Before you get too excited and think that this is a Tyler Perry bashing post think again. I notice that in the black culture we have spawned a new fraction of folks. I like to call them the intellectuals, the high-browed individuals that do their all to break with the ties of yesterday. They are the sons and daughters of 1 generation buppies, the folks that broke out the ghetto's, the hoods, the poor south, and pulled themselves up and got enough money to run from everything their parents stood for and represented.
They frown on "hooping and hollering religion" they prefer churches that are sedate and less emotional when they go. They frown on what they call plantation food and of course they don't dare press their hair, or use grease. They stick to perms, get high lights, wear cashmere sweaters and only eat at euro-Asian cuisine restaurants. They join ritzy health clubs they stay getting pedis and medis they stay getting facials, they are the superstars of in mixed society. You can recognize them by their skinny jeans, their frohawks, they are the ones that sound Caucasian they have an affinity for European bands that have whiny moody music they talk about all the cars they have driven, want or need, they live by their blackberry's they covet their designer dogs and coffee and they are as unblack as they can get with pigment.
They don't care about culture they have broken from the past and they are too far removed from slavery and the ghetto, that is all beneath them many don't even bother learning about their history they have their eyes firmly on the prize that huge bank account that finally has enough money in it to erase their color. This is the goal of the new "intellectual black" they go out of their way to prove they are good, and righteous and as unnegro as possible so as not to offend. They use whole words they enunciate, they speak in tones that are mild and not with too much bass as not to cause undo concern in their Caucasian counterparts. They even have Caucasian/Asian/ or Spanish wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, and shop at j. crew H&M and the gap because Jcpenny's is too common. They wouldn't be caught dead in an old fashioned Cadillac but they pay 60k for a Cadillac truck but please don't put any ghetto rims on them and no they don't want it in black please only the champagne colored one with the slight window tint. No we don't need extra bass how passe!
These same folks frown heavily on the masses of black folk that dare be common, loud, raucous, uncouth and who show to much emotion, who still depend on Jesus to give them everything, who don't/didn't go to college who only went to vocational school. Who have cars but live in apartments who are backwards in comparison, the same folks who might go see a Tyler Perry madea movie the misguided good "church" folks and their elk. What's as ridiculous as the stereotypes I typed above is the assumption that all black people who go to church or have "religion" want to see or even like Tyler perry movies. Why does one fraction of people have to be cubbyholed or branded with the same branding iron because of SOME?
I personally don't have anything against Tyler Perry, I like the movies he has made. I don't fault him for his characters or his way of thinking he is one man, just like many didn't like Spike Lee movies or John Singletons early movies I see all of the projects from these men individually with their own unique perspective and slant on the world. Every black person does not have to have the same freaking experience but we do have more commonalities than not. No matter how far you try and run from that or close the door on that fact it will always be there just as sure as your African features. So my "intellectual" black folk that hate the whole Tyler Perry franchise that's fine and that's your right, but I think its ridiculous to speak on something you have never even bothered to see. I think its ridiculous to say that because "religious" black folks keep supporting him he will keep making these movies, I think its ridiculous to keep throwing stones at Mr. Perry when you can simply go to his website and tell him that you want to see something different a closed mouth does not get fed.
If you are so offended and want him to do something better than perhaps you should start writing your own scripts, coming up with your own projects and then putting them on your own channels its great to complain about the issue and then keep it pushing and do nothing about it, but how productive is that? If you want to see a different voice in hollyweird then be that voice, be that change if you think you can do better why not get the "intellectual" faction together and start making the television programs, movies, books, music that you want to see and hear? If you got beef with the man then make your voice heard don't be shyNOTHING TO IT BUT TO DO IT!
