Black Women & Film:When Will "Colored Girls" Fly?

Al righty, collective group hug. You're gonna need it because tonight millions of emotionally crippled Black folks are going to stream into theaters to get a two-hour hit of BLACK PAIN. Yep, tonight Tyler Perry's latest bouquet of brutality opens and there won't be a single appearance from Perry in drag, but his finger prints will be all over the movie.  In case you haven't guessed, today we continue our "Black Women &" series with a focus on Black Women and Film.  We've previously covered politics and debt.

I've already stated that I'm not going to see Tyler Perry Presents: For Colored Girls in theaters because, watching unspeakable tragedies being carried out against Black women is not my idea of escapism. But to those who go see it, more power to ya'. Same to Tyler Perry, he's free to make whatever movie he wants to on account that he can make whatever movie he wants to, but I'm not about to embrace this film as some type of reflection of all of Black womanity. Not claiming it.  You can't have it both ways, you can't declare it to be fiction and then attempt to market it as a documentary.

 Remember almost 2 years ago in January 2009 when I asked y'all if we could make any movie in the world what would it be?

If You Could Make the Movie of Your Dreams About Black Women, What WOuld it Be About. 

Poll:Hypothetically Speaking What Would Be Most Important About Making a Film About Black Women

Vote:"Hypothetically"- If We Made A Movie About Black Women-Which Genre?

 Strangely enough most of you said you wanted sci-fi and action adventure. Not romance- not melodrama and yet, that's all we get. Overwrought melodramas and comedy.

This week I start shooting my very first short movie called Namaste (unless I change the name). A story about a Black woman trying to get her "OM" on.  Its not the story I wanted to do, but our professor is limiting us to 6 minutes and I couldn't come up with something two Black women could fight over for 6 minutes and then as soon as I finish that I'll begin pre-production on Dust, a story about Black fairies...not of the Disney variety. The first draft of the screenplay is done, I just have to let my skill level as a director catch up with my creativity as a screenwriter.  But the producer in me  already did a bit of preproduction research to see if flying were possible. It IS! It IS!

Do feel free to leave your reviews of For Colored Girls in the comments and to all the Tyler Perry fans who troll the internet to post angry screeds on any blog post that does not fawn over Tyler Perry, I mock you en mass and in advance. 

Have a great weekend! I'm going to go see Megamind or something like that.

"Precious... the Ensemble Cast" -For Colored Girls Trailer

Some works of literature should remain in their original form. Period. Exhibit A, Toni Morrison's Beloved. I now present Exhibit B, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Structurally, For Colored Girls is a series of 20 poems, collectively called a "choreopoem." It is performed by a cast of seven women characters, each of whom is known only by a color: "Lady in Yellow," "Lady in Purple," etc. The poems deal with love, abandonment, rape, and abortion, embodied by each woman's story, i.e. Lady in Blue's visceral account of a woman who chooses to have an abortion, and Lady in Red's tale of domestic violence. The end of the play brings together all of the women for "a laying on of hands," in which Shange evokes the power of womanhood as the Lady in Red begins the mantra "I found God in myself/and I loved her/I loved her fiercely."Wikipedia I was really torn about whether I wanted to see this movie or not. I love many of the actresses in it, but I don't tend to go see movies about pain and suffering on the big screen intentionally. Now if I get surprised, as I often am, then that's fine, but I'm not going to stand in line and pay $10 for the pleasure of being de-pressed in advance for 120 minutes of my precious life. The trailer and additional commentary are after the break.

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Somebody Declared A Black Culture War and Didn't Let Me Know About it- NAACP Endorses Tyler Perry

I am a bit irritated that Entertainment Weekly didn't give me credit for saying that there is a looming war in Black America between Black folks with common sense... and those without. THEY STOLE THIS FROM ME!!! :) This article is about Tyler Perry and his movies:

At a time when Barack Obama is presenting the world with a bold new image of black America, Perry is being slammed for filling his films with regressive, down-market archetypes. In many of his films there's a junkie prostitute, a malaprop-dropping uncle, and Madea, a tough-talking grandma the size of a linebacker (''Jemima the Hutt,'' one character calls her). ''Tyler keeps saying that Madea is based on black women he's known. [NO Comment]

Do y'all remember whent he NAACP protested The Color Purple? - A story about domestic violence and sexual abuse of women and girls? But they then turned around hand nominated R Kelly. Well now they are endorsing Tyler Perry's anti-professional Black woman propaganda... Why am I not surprised:

'And I know for a fact that they have helped, inspired, and encouraged millions of people.'' In truth, the films are laced with moral lessons trumpeting forgiveness and personal responsibility. ''He's not out there promoting gangster culture,'' says Vicangelo Bulluck, executive director of the NAACP's Hollywood bureau. ''If anything, he's trying to make us think about family values.''

