Yesterday, I started this extremely angry blog about how much black people get on my nerves. Fortunately for all of you, I never got a chance to finish that post. However, since I still feel a twinge of anger in my bones, I will commence to blog…just in a less angry manner.

After the debut of For Colored Girls and Black Girls Rock, there was an influx of online complaints from black men and women who feel like brotha's aren't getting enough love and respect in the media. I guess the negative portrayal of black men in For Colored Girls and the deliberate exclusion of men in Black Girls Rock was just too much for some people to handle.

I have a problem with that. Here's why--

Tyler Perry has been an embarrassment to me for longer than I care to remember. Because of him, I've had people of other races ask me if I had a "Madea" in my family (imagine that) or if I had an uncle like Mr. Brown (oh, lawd how embarrassing!). And to make matters worse, Oprah, the black queen bee, America's favorite daytime colored girl, cosigns on everything this man does. Tyler Perry has literally been feeding the masses a boatload of craziness for almost a decade in the form of a she-man named Madea. Insanity.

So, in appropriate form, the Talented 10th of the 21st century complained and petitioned for Mr. Perry to stop the madness. But he didn't. It seems like we just added fuel to his fire.

However, on Friday, November 5th, Tyler Perry fooled everyone and came out with a movie of substance. He gave us just what we wanted; a black movie with character and realness- minus the stereotypes present in his previous films. He took heed to our requests.

As soon as the movie came out, the critics went a-chirping. Facebook, Twitter, blog sites, news shows, talk radio, and every other news outlet utilized by Black America, went crazy with conversation about Mr. Perry's new movie and its negative portrayal of black men.

Wow.

When Tyler Perry finally gave us what we wanted, we took it, chewed it up and spit it out at his feet. Seems like all we know how to do is complain.

Then on Sunday November 7th, BET, the Don Juan of garbage television, decided to put their trash to the side and provide its viewing audience with graceful and respectable television programming. BET debuted their highly anticipated show Black Girls Rock in appreciation of black girls across this nation. After years of complaining about the degradation of black women in the music videos played on BET, Black Americans were finally able to turn on BET and see something positive and uplifting. But what did we do after the show debuted? We complained.

Black folks, men and women alike, spoke out against the exclusion of black men from Black Girls Rock. As it seems, black men want the same love that black woman are now receiving. They too need to combat the negative portrayal that they receive in the media.

Oh, please.

Is there ANYTHING that will make black people happy? Is there anything that will make you all simply appreciate the great strides that we are making in society? As a people, we are socially retarded when compared to White America. We started behind and have had to deal with institutionalized racism that was put in place to keep us behind. However, despite our inopportune position, we have accomplished much and have made a significant impact on society. We are changing, we are maturing and we are making a major difference in this world. When we accomplish a goal or make a move closer toward positivity, we must embrace our hard work and continue on our journey to success. Complaining gets us nowhere.

Back in 2002 when I first saw Tyler Perry dressed as Madea, gallivanting across the stage at the Merriam Theater in Philly, I thought he was kind of funny. Yet, I knew that in a social sense, no good could come from that bizarre she-man character (except for the employment of black actors and actress in Hollywood).

To say the least, up until this point, a large majority of Perry's plays/movies have been pure buffoonery. They have turned the rich culture of Black America into a joke. But now, with the creation of For Colored Girls, Perry stepped into the world of filmic beauty, and I am proud of him. You should be too.

In addition-

I worry about BET and the people who watch it. Clearly, BET has a LONG way to go before they are able to redeem their pre-Y2K image. However, despite the long journey ahead of them, I can truly appreciate the little things that they do to shed a positive light on the black community. While I do believe that black men need love and respect just like black women, I refuse to demean a show that shows love to black women without specifically addressing black men. You have to start somewhere and for BET that 'somewhere' was with black women. I can dig it. I will not complain nor will I criticize because positive change, no matter how small or exclusionary, is worth my acceptance.

I am sure that there are many people who disagree with me…leave a comment and let me know how you feel. 

