Film Critique, Why Did I Get Married 2

She furthermore examines Perry’s lead black female characters through “semiotic film content analysis”, a method of getting a closer look into the theoretical language of films (Mckoy, 127). Her findings are very extensive and thorough in terms of assessing the number of occurrences of particular behaviors that are normally assigned to each stereotype. Of all films that involve the character of Madea, the characteristics of the mammy stereotype appears almost 200 times. For all of his films, coded behaviors of the angry black woman and the jezebel brings the total of negative stereotypes of black women to 998 times. Both studies ultimately reflect back onto Tyler Perry, as he continues to successfully blatantly diminish any positive aspects of black womanhood in front of a tremendously large

The concept art imitates life is crucial to film directors who express their views on political and social issues in film. In regard to film studies, race is a topic rare in many films. Like America, many films simply refuse to address this topic for various reasons. However, more recently, Jordan Peele’s 2017 box office hit Get Out explicates contemporary race relations in America. In the form of an unconventional comedy horror, Get Out is intricate in its depiction of white liberal attitudes towards African Americans. In short, Get Out suggests a form of covert racism existing in a post- Jim Crow era. Similarly, Eduardo Bonilla- Silva’s book Racism Without Racists acknowledges the contemporary system of racism or “new racism,” a system

“Why Did I Get Married?” directed and produced by Tyler Perry is a movie based on four couples who take a reunion vacation to the Colorado Mountains in order to reunite with friends from college. On this vacation things didn’t go according to plan. Throughout the movie there was heartbreak, infidelity, suppressed feelings, conflict, and secrets raging throughout each of the couples’ relationship in some aspect. With these unfortunate events occurred at various times throughout the film it cause their trip to evolve from a place to relax, enjoy friends, and time off from work into an emotional and tense atmosphere with the involved couple seeking validation from the other couples on the reason why their marriages are the way they are. Even though the movie ended on a good note in their celebration of Janet Jackson’s character (Pat) receiving an award one of the marriages did not survive. This couple’s relationship will be my focus for this paper.

When we watch movies, we watch them for entertainment. Some people don’t sit back and compare the things happening in the movie to real life situations that are happening amongst society today. It’s a movie. It’s make believe. That’s what I always think when I sit down to watch a movie. Tyler Perry started out producing plays and later released his first feature film in 2005 called “The Diary of a Mad Black Woman.” The Diary of a Mad Black Woman has its twist of emotions throughout the movie. Whether it’s humorous or gloomy, shameful or happy, repulsion or infatuation. The movie shows them all. Tyler Perry has targeted many women and men in different circumstances showing just how painfully exhausting it is to overcome the intolerable.

The Article, Musing New Hoods, Making New identities: Film, Hip-hop Culture, and Jazz Music by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. addressed an important and conflicting aspect about the opportunities that African Americans feel they have in modern society. He continues to address the idea of “guiltsploitation”-feeling guilt for going against one's culture to move up in social class, an idea introduced by Henry Louis Gates and the different message that is received by society from the underlying message surrounding African-American films (Ramsey, 311). Stereotypes conceived through movies and hip-hop music create the identity and character through an authentic representation that is expected of African-Americans in modern culture. Although African-American films and the hip-hop music industry have worked to build and identify a culture through the art form, they have instead created a stereotypical image--a different inner struggle has resulted that remains in society today.

“Will Your Marriage Last?”, by Aviva Patz, is a cohesive article about marriage and divorce. Aviva Patz is the executive editor of Psychology Today. Patz narrates the story of Ted Huston, a professor at the University of Texas, who followed the lives of 168 couples for 13 years after their wedding date. She was then able to draw conclusions about what makes a couple stay together or end up filing divorce papers. Although marriages and divorce are the themes of this article, it is really about society’s pressure on young people to be perfect.

In the realm of Black films there is one man that comes to mind and no that is not Tyler Perry although he is great, but that man is Spike Lee. Spike Lee has been making films since 1983 that is a career span of thirty years with him directing with him actually directing thirty-nine films. Those thirty-nine films do not include all of the films he has produced and been an actor in. Spike Lee has become known for his films that usually revolve around present day problems with race and issues that affect the Black community. Two of his most popular films the first being School Daze, (1988) and the second Jungle Fever, (1991). Both films were written, produced, and directed by Spike Lee who also played a character in the films. School Daze a film that on the surface seems like it is only about sororities and fraternities against people who do not join them, but a more in depth look reveals the film is more about complexion. Jungle Fever, a film about a married Black man cheating on his Black wife with a white woman on the surface may seem to be about infidelity, but is also about colorism1 within the Black community. The issue of colorism, which basically means one skin tone is preferred over another, usually in darker races the lighter skin tones are preferred. This issue has plagued the Black community since the time of slavery and continues to affect the Black community today.

