Tyler Perry: Proof that morals can be profitable in Hollywood?

meetthebrownsfilm.com

Tyler Perry's next hit?

Featured Topic | Posted 24 weeks 1 day ago

Tyler Perry: Proof that morals can be profitable in Hollywood?

Tyler Perry has a new movie coming out today, "Meet the Browns." There's a good chance you haven't heard of it -- and a good chance it will be the weekend's box office champ. That's what happened to previous movies like "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion." Perry's films are morality plays that don't mind mentioning God and Jesus, and they're aimed straight at the African American community -- but have a growing white audience. Can morality be profitable in Hollywood?

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In his plays and movies, Perry shows African Americans as they . . . well, I was about to say he shows us as we really are, but that's not true. Reality is for documentaries; Perry's characters are unsubtle, his humor is broad, and his plots are soaked with melodrama. Among his big themes are love, fidelity and the importance of family, and his movies usually have religious overtones.

What Perry does is depict black Americans as people relating to other people -- not as mere plot devices and not as characters defined solely by how they relate to the white world. The rest of the movie industry would do well to take note.