Girl, I so totally agree with this. And it's a pitiful shame that we have a fraction of our own people who think they are so much smarter than the masses, that they can't be told nothing. They look their noses down at the rest of the "common folk" who are doing good to manage what they have (knowing it was all but 5 minutes ago they came from nothing). It's about time that black people humble themselves and get some act right, long as we have been downtrodden and stripped of our identity. And for those who don't like Tyler Perry shows, movies or plays: DON'T WATCH THEM! If you are that so up in arms about he does, then you need a hobby. This man is making his money like the rest of America. Don't hate on him, because he found his gift in what he does best. This man went from growing up in New Orleans (the craziest place in the South), to homeless and sleeping in his car, to self-made multi-millionaire. Who can match that? Answer: 0. Let it marinate for a minute.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed all the nuances of confused contemporary black thought. I don't blame black folks though. And I don't blame current white society. I am more incensed by the ancestors of those who now live for having successfully perpetuated an identity crisis that we are STILL trying to cure. On the one hand you have the idea that anything deemed "ethnic" is ignorant—that's a problem. On the other hand, you have the idea that anything "ignorant" is ethnic—that's a problem. They look like the same thing, but they're not. Either way, we have been CONDITIONED to think this way. You kinda have to pity it more than be angry at it. When you understand, you can educate.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point Ellington, there are all kinds of things that black ppl still haven't addressed in their psyches. From the lack of intact home structures to the fact of self hatred. I think that we need to address that but since the world doesn't acknowledge that we need that black folks don't think about it either they just keep being mules, sheeps, and work horses silently suffering and never getting healed. Thanks for visiting my humble blog and leaving a comment I appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteJust an opinon by Bee Quiet
ReplyDeleteIn the powerful poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks entitled ‘Sadie and Maud’ we get a beautiful contrast between two sisters that traveled different paths in life. Many blacks who go off to college (as Maud), develop a very specific mindset (often understood as being ‘college educated’); a condition by which life takes on a new meaning. Maud may no longer enjoy “slapstick comedy” as a result of learning about the entire Minstrel Era, which was responsible for the ‘Black Face Movement.’ Sadie on the other hand (as the majority of Black Americans) did not go to college, but started families and jumped right into life and lived by a different understanding. Sadie may not have been “Intellectualized,” so she didn’t ‘waste time’ analyzing social society, and my love ‘Sambo Comedy.’ Many media outlets will cater to the audience who happens to be the largest, and as far as blacks are concerned most aren’t intellectualized, and probably watch television a lot more often. Tyler Perry’s brand of ‘slapstick comedy’ is effective with the ‘Sadie population’, many barely surviving (scraping life with a fine toothed comb), and having as much fun as possible (Sadie was one of the livingest chicks in all the land). All artists will be scrutinized by the “social analysts” who feel they are the safe guards of black culture (in many cases the ‘Intellectualized”), which is actually healthy for the black community. Our culture needs both the Sadie and Maud’s of the world, because both actually help us advance as a people. The ‘hood’ keeps the oppression argument fresh because people love blaming the white man for black poverty, and the ‘Intellectualized” want to see the hood vanish (which will happen once hood folk are financially secure). This phenomenon reminds me of Malcolm X’s analogy of the ‘House Nigga’ vs. the Field Nigga, in which he paints the slave working the house as weak in comparison to the slave working the field. I disagree with his idea because I believe that if it wasn’t for the House Nigga we may not have survived slavery. The House Nigga knew how to play the “bowed humbly game”, but also knew how to steal a fresh piece of fruit for that starving slave baby who didn’t eat, or grab a pair of master’s socks for the kid who would have no shoes until the following spring. The hood would probably develop faster if the intellectualized thought like the ‘Historic House nigga’ and helped out in the hood in some small way. That would be the essence of TRUE BLACK UNITY!
Written By Bee Quiet
Mmm...I would say I fall somewhere in the middle of what you're talking about. Raised middle class, second generation college student, but I made it a point to take courses on African American history & literature for electives, unlike my older brothers. I wear my nappy hair proudly while still enunciating and talking slang at will.
ReplyDeleteBack to the matter at hand. I LUV Tyler Perry, but in a guilty pleasure kind of way. I'd love to work with him on some project depicting 2-parent African American homes that raise their children in what many might consider a European manner (married, staying together, helping their kids through college but not so much that they don't have to get jobs to help pay for expenses, etc.).
I dunno what the solution is, but I'm gonna get my mind together and hit Tyler with someone on his website!
Love your blog! Refreshingly thought provoking!
@bee Quiet thanks for finally learning how to post comments lol
ReplyDelete@Anna that's sad that "European style" is staying married raising children together when it should be a human cultural thing transcending race now that is a sever issue that should be worked on daily. I too was raised in a two parent household, its not that foreign of an idea but black men and women have such a hard time relating to each other love wise it's disheartening.