University of Massachusetts Amherst From the SelectedWorks of TreaAndrea Russworm June 20, 2016 Introduction: Media Studies has Ninety-Nine Problems…But Tyler Perry Ain't One of Them? TreaAndrea Russworm Available at: https://works.bepress.com/ treaandrea_russworm/2/ INTRODUCTION Media Studies Has Ninety-Nine Problems ... But Tyler Perry Ain't One of Them? -TreaAndrea M. Russworm My Problem(s) with Tyler Perry I have complicated feelingsabout Tyler Perry.He makes me feel some kind of way, or as my students would say, I have"feels" on the matter. In fact, for a long while, whenever I mentioned to anyone (from col­ leagues to cab drivers to my mother) that I was working on this col­ lection, I always foundsome way to distance my intellectual labor on the project froma positive endorsement of Perry's filmsand television e shows. I'd say:"Yes. Tyler Perry. Wre editing a book on him but that doesn'tmean I like his stuff. I am so not a fan. I don't drink the Kool­ Aid." In casual social spaces, I have used much stronger language to frame my resistance to Perry's oeuvre, and I'm not afraidto begin this collection of critical essays by repeating what I have so often said to others: I have hated every Tyler Perry movie I have ever seen (my per­ sonal viewing total is thirteen Perry-directed filmsand videos ...and counting). I have stressed to anyone who broached the subject with me that every moment of watching these films has been masochistic, barely endurable.I have especially hated the factthat Tyler Perry keeps making films. I can also say that while working on this project my personal wave of "feels;' that affective torrent of powerful emotions that Tyler Perry's work seems to evoke in fans and critics alike, has shiftedenough forme to now saythis: I forgive TylerPerry. I forgive him,Whoopi Goldberg, and Macy Gray formangling Ntozake Shange's For ColoredGirls ( 2010). I forgive Perry for Madea's Family Reunion (2006), Madea Goes to Jail xiii xiv Introduction (2009), Madea's Big Happy Family (2011), and really, because there are too many Madea films to list here, I forgive him forany feature or ani­ mated film where he dons a dress and fat suit and masquerades as his signature Black female matriarch, Madea. There is room enough in my heart to forgive Tyler Perry for those weekly email reflections that his avid fans never fail to forward to me-you know, the messages where he shares with his supporters lengthy reflections about what God has told him lately. Finally, even though I like his television shows signifi­ cantly less than I like Madea, I also forgive Tyler Perry forcreating each of those shows, particularly the dreadful neo-minstrel sitcom Meet the Browns (TBS, 2009-12). Mostly, though, I forgive Tyler Perry for not making Black popular culture forme. Skeptics and critics like me are a perfect and necessary audience for From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry. Simply put, this book is not about drinking-or drankin'-the Kool-Aid or about convincing anyone to appreciate and enjoy Perry's stage plays, films, or television shows. This book does, however, aim to speak to a criti­ cal academic and wider audience that has failed to take this aspect of Black popular culture seriously, an audience that struggles to see beyond our own "feels" and blind spots, grievances and resistances, biases and problems with mainstream Black popular culture. To be clear, while there might be many "problems" when it comes to Perry's work, like his oft-discussed problems representing Black women or the problems of identificationhe creates forviewers who wish to see more positive imag­ ery, with this collection we contend that one of the main problems with Tyler Perry has less to do with Perry and more to do with the limited critical attention he has garnered. On "Disreputable" Black Objects and the Burdens of Representation With my personal confessions about Tyler Perry now out in the open, it bears sharing how, given my obvious problems with his work, I nonethe­ less came to coedit this book with Karen M. Bowdre and Samantha N. Sheppard. First, some context about Perry's career is in order. For over a decade, Tyler Perry, who is certainly best known for his drag performances as Madea, the self-proclaimed "mad Black woman" Introduction xv who is not afraid to brandish a gun or a scalding pot of grits in defense of herself and others, has been a lightning rod for both criticism and praise. Since his meteoric rise to fame,just as many blogs and popular headlines have led with something akin to "In Defense of Tyler Perri' "The Problem with Perry;' or "Why Tyler Perry Hates Black Women" (or "Black Men;' or "Black People" in general). Is this commercially suc­ cessful African American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, and producer "malt liquor for the masses;' the Devil, an embarrassment to the race!, or a genius who has directed the most culturally