November 10, 2010 | 1:16 PM | By

The “Real Issues Fun Police” should arrive soon.

FILED UNDER: Race and Class

Rubenstein

Tyler Perry

Because on to every blog about race, a little Tyler Perry must fall. According to Racialicious, everyone has an interest in Perry:

“I’m the smartest person in the room” movie snobs (like my parents and I) discuss the utter unwatchability of all things Tyler Perry while ignoring the blatant irony in discussing the unwatchability of something you’ve obviously watched. “I’m the realist, most down to earth person you’d ever meet”…Anti-Tyler Perry Pro-Blacks (read: liberals) discuss how he’s appealing to the lowest common denominator and wasting his considerable influence and opportunity, while Pro-Tyler Perry Pro-Blacks (read: moderates and conservatives) discuss how he’s employing hundreds of black people while touching on issues unique to our community and providing (somewhat) wholesome family entertainment.

Conspiracy theorists discuss how Tyler Perry has been thrust to the forefront of black culture by the powers-that-be, ensuring the ongoing demasculinization of black males…The “Real Issues Fun Police”—people whose sole goal in life seems to be to try to make people feel bad for discussing For Colored Girls when there’s widespread cholera in Haiti—discuss how our obsession with Tyler Perry is a damning indictment on American culture. Bloggers and other arbiters of pop culture discuss Tyler Perry, because, well, everyone else is doing it, and their, well, our identity is partially defined by staying relevant.

About the author

DCentric was created to examine the ways race and class interact in Washington, D.C., a city with a vibrant mix of cultures and neighborhoods. Your guides to the changing district are reporters Anna John and Elahe Izadi. View all posts by Anna →

  • Yofi

    In most of Tyler Perrys’ films, there is a violent scene between Black men and women in a relationship. It perpetuates this notion that if Black people decide to date within their race, all parties involved better prepare for a fight, and one that could end your life. That is non-sense. What logical person would want to deal with all that? He has a hatred toward Black men, I believe, for what happened to him at the hands of his father and other men. While I weep for that and recognize he needs help, he also needs to recognize that Hollywood is using him to engineer a war between Black men an Black women that historically does no exist.

    Where is domestic violence throughout Black/African history? Show me. Where is rape throughout Black/African history? Show me. Where is child molestation throughout Black/African history? I ask you. Where in history have African men tried to suppress women or African women trying to suppress men from coming to power and being leaders in our homes, klans, villages and communities, without consent of the community first? These are learned behaviors from the people who claimed to bring civilization to Blacks/Africans.

    I am not denying that it happens now, but without proper examination, Tyler Perry leads us to believe that these portrayals are proclivous, germane and indigenous to Black/African people. That can not be supported by any documentation, prior to Black/African people’s encounter with people who invaded their territory and militarily forced a change in behavior.