Precious vs. Perry
In a recent interview with MsDramaTV, TV One Founder Cathy Hughes expressed absolute disgust with movies such as Precious and Monster’s Ball and their portrayal of black women.
Check it out:
I understand her point, but is it right to dismiss a movie such as Precious, a movie that though heart wrenching has a great message about perseverance, simply because one of the black female characters in the film is a horrific mother? Guess what, some black women are awful moms; just as some white, Latina, Asian, Indian, Arab (or insert any race) women can be awful mothers too. Poor parenthood comes in all shades. I would argue that the purpose of Precious was not to portray black women as awful human beings, but to instead offer a portrait of a young woman who faced unthinkably dark circumstances, the worst of all possible scenarios, and still held on to hope.
Surprisingly, when Hughes was asked about the movies of Tyler Perry (who, by the way, helped produce and promote Precious) she seemed to have no problem with the ridiculous, pistol toting Madea:
There’s always a need to laugh. Laughter is healing. And Tyler Perry balances that. Tyler Perry has done a miraculous job of portraying Black folks.
Really?
In April, Perry’s “Madea’s Big Happy Family” hits theaters and Martin Lawrence’s “Big Momma’s: Like Father, Like Son” opens next week.
But if Hughes is worried about Mo’Nique’s role in Precious and Berry’s role in Monster’s Ball perpetuating negative stereotypes of women, why isn’t there a concern that Madea and Big Momma are doing the same?
Stereotypes about Black women are reinforced through the Big Momma and Madea characters. Both Madea and Big Momma are loud and obese. The feisty, attitude having Black woman trope is beyond played out. Only it isn’t to the audiences supporting them with the almighty dollar. “Big Momma’s House 2” raked in nearly $28 million opening weekend in 2006. “Madea Goes to Jail” topped that pulling $41.1 million opening weekend in 2009. Hollywood will continue to serve those types of movies on a platter with earnings like that.
Sure you could argue that Perry’s movies are less about the representation of black women and more about faith and family, but do you really go to these movies for the moral lessons or do you just go to see Madea beat up unruly children and say “Heller!”
And, of course, you could also say it’s not a big deal because it’s just comedy, but for me constantly creating and celebrating caricatures of black women just isn’t funny.
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