daingermouz2020 said:

It all has to do with various social/economic backgrounds. Some of those characters exists in real life, it's a reality. But it seems some folks are pissed because Tyler brought them to the big screen. When satire comedy black shows came out in the 70s, like "Good Times", there were a lot of folks that could not relate to that show, because they came from middle-class black families, but families like the one in "Good Times" did in fact exist, and I remember some Blacks were pissed because of the type of family they portrayed on television, and were afraid that was going to be the masses depiction of all Black families. Many despised the Jimmy Walker character, and considered him "minstrel".

I grew up in a fairly middle-class community where all the parents on the block looked out for one another and their kids, sort of community parenting if you will. The community was somewhat integrated, but at the same time while Blacks were moving in, white families were doing the "white flight" dance and moving further out into the suburbs away from us.

Even after all of the white folks left, which was over a period of about 7 years altogether, before they were all gone from my block and the next block over, our community stayed in very good, and safe form and was kept up by the Black residents who lived in the surrounding blocks as well. Our families cared about where they lived, how they maintained their homes, and kept their yards. As some of the teens got older, they attended "cotillions" , yes people "formal balls", and other events, but of course you never saw any of that portrayed on television.

Now about almost 2 miles away from our community, there were projects and a run-down, community, pretty much where the rapper artist 50 cent grew up, but all this was long before he was born. We use to take the bus through that area, because we had to, in order to get to a main shopping area, where at the time was mainly run by jewish merchants. But I remember everytime my mom and I and my siblings, took the short bus ride there, I used to observe it and wonder why it looked like that, and why wasn't it kept clean;as a young girl, I just couldn't understand it, and it was pretty much a shock to me at the time.

It was primarily a "ghetto", the kind Gil Scott Heron talked about in his songs. It was weird now when I look back at how nice my community was, and how all my childhood friends and family grew up in houses, compared to the kids that lived in the projects and in that horribly, run-down neighborhood. It was almost as if, you go 20 blocks over and there's this nice, clean community full of middle-class blacks, and then 20 blocks back, there was a ghetto community, and I mean it was a mess. Some of those kids attended the same public schools as the kids from the middle-class areas; so you had kids from the poor communities and kids from middle-class communities, attending the same schools.
Pretty much like today, but a bit different on many levels.

The parents in my community were involved in charity events and assisting underprivileged families. Many Blacks back then, took care of each other and didn't separate themselves socially, at the level they do now, in this mindset of "I got mine not worried about his", because in the end whether you were poor, middle or upper class Blacks, you were still fighting to be respected and recognized as First-Class citizens of this countr--in other words--both economic groups were "fighting the same fight", and quite frankly, as a whole, Blacks in this country still are. Because I don't care how many degrees you have, what designer suit you are wearing, how many coach bags you bought, yesterday or today, how much money you have in the bank, as Blacks in America, we're still fighting a lot of that same fight, that was being fought years ago. A lot may have changed, but we still have a long road to go, when it comes to our priorities, family and moral values, raising and instilling those values and respect in our kids, and still in 2009, fighting for the respect of being recognized as first-class citizens in America.

Now whether Tyler decides to stop having stereotypical characters that he has experienced contact with in his own life, and portrays those characters in his films, which many Blacks find similar to minstrel acts, will that change the social/economic state of Blacks in America today> Will it change the way some of us treat each other? Will that unify us as a people, like Blacks used to be back in the day? Will many of us finally be treated as first class citizens? Will police brutality against many Blacks stop? Will many of our youth stop beating and killing each other? Will Blacks in America embrace Blacks from other cultures? Will many of our youths' fathers take responsibility and be "in charge" of their childrens' lives, instead of letting the worst elements in the streets take their place? Because at the end of the day, whether Tyler removes those stereotypical characters from his movies or not, those same characters will still exist in real life. Black people in America still have a lot of work to do, and the characters in Tyler's films are not the cause of our existing problems, as a whole community in America.
[Edited 10/29/09 22:07pm]

2elijah said:

I appreciate your sharing all that.

I don't think people expect Perry's movies or movie empire to bring racial equality or even increase large-scale employment of black actors, writers or directors.

We just want someone who enjoys so much consistent success and influence to be more responsible and respectful. The community that his art so tirelessly evokes should have a deeper component, I think.

Vendetta1 said:

I love those type movies too, thats what I want to see more of as well. Movies like:

The Best Man
Love Jones
The Wood
Brown Sugar
Love & Basketball
The Brothers

missfee said:

It seems like after 2000 all these type of films disappeared.

ThreadBare said:

I think he should at least be given a chance to do that. People grow through their experiences. Although Tyler didn't write the movie "Precious" and is financially backing it with Oprah, from what I've read, I want to see how audiences will react to this gritty, raw and real scenes of this movie. I bet you'll hear comments like "why did this film have to show Black people in that light?" Stories like "Precious" are real. Don't believe me, go and sit in on some court cases (juries). What many of us are oblivious to or intentionally play oblivious to, regarding specific personalities/ elements in our society, often times those personalities/elements are dismissed as though they don't exist, but in actuality they do, and they walk among us, whether we want to hear about it or not.

If we want to tell our own stories on film, then all of it has to be told, from the worse to the best, and not just parts we're too embarassed for the general masses to see us depicted in. I'm concerned about how we're viewed as a people in general too, but you can't pretend certain elements don't exist. I would love to see films always showing us in a positive and successful light, but then I would wonder, what about those that have not reached that level, what about them? Who is going to tell their stories? We've seen this happened with the "Donna Reed" and "Brady Bunch" and "Leave it to Beaver" tv programs in the case of showw regarding White people, , where White people were always shown in a vary positive light, always having the house with the picket fence with successful careers or financailly, well-off, so-to-speak, and it gave many in the masses the "wrong" impression of all whites, having money, always successful, when in fact that is not true of every White person or family in the U.S., but yet, that was how they were portrayed and many in the masses believed that all White people were financially well off.

Now if that is the only way, many Blacks prefer to see themselves portrayed on film, as though we are all successful and financially well off, when you know damn well we're not, then what does that say about us? Are we now trying to act like we're the Donna Reeds and Brady Bunch? Should we forget about those Blacks who are less fortunate, and act like their life stories as worth a damn, because they haven't reached that level of success many of us are trying to climb to or are there already? Should we turn our backs on Blacks that don't speak in an educated dialect because we're too embarassed by them, when we know damn good and well they exist?

I don't know about you, but I want to hear and see all these stories, so that I know exactly what issues exists among us, as a whole that needs to be addressed, and if that means putting them on film, then so be it, there's nothing wrong with films about the achievements of Blacks as a whole nor is there anything wrong with sharing the various dialects, cultures, social/economic lifestyles and issues that exists among us. I'm sure every experience shared, can be a learning one. We just need to learn to acknowledge and embrace them without being "embarassed" or pretending some personalities or elements in our communities doesn't exist.
[Edited 10/30/09 8:32am]

DesireeNevermind said:

Girl, just wanted to let you know that The Landlord is gonna be on Turner Movie Classics on Friday night at 10 pm Eastern. You know I holla'd when I saw that come up on the guide.
Can't wait to see it.

Well damn! I got a platinum thread