by Charing Ball
I sort of have this love/hate relationship with Tyler Perry.
I love Perry, the self-made millionaire, who first achieved success outside of the mainstream and uses his creative gift to not only build an empire but to put many black actors and actresses to work.
With that said, there are a few things about Perry that I just can’t stand: First, the quality of his writing, which relies heavily on the one-dimensional, campy themes of blackness in each and every film and play he has ever made. And secondly, his character development, which often times straddles the line between coonery and exploitation is especially disturbing.
That’s why when I first heard that Perry be producing and directing a big screen version of the theatrical classic, For Colored Girls who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuff, which had been originally penned by Ntozake Shange, I didn’t know whether to cheer or cringe.
The cast itself is nothing short of impressive and reads like a who’s who of Black women in Hollywood: Kerry Washington, Macy Gray, Anika Noni Rose, Thandie Newton, Loretta Divine, Whoopie Goldberg, Kimberly Elise and Perry’s favorite starlet, Janet Jackson. IF there is one other thing that you have to give Perry credit for, it is his ability to select the right people for the job – or at least selecting the right people the second time around.
Initial reports had Perry considering the likes of Beyonce for one of the roles in the film. Yes I said Beyonce.
Nevertheless, Perry, who is mostly known for his Madea comedic stage plays and films, is a questionable choice for this historical piece of art. The idea that he would be taking on the difficult task of transforming Shange’s mostly experimental stage play to film, makes me wonder if Perry is capable of producing a film, which reflects black women in both serious and complex ways.
For those not familiar with For Colored Girls, it’s probably most comparable to the Vagina Monologues, a poetic series of sonnets written in the 1970s about love, rape, abortion and relationships. For many black women, Shange’s play is probably one of the most important works about black female identity ever.
Yet the irony is that a story, which is largely meant to empower Black women, has Perry, a black man, not only producing and directing it but also contributing to the scriptwriting. And while it may seem trivial, that little tidbit becomes an even bigger deal when you consider the flap about the alleged behind the scene drama about whether or not Perry had taken the project away from writer/director Nzingha Stewart.
With 6 percent of films in Hollywood directed by women (and you can guess how many of those are done by black women), you would think that Perry would have the foresight to step aside and let a woman direct or, at the very least write, for a change. I imagine that’s probably not an easy task for a director, whose success is mostly derived from his stories, although contrived, about black women.
Recently another small controversy has been brewing about Lionsgate and possibly Perry’s decision to shorten the title of the film.
It would be shortened to “For Colored Girls.” The decision hasn’t been received well from those who speculate that this will somehow cheapen the film’s emotional impact as well as sanitize it for a more mainstream audience.
However, the film is already generating Oscar buzz for the Precious co-producer and the studio which has decided to pushed forward the films release date to November. I’m not quite sure if this is a good sign or not. Much like Perry himself, I will have to take a wait and see attitude.
