Spike Lee Compares Tyler Perry To Amos and Andy

Spike Lee Compares Tyler Perry To Amos and Andy
By Casey Gane-McCalla, Assistant Editor May 28, 2009 10:11 am




Spike Lee had an interview with Ed Gordon on Our World with Black Enterprise scheduled to air this weekend. In the interview he complained about “coonery and buffoonery” and both of Tyler Perry’s shows “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne,” comparing them to characters from minstrel shows.

From EurWeB

“We’ve had this discussion back and forth. When John Singleton [made 'Boyz in the Hood'], people came out to see it. But when he did ‘Rosewood,’ nobody showed up. So a lot of this is on us! You vote with your pocketbook, your wallet. You vote with your time sitting in front of the idiot box, and [Tyler Perry] has a huge audience. We shouldn’t think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee [would make]. As African-Americans, we’re not one monolithic group, so there is room for all of that. But at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to ‘Amos n’ Andy.’”

OPINION: Why Tracy Morgan Isn’t Taking Us Two Steps

“Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors, but I still think there is a lot of stuff out today that is coonery and buffoonery. I know it’s making a lot of money and breaking records, but we can do better. … I am a huge basketball fan, and when I watch the games on TNT, I see these two ads for these two shows (Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne”), and I am scratching my head. We got a black president, and we going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep ‘n’ Eat?

http://newsone.blackplanet.com/entertainment/spike-lee-compares-tyler-perry-to-amos-and-andy/


------

I'm glad someone finally said something. I'm surprised more people haven't said something about Tyler Perry's so called,'Entertainment'.

 

Never really been much of a TP fan, his movies are very formulaic.

I can tell you exactly what TP's next movie will be about before he puts pen to paper.

 

LOL

He's predictable as a morning piss.

 

Spike is 100% right but im sure someone's reposnse to him will basically be nothing more than bragging about Perry's money.

 

Wow.:smt042

 

Spike is 100% right on this one, how anyone could watch the cavalcade of pitiful stereotypes that are TP shows and movies is completely beyond rational thought.

 

You know, if he were talking about the movies, I might agree. But House of Payne is actually a really decent sitcom with some good characters & good storylines, and they're not actually demonizing Black Men every other episode unlike most other shows. It's 150% better than something like Girlfriends, for instance, which comes from a Republican White Man.

I think a lot of time Spike Lee says some very perceptive shit. But he's a hater, and kind of a little bitch, and all you have to do is throw in a DVD of Jungle Fever to remind yourself of that.

I'm not saying Tyler Perry doesn't deserve criticism, but if it were more accurate criticism (say, about the movies more than the tv shows rather than vice versa), it would mean much more.

 

Spike has every right to speak his mind but I do think at this point he needs to let his product do the talking. Picking fights in the media (like he did with a legend like Clint Eastwood) isn't doing him any favors.

And for the record, I liked "Jungle Fever."

 

I see what you are saying, I think he was right to take Clint to task on his comments. Clint came across as paternalistic and condescending IMO.

 

Aw see, now I'm sad. I had so much respect for you before that.


Don't worry, I'll convince you to hate the movie eventually, and all will be right with the world.

 

For real tho, Jungle Fever was a propaganda film directed against IR. Spike admitted it at the time. He made the movie because he hates IR because his father got involved with a White Woman and he developed a bunch of Daddy issues as a result. A reporter from GQ asked Spike why anyone gets involved in IR, and he made an explicit hand gesture indicating that the only reason anyone gets into IR is sex.

 

I'd rather watch a Spike Lee film ANYDAY before I watch a jackass Tyler Perry movie/TV show.

And to the OP, I'm glad you posted this. I've been saying it since day one about Tyler Perry.

No matter how much money Perry makes, the shit he comes out with is retarded. Its almost as bad as the Wayans production films.

Between the Wayans and Perry, they have all this opportunity to make great films yet, completely waste it by making terrible comedies/mockeries.

