Thank heavens for modern technology, satellite television, to be specific.
I missed Tyler Perry’s “Madea Goes To Jail” when it was in theaters. Between writing for several publications, teaching a college course and humoring two of my six grandchildren who made it their mission to spend darn near every weekend with Granddad, I just didn’t find the time.
I was finally able to catch Perry’s latest film through the magic of DIRECTV’s pay-per-view menu. I’d heard there was controversy about racial stereotypes in “Madea Goes To Jail” and wondered what all the fuss was about. And having finally seen the movie, I’m still wondering.
True, “Madea Goes To Jail” – and Perry’s other film offerings, for that matter – aren’t exactly “Citizen Kane.” They’re simple tales, told simply, meant to appeal to folks of all races who don’t specialize in being offended by racial slights both real and imagined.
That is Perry’s current dilemma: he’s the target of those black Americans who’ve appointed themselves the guardians of the racial image of black people. They feel whatever offends them personally absolutely must offend every other black person. They hunt near and far, high and low for what they perceive to be racial stereotypes, determined to rip them out by their insidious roots.
So we have Todd Boyd, professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, telling Entertainment Weekly magazine that “Tyler Perry’s films are rooted in some of the worst stereotypes that have ever existed.” Other naysayers got their two cents worth in on a web site.
“Tyler Perry has done more to perpetuate racial stereotypes than any two Wayans brothers movies combined,” huffed one. “Tyler Perry movies are the worst thing to happen to black people since credit cards,” fumed another.
When I read that last quote, I was sure the words “gangsta rap” were going to follow the word “since.” Because if the guardians of the sacred racial image of black folks have a problem with racial stereotyping in “Madea Goes To Jail” and “Transformers II,” they they’ve really got a problem with gangsta rap, right?
You wouldn’t know it from their protests, or, more precisely, the lack of same. Several years ago a magazine called XXL, which targets a black audience of rap fans, put out what its goofy editors called a “jail issue,” dedicated to those rapping dolts who’d committed crimes and ended up in jail or prison.
On the cover was rapper 50 Cent, who’s bragged about his life as a drug dealer and has told, more than once, the story that he was shot nine times. Next to him was some character named Tony Yayo, decked out in an orange prison jump suit.
On the back cover of the magazine was a shot of these two characters from the rear, revealing that Yayo was in handcuffs and that 50 Cent was holding a chain cutter. The implication was that Fiddy was going to break Yayo out of prison.
Clever stuff, no? I didn’t think so either. I tried in vain to get the NAACP, then embroiled in the Memin Pinguin stamp controversy in Mexico, to issue some kind of statement taking the editors of XXL magazine to task for putting out an even worse racial stereotype than Mexican government officials. (Memin Pinguin was a black, stereotypical comic book character Mexican officials put on one of their postage stamps.)
Frankly, I’d have had better luck getting one of my cats to speak Mandingo. NAACP officials said not one unkind word about the jail issue of XXL Magazine. Come to think of it, the NAACP didn’t weigh in on the “Tip Drill” video either. Remember “Tip Drill”?
If you answered “No,” then good. And don’t Google it either. Just rest assured it’s far more racially offensive, by several light years, than anything Perry has produced. Featuring a bevy of scantily clad black women rump-shaking and simulating sexual acts, the video was condemned by some as offensive and degrading to black women. After watching it, I can see black men don’t come off too good, either.
Those characters who have a problem with Perry’s films really need to turn their attention to the world of hip hop, where even more offensive racial stereotyping is going on.
Examiner columnist Gregory Kane is an award-winning journalist who lives in Baltimore.