Mz.Jonezy

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Tyler Perry is back with Madea and a host of others for yet another stage play about some 'serious' familial issue.  At this point, I am getting a little sick and tired of Madea. Back in high school, Madea was funny. I used to go to the plays, watch the bootlegs and laugh until my stomach felt it was going to crumble. But that was a good 8-10 years ago and as of right now, I am losing all interest for Madea. She/He makes me chuckle at times but really, this woman must be stopped.

Now, as far as I know, Mr. Perry retired Madea. He was done with that character and vowed to move on and do other things. But then suddenly, Madea returned, to my dismay, and I have all of you to blame. It's all your fault.

Tyler brought that fiasco of a woman back because you, the viewing audience wanted her back. I could go on and on about what Mr. Perry is doing to his community by keeping this woman alive but what's the point? Instead of the focus being on Tyler Perry, it should be on all of you church going, pork chop eating, sin Monday-Saturday and repent on Sunday being, laugh 'till you pass out people out there who prefer a man dressed as a weed smoking gun toting woman flaunting across you local playhouse stage in hysterics rather than something real and substantial to watch for entertainment.

I honestly thought about going to see Mr. Perry's new play Madea's Big Happy Family. I heard that it was a good play with an even better message. I can bet that the message was worthwhile but I really doubt that the play was all that good….but I could be wrong. Anyway, the main reasons why I did not go to see the play are;

a.       I was in the nail salon getting my regular 2 week fill and was bombarded with conversation about the play. Either the women in the salon had already saw it or they were going to see it that weekend (hence the reason that they were in the nail salon). There was a woman in the salon who started a brief conversation with me. It went a little something like this:

Woman: "Have you seen the play yet?"

Me: "No."

Woman smiles and asks, "So you're going to see it this weekend?" 

Me: "No."

Woman shakes head and says, "Yeah, I heard it sold out. You had to get tickets early."

I smile and respond, "No, I didn't try to get tickets. I didn't want to see the play. Madea is getting on my nerves."

The way that woman (and about 6 other ladies) looked at me after that statement, you would've though I cursed Jesus Christ himself. She turned away from me and began whispering to the woman next to her. Conversation over.

b.      Tyler Perry is set to direct the upcoming film For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Committing Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf. A man that is to direct a movie based upon the play For Colored Girls cannot be a gallivanting across a stage dressed as a crazed woman. He just can't. In my mind's eye I refuse to believe that such a man, one who is going to turn the wonderful and meaningful stage play For Colored Girls into a motion picture film, can be the insanely dramatic and tongue twisted Madea. Nope, I won't believe it. And as long as I do not go to see any more plays with Madea in them, I can begin to erase that scary image from my memory.

See I like the movies Why Did I Get Married, Daddy's Little Girls, Why Did I Get Married Too, The Family That Preys, etc, etc. I can even enjoy some of the movies that have Madea's character in them such as Diary of a Mad Black Woman and I Can Do Bad All By Myself. In general, I have certain reservations about Tyler Perry but I respect him and his work.  I just don't understand how people can still be so gung ho about this Madea character. Let the woman rest. She was funny for a time but now we must let go and let the new workings of Tyler Perry live.

For some reason, the black community needs Madea. We keep watching recordings of the play and laughing as if we have never seen them before. We show them to our children and teach them to find humor in Madea's shenanigans.  We just can't move past this woman. And while we are stuck in Madea mode, our children are failing in school, our people are becoming more and more over weight, the intelligence level of our community is dropping lower and lower, our men are becoming more misogynistic than ever, etc. What, if anything, is Madea doing to positively change the black community where we need change the most? Why can't we let this woman rest and let Tyler Perry mature and do the work that we need him to do? What is the deal with Madea anyway? What do you think?

*I really know very little about the play except that Madea is in it...so there is a big chance that the play is fantastic and worthy of a Broadway run (even though I doubt it). To me, this play gives Tyler the oppurtunity to make yet another movie with Madea in it....OH NO!

Image from : http://newsone.com/entertainment/news-one-staff/madea-goes-to-the-bank/

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