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Spike Lee Comments On Tyler Perry: Perry Responds on 60 Minutes
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by Jon Azpiri | October 26, 2009 at 01:24 pm
803 views | 4 Recommendations | 2 comments
It seems that filmmaker Spike Lee isn't too pleased with the success of Tyler Perry. The Do the Right Thing director recently told a reporter that he had some serious misgiving about Tyler Perry and how his films portray African-Americans. So what did Spike Lee say about Tyler Perry?
Here are the Spike Lee comments on Tyler Perry:
During a May interview regarding the state of black entertainment in an interview with Ed Gordon, Spike was quoted as saying “I think that there is a lot of stuff out today that is coonery and buffoonery. I see ads for ‘Meet the Browns’ and ‘House of Payne’and I’m scratchin’ my head “We’ve got a black president and it seems like we’re going back. The image is troubling and it harkens back to Amos and Andy.”
Tyler Perry responded to the Spike Lee comments during a recent interview with 60 Minutes.
“I would love to read that [criticism] to my fan base,” Perry told 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitts. “All these characters of mine are bait, bait to get people talking about God, love, family, and faith.”
Here is the Tyler Perry 60 Minutes interview.
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Recommendations (4)
caj1
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Susan Marie Kovalinsky
Ledgewood, New Jersey, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 17:02 on October 26th, 2009
Good post. Tyler Perry's latest movie is certainly doing well at the box office. Glad he had the chance to respond to Spike Lee's comments.
at 10:59 on October 27th, 2009
Although I do agree with Spike Lee that our image needs to be protected. The fact of the matter remains that Tyler Perry's films are successful with audiences, in particularly black audiences. This has been going in in the black community for a long time, they used to be in the form of plays derogatorily called "chitlin market" or "chitlin' circuit" plays. I think like everything else in this country its all about balance. Spike Lee has a certain aesthetic and I must admit is a 100% better writer, director, and filmmaker than Tyler Perry. His characters are more in depth, plots well thought out and his movies are in some respects thought provoking. He has his critics as well who think that his style takes away from the message of his films. But, I do slightly disagree that Tyler Perry's films are successful due to its message geared around faith, its actually geared around funny. The reason why his films for the most part have succeeded is because of the Madea character. Although he has parted from Madea in a few films "Why did I get married" and "The family that Preys". Those movies for me had one dimensional characters and simplistic plots lines that just did not ring true. Bottom line for me. In this huge market there is room for both a Tyler Perry and a Spike Lee, however, IMHO I am afraid that Perry's brand of filmmaking will not garner the same amount of longevity, and unfortunately, respect as a Spike Lee.