 

I feel the same way about his movies.

The show is something different altogether. I only watched it accidentally in reruns, but I was surprised by it.

 

It occurs to me that, before I watched the show, I was convinced it was crap like his movies, and I never would have watched it if I hadn't been flipping through reruns. So, I should probably give some examples why I think the tv show House of Payne is different from his other work.

Unlike most other shows, it doesn't portray Black Men as Always Wrong. More than just the stereotypical Black Men on the show, you have a variety of Black Male characters, and the conflicts that occur on the show are frequently caused by other characters, rather than just the Black Man messing up again BS. There is a cental character whose wife has screwed up at every turn, but he's still trying to do right.

Even the character of the aunt who is frequently right is not portrayed as perfect. In one episode, her husband goes through all kinds of nonsense because he believes her personal trainer wants her, and it is played for laughs. What made it different, however, was that it was shown that she did like how the trainer looked, and he was trying to get with her. So even tho the husband initially looked crazy, it turned out he was right to a degree all along.

It has storylines that are not in every other sitcom -- like a White Male predator who went after the young Black teenaged boy via the internet.

It has some really nice acting talent on the show, and is truly entertaining.

I remember one episode that showed how unbalanced the treatment of young White Men versus young Black Men is within the justice system, and how racist some judges can be.

It's a lot more than a typical Tyler Perry piece. Maybe he's just meant for the little screen, or maybe there were other cooks stirring that pot.

I just wanted to explain a little, because if I had never seen the show, and I read my posts here, I'd think I was wrong, lol.

 

I've not seen but one of the movies. "Madea Goes to Jail". I like the plays better, from what I can tell so far, and I quite enjoy those. I can't speak on the movies, or the tv shows, as I've not had enough experience with them.

As for what Spike Lee says...I could care less. He's probably never even seen the plays anyhow. Everyone seems to judge Tyler Perry by his movies, but from what I can tell his plays are different, and much better.

There are plenty of stereotypes in his work, granted. But stereotypes are everywhere in entertainment. I see stereotypes constantly paraded around on tv in various sitcoms (and don't get me started on reality shows). I flip through the channels and I see stereotypical divorced parents raising children together...stereotypical suburban wives....stereotypical teenagers...etc, etc, etc. That's what bloody sitcoms seem to have been about since they started.

It's so much easier to just relax and laugh at things instead of getting all upset.

 

This is true, however, the stereotypes about Black people in the media are more harmful than others.

If there was a balance, if in addition to the portrayals of Black Men as clueless weak fools, criminals and bastards, there was the diversity of characters we see for White Men -- from How I Met Your Mother to Surviving Suburbia... or if there had been decades of portrayals of Black Men as wise, kind & awesome like there were of White Men, then the impact of the stereotypes wouldn't hit as hard.

It's the stereotypes we see in the media that shape many people's feelings about Black people. It's those stereotypes that let White Women get away with saying they've been kidnapped by a couple scary Black Men when they go on the lamb, that inhibit the progress of changes in discriminatory laws, and that influence juries.

These may just be movies & tv, but that's what shapes our culture these days, and every bit that piles on adds to the overall, very real, problem.

 

Spike Lee is the MAN

 

Of course you would think that a Black Man who hates IR is the man.

 

The thing is, I agree with most of what Spike Lee says in general. I agreed with what he said to Clint. I agreed with what he said in support of Michael Moore. I agree with a lot of his most militant-seeming comments. And I have loved many of his movies (although not all).

I have no delusions, however, that he is my enemy. And a mangina.

 

House of Payne is crap because it just isn't funny at all. I sat through 2 episodes and I never laughed or chuckled once, and I have a helluva sense of humor too.

That was 60 minutes of my life that I'll never get back.:smt009

However, "Why Did I Get Married?" and "The Family That Preys Together" were pretty good movies in my opinion and those are the type of Tyler Perry movies that I can get into.

I'm not really a fan of the Madea character though, it just seems too overblown to me.