I had a free movie ticket so I saw Tyler Perry’s Temptations because I wanted to see if Perry had taken a new direction. And he has hasn’t. I agree with much of the criticism that he and this movie have received.
I have known for several years that Perry is not an artist so I didn’t expect a well-written script, fully developed characters, a unique or interesting plot.
I have seen enough of Perry’s movies to know that he always has a message, and I don’t have a problem with that. I just don’t appreciate the way he delivers it.
In my humble opinion, Perry’s latest film glorifies domestic violence, perpetuates rape culture, oversimplifies breakdown in marriage and he continues to portray black women, particularly educated black women, poorly. His movies constantly feature a damsel in distress who needs to be rescued by a man who has big muscles and can write a big check. He fails to depict strong black women independent of their relationships of men. He also portrays wealth in negative light. According to Perry’s depiction, wealthy folks are vain and messed up. Perry’s rolling in the dough so what does that say about him?
Lastly, his portrayal of Christians is one dimensional and feeds the negative stereotype that to be a Christian one has to be religious, super rigid, out of touch with reality and only curses when she is upset.
I tried to give Perry’s films a chance because I respected the fact that he was bold enough to put a message that audiences typically don’t see across Hollywood screens. Now, I can do without seeing another movie with his name on it. I know Perry gets a lot of flack, and I wish I could disagree so something different would be added to the conversation. But this time, I have to side with the masses of criticism that he receives.
Am I being harder on Perry than I am on other media makers? Yes. A little bit.
Is Perry a successful media maker? Yes, when success is defined in terms of box office sales and how well the general public knows an individual’s name.
Isn’t Perry giving black actors and actresses employment (aka money) in an industry where it’s hard for them to find work? Absolutely.
But those reasons are not enough, in my opinion, to justify a continuos pattern of depicting Christians and black women in a negative light. Most media depictions of those groups are not positive. At this point in his career, I would hope Perry would be doing something different and at least not adding to the negative images.
For decades, probably centuries, many black artists are faced with the decision of whether their art will involve an aspect of their heritage or will their art strictly be about art. This is a question I constantly think about. Double consciousness never leaves me. At the end of the day, the artist has to decide for him or herself. I take a particular issue with Perry because he seems to portray his art in way that relates to culture. Most of his films feature an all-black cast, revolve around black church etc. However, what he portrays is adding to the multitude of negative depictions of black people, and that’s the problem that I have with him. I expect non-black media makers to showcase stereotypes, but I don’t expect a fellow black man to do the same. The fact that his movies are all the same is what makes this troubling and evident.
There are a lot of movies that I believe feed into negative stereotypes, and I will treat Perry as equally as I treat those films - I won’t watch them. I refuse to support a filmmaker who says to be a Christian, I have to be religious; and to be an educated black woman, I need to be rescued by a black man.
I think Sweet Brown said it best: “ain’t nobody got time for that.”
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