If by family values, you mean promoting gun violence, illegal drug use, making Black women with advanced degrees villains, I guess some family has those values.

''All of his productions demonize educated, successful African-Americans,'' says Todd Boyd, professor of critical studies at USC School of Cinematic Arts. ''It's a demonization that has long existed in certain segments of the black community.''

BINGO. DING! DING! DING ! DING! DING!

In Madea Goes to Jail, for instance, the ambitious light-skinned female district attorney (Ion Overman) who puts Madea behind bars is not only a snob but a conniving, corrupt criminal. ..the pattern recurs in Perry's comedies: In Diary of a Mad Black Woman, the successful black businessman (Steve Harris) is a wife abuser, and in Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, the social-climbing mother-in-law (Lynn Whitfield) gets sneered at by Madea for committing the ultimate sin of trying to look ''bourgie,'' as in bourgeois.

I can't even hate Tyler Perry's hustle. Why not? because the professional Black folks he is demonizing aren't launching their own counter revolution. As long as we sit here whining and not producing the images we want to see, he'll keep walking straight to the bank because we will settle for anything because we are just "grateful" to see a Black face on the screen. The article goes on to show why Tyler is so powerful... BECAUSE HE HAS A MONOPOLY! That's why he can get some of the most acclaimed Black actresses to play roles in his movie... that may be the only chance they get. There is no culture war. In order for there to be a war, two sides have to fight. There is no fight here. Only appeasement and retreat.

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Bill Cosby on Meet the Press With Dr. Alvin Poussaint: Rejecting the Concubine Conspiracy -- Tyler Perry (mini review)

I have previously posted on the Concubine Conspiracy(c). Well Bill Cosby and Dr. Alvin Poussaint were talking about it on Meet the Press. Cosby and Poussaint have a new book out called

At about minute 12:00 he calls out BET. Bob Johnson should be firing off an angry letter any time now. *begins watching watch and tapping toe*

NBC Meet the Press Netcast

Yes, I know folks have "issues" with Cosby, but Poussaint and Cosby laid it all out. The Concubine Conspiracy has consequences. The show is Black male centered, but at least someone is talking about the disintegration of the Black family. Cosby is calling everybody out in this book. I guess I am going to go have to pay a trip to the library. Tim Russert mentions Dyson at minute 40:00 Hmm I wonder how long it will take Michael Eric Dyson, Hip Hop's Prognostitute-in-Chief will weigh in with some foolishness.

What Say You?

Why Did I get Married= Why Folks Ought to Stay Single

I saw the movie.Apparently so did everyone else since it is the top movie out this week. It is Tyler Perry's best effort. He has finally comprehended the need not to hit the audience over the head. He still thinks a gospel song medley and calling on the Almighty can cure drug addictions, raise the dead, heal broken marriages, cure domestic violence, and just about anything else in about two minutes and two seHe still takes things to the extreme and he still is hating on professional Black women ( there is a back story there), but I can't knock any movie that brings Lamman Rucker to the big screen *screams "I love him!" and reaches for the screen right before my friend elbows me in the movie *Just beautiful, and Tyler put him with Jill Scott. Whew! I wish I was "Shelia" in that General Store. Talk about wanting to "touch and agree." I digress.

The audience in my theater was multicultural about half and half Hispanic and Black. You will not believe the number of my non African American coworkers over the years that admit to watching Tyler Perry movies/plays. SCARY! No I do not want to talk about Madea with you at work! No I do not want to see you reenact a scene from a Tyler Perry movie/stage play in the workplace. NO, I do not want to know how much you love Madea standing in the hallway. No I will not explain the cultural significance of Madea, M'Dear Ma'Dear, My Dear or 'Dear

It wasn't Shakespeare, but it wasn't " Diary of a Mad Black Woman" either. Loved the scenery, loved the costumes, loved the makeup. Hated Janet Jackson's hair, the heavy handed humiliation ( I mean really at some point Shelia's story is just difficult to watch), hated all the method acting crying scenes and Tyler's insistence on the continuous camera shot ( at one point I got dizzy), hate the blue collar man always getting harranged by the "successful" Black wife. We get it Tyler, you think professional Black women are the Devil. Yes, Madea makes an appearance in the movie. I don't think it was intentional, but if you pay attention ( or close your eyes) she shows up.

What say you?

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