Black America's Culture War?

I didn't know this was going on, but seems that some are up in arms about Tyler Perry and his "mammy-like" Madea.

It seems like black people get very picky about the representations of blackness that get put on screen. And this is understandable considering the long history of racist depictions by white media. But we cannot only advocate for portrayals that we like. And by we, I mean the middle to upper class, extra educated, bourgie and/or afrocentric negroes who think that a country-ass grandmother on TV who suggests throwing hot grits to resolve romantic conflict is holding back the race.

[...]

The arbitrary connections between Barack Obama and Tyler Perry imply false notions of post-race as well as exaggeratedly raced readings of Perry’s films. Obama is painted as the face of our “post-racial society,” and Tyler Perry as a vestige of “race movies” - black productions created by black people in the early 20th century that presented alternative narratives to those of the exclusively white film industry. It’s like Obama is what we like about black people, and the TP is what we don’t. But why can’t the two exist together, as dialogical components of a larger recognition of difference? Why can’t they both present images of blackness that we can watch and accept, without necessarily ingesting as absolute truth.

Frankly, I've never seen a Tyler Perry flick -- he doesn't really seem to be writing for me -- but i don't begrudge him his success. If the brotha needs to work through his daddy issues while burning his Paris, then let him. (And while I regret Tyler Perry's unfortunate black man hatred, it certainly is no more outsized than The Color Purple's... or anything by Beyonce, for that matter) It's interesting, though, that this "culture war" juxtaposes Madea and Obama. I mean, one of those two characters is make believe, right?

(via Postbourgie, appropriately enough)