The film industry’s portrayal of African American people consists of countless stereotypes and inaccuracies. These depictions lead to an innumerable amount of misrepresentations about the African American community. As the latest wave of black films begins to dawn, the clearer the images become of a collective people. Using my personal experiences as a mixed woman of color, as well as including my academic strengths and goals, and points of view regarding various black films, the content of this paper will examine the representation and stereotypes that can be seen in African American Hollywood.

The negative stereotypes depicted by Tyler Perry, a successful African American male, sends a message to his viewers. In addition, the motives behind Perry’s support of stereotypes in his films are inspired by personal traumatic experiences from his childhood and young adulthood.

“Early black cinema is an important part of American culture because it visually brought our stories to life. Without the black independent film movement, there would be very few black films today.” The 1970’s and the 1980’s marked a the entry of a new generation of Afro American directors like Haile Gerima, Charles Burnet, Larry Clark, Pamela Jones, Jamaa Fanaka, Julie Dash, Robert Townsend or Spike Lee. They want to stand out and always required more artistic and financial control. Furthermore the emergence of the Afro-American director can be interpreted as a will to break the glass ceiling. Spike Lee is one of the directors who want to break this glass ceiling. He is unmistakably the major Black filmmaker of the 80 and 90 decades. During

In the 2005 film The Wedding Crashers directed David Dobkin show many normal gender stereotypes and gender inequalities that are still present in today’s society. The film mainly focuses on two divorce mediators Jeremy and John, who enjoy sneaking into wedding parties in order to get drunk off free booze and seduce bridesmaids. Certainly, the film exposes the bromance relationship that Jeremy and John have, which opposes the hegemonic masculinity that society is accustomed to. Their attendance at Secretary Williams’s party exhibits the patriarch of a white, rich, and powerful man. And lastly the concept objectification is the way men view women that is sexually without any emotion mixed. Women are also

‘For Colored Girls’ directed by Tyler Perry is an adaptation of a Tony Award nominated choreopoem written by Ntozake Shange. Clint O’Conner a reviewer for the Plain Dealer writes about Tyler Perry, “He has taken Ntozake Shange’s 1974 choreopoem ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf’ and both condensed and expanded it into a big-screen extravaganza assessing the black female experience in America” (O'Connor 1). ‘For Colored Girls’ is an emotionally charged drama about the struggles facing the modern-day black women finding their voice in America. This master piece with an all-star cast of African-American women will be talked about for years to come. Tyler Perry is at his finest and the ensemble of

Marriage requires effort and work. Many newlyweds come into a marriage thinking it is easy but do not consider the consequences of marriage that heavily rely on balances and partnership. Marriage is all about compromise. It is important to engage in a premarital program to allow both partners to learn what to expect within a marriage, how to face certain roadblocks, and to better communication when conflict is aroused so that divorce does not become an option. Gottman’s research (2009) has made a significant contribution to the study of relationship and marriage tying unity, harmony, and communication together to make relationship and marriage work. When a couple who does not have consummate love (intimacy, passion, and commitment), they often portray the six indicators of divorce: harsh startup, the Four Horsemen, flooding, body language, failed repair attempts and reflecting on bad memories (Gottman, 2009). Divorce often occurs within the first two years of marriages and almost half of divorces end within the first seven years (Bhutto-Ramirez, 2015).

The race film genre is a source of important material highlighting the African American culture. The genre not only focused on culture, but also emphasized African American talent, Black’s ability to film, produce, and direct a motion picture, and most importantly, the genre exposed the world to the “real” African American individual and family. Although many of these films were only shown and marketed to “colored only” theaters, films like Harlem of Prairie (1937) and The Blood of Jesus (1941) are notable films that struck a core with both White and Black Americans. These are a few of the forgotten race films that have provided today’s African Americans with a sense of encouragement and confidence to continue to fight the struggle of

Black producers and writers such as the Wayan brothers, Keenen, Damon, Shawn, and Marlon have a history of using satire and parody in their films to address racial topics. Whether their work actually combats these issues or further reinforces these ideas is debatable. I analyzed one of their works, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood to understand the context of their use of satire and parody.