Go watch The Cosby Show,,,,,and then watch this shit we get spoon fed with now, and you'll realize why "coonery" is such an understatement

People take the media SO lightly, they don't realize the mess they inflect on people's minds no matter how harmless the shows look.

daPrettyman said:

I remember when Bamboozled came out, critics said that there was no way that the kind of minstrel show portrayed in the movie would ever get on television.

Boy, they were in for a surprise. Flavor Of Flav, I Love New York, Pimp My Ride, Meet the Browns and House of Payne are examples of how wrong they were. Tyler Perry’s movies and TV shows are the kinds of entertainment black people used to protest in the past. Now they’re lining up to watch it. Tyler Perry is a modern blackface minstrel. Just because a black person has creative control over offensive images doesn’t mean they’re any less offensive.

Thank you Spike.

LEAVE TYLA PURRY ALONE!

bboy87 said:

Where 's the gif?

bboy87 said:

I wish he could leave us alone, for GOOD

Harlepolis said:

his cameo in Star Trek almost ruined the movie for me.

Tyler played it straight and honorable for 2 minutes on Star Trek.

Vendetta1 said:

OMFG!!!! Look at what I just posted without reading til the end. I love you.
There were giggles in the crowd when his big ol Imax face came on.
[Edited 5/28/09 18:09pm]
[Edited 5/28/09 18:09pm]

johnart said:

THey just called TP's Meet the Browns a "Shitcom"


http://www.youtube.com/wa...re=related

Shitcom sounds about right.

Why does that guy from Meet the Browns look like a baby and an old man simultaneously?

here's my question to those offended by the tyler perry tv show (which i have no argument for or against):

other than the cosby show, what do you think have been some honorable/realistic black characters on television?

it's interesting about the cosby show, i remember back in the 80s when it was on, some people were grumbly about how they were upper-middle class and how that wasn't realistic to the average black family in america. does anyone agree with that? (i don't, though i can kinda see the point, flawed though it may be.)

JackieBlue said:

OLDBABY


thats what i call kenny chesney , not that i ever listen to any of that ...but when i see him i think OLDBABY
[Edited 5/28/09 19:58pm]

Vendetta1 said:

JackieBlue said:

And sound like a woman in almost every preview I've seen.

Cuddles said:

Anxiety said:

I loved the Cosby show. I remember seeing a documentary about African Americans in television where the Cosby show was criticized for showing a black family that white people were comfortable with, rather than something more representative...

coolcat said:

yeah. it's like, i understand the argument, but i don't think it's exactly a scathing accusation. a typical sitcom family (in those days, anyway) was supposed to be financially comfortable. if the brady bunch could be well off, why couldn't the huxtables?

CalhounSq said:

I agree tyler needs to balance it out with more films like Daddy's Little
girls and Why did i get married.

Anxiety said:

I see nothing wrong with the show. I think people are just looking for reasons to not like the man. He didnt really write any of these shows either, but they are part of his characters in plays...even though they over act and try too hard in the shows themselves.

What is an honorable black character in Tv? Someone who is living in the suburbs with a nice family, or living in the ghetto collecting welfare? Tell me? I am really gettting sick and tired of this bullshit. Its been more than 20 years with the same argument. What is "real black poeple" on tv? The stereotype or the non stereotype?

I dont think white people have this issue when they are shown one way or the other. Get ya head out ya ass. Im proud of Tyler and Spike for being positive African American film makers..fuck all the bs you guys have to say.

Anxiety said:

The closest thing to Cosby in my generation would have to be “Living Single”. That being said, “Thew Cosby Show” was trailblazing and many of shows I grew up watching would not exist had it not been for Bill Cosby.

