Tyler Perry's Madea Series

[Kromm]

It's probably safe to say that these aren't universally liked... but make crazy crazy money.  Discuss the entire series, what you think about it, as well as the more complicated issues of if its a "proper" representation, or if the very fact that its simply a great money making franchise for a black filmmaker and black actors is justification enough.

Here's the latest one coming out...

Edited July 18, 2016 by Kromm

[Raja]

There is that love/hate relationship with the Madea character being the link between the gospel plays. While the church audience can accept what he is doing there are push backs on racial issues like it seems that Mr Perry pushes forward interracial relationships on one hand with claims that the darker black males are often the villain on the other.

 

About the only story that I can watch around the set Madea mad black woman and fractured Bible stories that I will rewatch is I Can Be Bad All By Myself. Meanwhile my relatives from Asia love the Madea character and she comes off as a modern day Geraldine of Flip Wilson Show or Sheneneh of Martin to them.

[Trini]

I'm not much of a fan of the Madea films, but I appreciate that Perry is employing black actors and crew, and he serves an audience Hollywood has neglected.

I haven't seen all of his films, but The Family That Preys was especially disappointing to me. It had some of the ingredients of a good movie, but it just didn't come together. The veteran actresses (Bates and Woodward) managed to elevate the material in their subplot, everyone else was miles behind. And of course, Perry just doesn't know subtlety. The Villainess Character (that might as well have been her name) is an over-the-top, evil, emasculating harpy -- who of course, gets her well-earned punishment/comeuppance at the end, because Evil. (Not really a spoiler? That subplot was entirely predictable.)

I haven't seen Temptation, but I heard it plays out similarly with its heavy-handed morality.

[Princess Sparkle]

7 hours ago, Trini said:

I'm not much of a fan of the Madea films, but I appreciate that Perry is employing black actors and crew, and he serves an audience Hollywood has neglected.

I haven't seen all of his films, but The Family That Preys was especially disappointing to me. It had some of the ingredients of a good movie, but it just didn't come together. The veteran actresses (Bates and Woodward) managed to elevate the material in their subplot, everyone else was miles behind. And of course, Perry just doesn't know subtlety. The Villainess Character (that might as well have been her name) is an over-the-top, evil, emasculating harpy -- who of course, gets her well-earned punishment/comeuppance at the end, because Evil. (Not really a spoiler? That subplot was entirely predictable.)

I haven't seen Temptation, but I heard it plays out similarly with its heavy-handed morality.

I saw Temptation and IMO, you can skip it.  The two leads are good, but it is extremely heavy-handed, and there are parts where a lot of the "problems" are completely laid at the doorstep of the female characters only, including Brandy's character saying that her abuse at the hands of her boyfriend and

Spoiler

the fact that she got AIDS from her cheating and abusive boyfriend

was her fault.  Which....NOPE.  There's also definitely a rape, but I think we're supposed to see it as seduction eventually?  

[topanga]

On 7/18/2016 at 11:13 AM, Princess Sparkle said:

I saw Temptation and IMO, you can skip it.  The two leads are good, but it is extremely heavy-handed, and there are parts where a lot of the "problems" are completely laid at the doorstep of the female characters only, including Brandy's character saying that her abuse at the hands of her boyfriend and

  Reveal hidden contents

the fact that she got AIDS from her cheating and abusive boyfriend

was her fault.  Which....NOPE.  There's also definitely a rape, but I think we're supposed to see it as seduction eventually?  

Tyler Perry's life lesson: Women shouldn't aspire to anything beyond what their husbands want. Otherwise, 

Spoiler

they'll get raped, get AIDS, and walk with a limp.

I don't hate Tyler Perry with the passion that some people do. But I've come to realize that I'm not TPs target demographic. and I'm okay with that.

[Princess Sparkle]

Do you ever listen to the How Did This Get Made podcast?  They watched Temptation for one episode, and they spent a few minutes at the end trying to figure out

Spoiler

how Journee "got that AIDS limp."

I haven't laughed that hard in quite awhile.

[topanga]

On 9/1/2016 at 3:37 PM, Princess Sparkle said:

Do you ever listen to the How Did This Get Made podcast?  They watched Temptation for one episode, and they spent a few minutes at the end trying to figure out

  Reveal hidden contents

how Journee "got that AIDS limp."

I haven't laughed that hard in quite awhile.

Yes! That's one of my favorite podcasts, and definitely one of my favorite episodes. "And why was Kim Kardashian working there?" 

[Gurkel]

I'm sad to say that I saw this over the weekend. I guess I'm part of the reason this movie opened at #1. I sure didn't see that one coming. 

In my defense, I saw it with my young son, who really wanted to see the movie. It was, in a word, dumb. It had a few funny moments but was a typical Madea comedy: long scenes with people sitting around contemplating today's lack of 1) religion. 2) respect for elders, and 3) parents beating their children. All while senior citizens curse, brag about their sexual exploits, and smoke lots of weed. Bad performances all around (even worse than usual), and terrible writing (even worse than usual). 

I did like some of the cameos from working comedians: Lavell Crawford, "Nephew" Tommy, and Dominique, to name a few. And my son pointed out that some of the young people in the movie are YouTube/Internet stars. Yeah, I'll have to take his word for it.

And the young actress playing the daughter was pretty. Couldn't act worth a darn, but she was pretty.

[ribboninthesky1]

Double-post, my mistake!

Edited October 24, 2016 by ribboninthesky1

[ribboninthesky1]

@Gurkel, your post is hilarious.  Bless you for taking one for the team. 

I used to think, "I hate his films, but at least he's employing black actors." But then, I started hearing about his issues with unions (allegedly as early as 2008), and it reaffirmed my loathing for the man.  But hey, no doubt Madea puts people in the theater seats. 

[annzeepark914]

I only watch the scenes that Madea is in.  The rest of the plotlines are sappy and usually are about the same old stuff: female gets treated badly by terrible love interest while good, kind other guy patiently waits for her to wake up and realize he's the real deal.

[Morrigan2575]

Took my mom to see Madea Halloween movie, she loves Madea. It was a funny movie, not great on the acting but, had the typical Tyler Perry morals/jokes (family, religion, beating kids etc).

I get a kick out of the old people mostly because they remind me a lot of my family. It's fascinating that age defines them more than race (we're Italians). 

[annzeepark914]

I think the appealing thing about Madea is that she doesn't take any crap from anybody (guess no one told her to be ladylike or a girly-girl).  Now there's a real authentic Nasty Woman.  I think the Nasty Woman t-shirts should have her grinning face inside the heart :>)  She always cracks me up.

[announcergirl]

It was a fun movie.

[BetterButter]

[Spartan Girl]

SERIOUSLY?!