stage play, even the character who is supposed to be extremely obese. I fear that Tyler Perry may be cutting his vision to fit more into that hollow “mainstream.” But, maybe not.

Right now I am listening the audio book version of Tyler Perry's book Madea's wit and wisdom entitled Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings. I listen to it on my car's CD player on the way to and from work. I know it is supposed to be funny but I find myself taking a lot of what Madea (or Tyler Perry) has to say seriously particularly the part about not worrying about how much I weigh. (Do you see a theme taking shape here?) But, here is one piece of advice from Madea that I take seriously and is not weight related:

"Everybody's got skeletons in the closet ... my advice to anybody with skeletons is to dust them off every now and then -- as long as your closet ain't full of them. It's not good to have more than two or three."

See what I mean? Yeah, I like Tyler Perry and maybe that's not such a strange thing after all.