significant American melodramas since Douglas Sirk?' Are his filmsand television shows even melodramas, or are they conservative Christian diatribes, cheeky camp, or social satires? Do Perry's flattenednarratives and char­ actertropes irresponsibly collapse important social discourses into one­ dimensional tales that affirm the notion of a "post-racial" society, or is it, as a recent Esquire article touted, that Tyler Perry is better than the ·new Obama" because his filmsgive us one of the only occasions to talk openly about race and gender, class and stereotype, in a bipartisan, so­ called"post-racial" American political climate?2 Whetheror not we personally love or hate his productions, one thing is clear: Tyler Perry is not going anywhere. He has developed lucrative film and television partnerships with Lionsgate, TBS, and Oprah, and his films have grossed far more than any other Black filmmaker in his­ tory,including more critically acclaimed Black directors like Spike Lee, Cheryl Dunye, Kasi Lemmons, and John Singleton. While some of his films have sparked public controversies about aesthetics and respect­ ability( or what some have described as the retrogressive and embarrass­ ingnature of his work), Perry's influencein contemporary media culture isby now undeniable. For instance, prior to his filmcareer, Perry gener­ atedan estimated $150 million a year by selling tickets, video recordings, andmerchandise related to his popular stage performances.He has gone on to direct, produce, or star in at least one filma year since his theatre days, and his role in the television industry is increasing at a compa­ rablerate, making him one of the most prolific television producers for Black audiences in television history. As a result of these efforts, Perry isnow at the center of an influential media empire and production stu­ dio (Tyler Perry Studios) that has released over twenty commercially successful films and videos that all thematically pair representations of xvi Introduction Black identity with tales of betrayal, morality, incest, domestic violence, and trauma. He has been a polarizing figure to say the least, and while there has been a lot of public rumination about the merits of his work, few oppor­ tunities have existed to examine his image and productions in schol­ arly venues. Before editing this collection, we were each curious about Perry's work and impact to varying degrees, but we soon discovered that it could be challenging to create a rich critical dialogue about his films, plays, and television shows in our professional spaces. For instance, in 2011, Samantha Sheppard presented a short paper, "She Ain't Heavy, She's Madea" on Perry's filmMadea's Family Reunion on a panel about African American stars and auteurs at the Annual Society of Cinema and Media Studies conference in New Orleans.3 Sheppard's paper was extremely well received, and I remember many members of the audi­ ence lingering to talk to her and meandering into the crowded hallways to have impromptu conversations about either the audacious scenes in Perry's film or other aspects of his work. That year's conference buzz around Tyler Perry is something that other scholars of AfricanAmeri­ can media and culture noted. For instance, in their introduction to the African American Caucus's In-Focus contribution to Cinema Journal, editors Berretta E. Smith-Shomade, Racquel Gates, and Miriam J. Petty noted: "Interestingly, no actual panels or workshops were dedicated to the study of Perry's works that year-all the discussions about this crucial piece of black popular culture, his industrial shape-shifting,his box-officesuccesses, his runaway brand across all media platforms,were taking place quite literally at the margins of the conference:' 4 Karen Bowdre and I had a similar observation, and it was during this time that we decided to try to facilitatea larger discussion about the media mogul. We left the conferencevowing to solicit papers and constitute a panel solely devoted to Perry's material forthe next annual meeting. Try as we might, however, we could never get that Tyler Perry panel accepted-not at the SCMS conferences in 2012 or 2013, nor at the annual American Studies conferencesthat took place during those same years. This is not to say that Tyler Perry did not come up in our papers and panels that we presented on other topics as we attended these con­ ferences. Just as contemporary filmmakers almost obligatorily critique, parody, and otherwise acknowledge Perry's centrality in Black popular Introduction xvii culture in their work (recent independent Black films like Dear White People [Justin Simien, 2014] and Top Five [Chris Rock, 2014], as well as mainstream films like Hot Tub Time Machine 2 [Steve Pink, 2015], all have their moment of Perry reflection), as scholars of AfricanAmerican representation in media and popular culture, many of us talked about Perry incessantly.