After the opening weekend success of The Best Man Holiday, a “boycott Madea” campaign has sprung up on the Internet.
In Tyler Perry‘s world, this is nothing new. Fans petitioned for Kim Kardashian‘s removal from the Jurnee Smollett-Bell-led Temptation. The recent boycott Madea petition is asking audiences not to support Perry’s December 13 release A Madea Christmas. It’s an attempt to get Hollywood to green-light more high-brow Black films. But the petition authors are mistaken if they believe stopping Perry will lead Hollywood executives to produce more films in the vein of The Best Man Holiday or Lee Daniels’ The Butler.
The Best Man Holiday director Malcolm D. Lee struggled to receive a green-light for the sequel. Instead of looking for stories that enhance or enrich lives, Hollywood studios focus on the bottom line because risks can be costly to investors. In Lee’s case, T. D. Jake‘s Jumping the Broom was the catalyst for the yes from the studio. However, as Shadow and Act points out, Perry’s studio machine is efficient enough to cut out Lionsgate and release his films himself.
Perry attempted serious subject matter by adapting Ntozake Shange‘s Tony Award-nominated “choreopoem” For Colored Girls into a film. Remember the negative press for that choice?
Tides are changing. 2014 will see Perry continue to expand beyond Madea. Single Moms Clubs starring Nia Long, will tell the story of a group of single mothers who band together after an incident at their children’s school. Perry not only keeps Black actors working, but also a diverse crew of people making these films.
Black audiences should look beyond mainstream movies for images that promote and tell our stories in a different way. Buying a movie ticket is one way to support films. Supporting independent releases and crowd-funding movies that present three- dimensional Black characters is important also.
Director Ava Duvernay’s African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement (AFFRM) gives Black independent filmmakers theatrical distribution. Duvernay will direct episode eight of the Kerry Washington-led drama Scandal, and released The Door, a short film starring Alfre Woodard and Gabrielle Union. Without the support from Black moviegoers, her work may have gone unnoticed.
Our hard earned dollars have the power to determine the movies that are produced and images that feed our mind and soul. Instead of a boycott Madea campaign, why not support filmmakers making quality films that include non-stereotypical Black characters?