As for the "Cosby Show" not being realistic. All art is propaganda. A black male doctor, his witty lawyer wife–these occupations weren’t exactly picked from a hat. Bill Cosby wanted to challenge his audience’s perception of what “Black in America” means. CNN tried. And failed. They put a human face on common stereotypes (black men in jail, the single black mother, etc, etc… that, however, is a tangent). My point is, propaganda exists in all artistic mediums. The Cosby Show was one of the few sitcoms which used it’s propagation powers to empower and encourage black people. Whats unique is, they didn't have to shout about it in every episode,,,,you could see it in their attitude and the confident way they carried themselves, subtlety IS always more effective.
[Edited 5/29/09 3:28am]

paisleypark4 said:

They don't have to be either, ALWAYS Why we gotta be either outrageously funny or ALL about the blues?

Why can't we see just plain regular black folks instead of ALL that fantasy? Not since Hav' Plenty/Love Jones did I see any black movie that wasn't exaggerated to a fault. Medicine For Melancholy gives a fresh outlook on the young black youth, but it seems that the ONLY movies that portray us fairly are the indie movies.

I'm not asking for the moon, ALL I want to see is our diversity being portrayed in the movies like every racial group do.

We're the RICHEST culture in this country yet we let ourselves(and OTHERS) to typecast us in a one dimensional way, instead of embracing our differences and diversity.
[Edited 5/29/09 3:36am]

Anx, Good Times was a great example. To me, it showed black people living in the projects and it didn't feel stereotypical to me.

Vendetta1 said:

"Good Time" had its share of "stereotypes" esp after they made Jimmie Walker the LEADER of the show since his 'Dy-No-Mite' thing.

Esther Rolle & John Amos were furious about the whole affair, in fact, thats why John got fired(or quit) from the show because he wasn't with the new direction the show was taken. And if I'm not mistaken, Esther Rolle was abscent for a WHOLE season too untill they had to bring her back on her own terms, one of them was to tune down the "Dy-No-Mite" bullshit.

Vendetta1 said:

I still watch the early seasons with John Amos, and realize how the show, no matter what conflict the family faced in the episode, always ended with the couple committed to pressing on, doing better for the family, being better people, with the husband and wife always in a loving embrace, often with a sigh and a smile.

...it was good stuff to reflect on...

Ottensen said:

sounds good to me, don't think it was ever aired here

Harlepolis said:

i forgot about 'living single' - that was a pretty cool show.

also, like vendetta said, 'good times' did some good things until it turned into the jimmie walker 'dy-no-mite' show. even then, i think certain characters could still be counted on for some integrity, even when JJ was mugging for the cameras.

what about 'welcome back kotter'? it was less a "black" show than a show about diversity, but i think that show did a good job of not only having a broad range of characters, but also of making that wide diversity funny and irreverent in a non-offensive way. when i was a kid watching that show, i remembered thinking that was the school i wanted to go to. i wanted to be a sweathog because everyone was so different from each other, and nobody seemed to care!

Anxiety said:

"I'll Fly Away" and, to a lesser extent, "American Dreams" were period dramas that had positive, realistic representations of black American families.

Tim Reid's shows have been full of positive, realistic images, too. I mean, I still remember "Frank's Place." "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (minus the butler) was pretty realistic. And, I still think Cosby's shows are great representations of real-life black families.

The fact that some non-blacks have had trouble grasping the commonplace reality of dual-professional-led, upper-middle-class black families doesn't negate that reality. If anything, it creates tension between their concept of reality and reality itself. What we do with such tension -- reject revelation and stay isolated, or accept revelation and grow as people -- is up to us.

And, I appreciate Spike Lee's continual efforts to bring some sort of larger context to the wholly clownish images perpetuated by folks like Tyler Perry (whose stuff -- save "Why Did I Get Married?" -- I boycott).

ThreadBare said:

how do you respond when you tell someone you're boycotting something like that, and they say something like "it's just supposed to be funny, lighten up."

there are certain things i won't watch because i think certain gay stereotypes on television are hurtful, and i often got that response. "it's not supposed to change the world, it's just supposed to be entertaining!" then i feel like a big ol debbie downer grinch, but it doesn't make those shows any less offensive to me.