Tyler Perry vs. Spike Lee

Last week, Tyler Perry hit back at Spike Lee over comments the Do The Right Thing director made about his Madea films.

“I’m so sick of hearing about damn Spike Lee. Spike can go straight to hell.”

The only problem with Perry’s outburst is it’s two years too late. The comments Lee made about him go back to 2009. Since then he’s been rather quiet, probably trying to scrape together whatever money he can to make another Hurricane Katrina documentary, while Perry bathes in the pool of cash his latest Madea film just made ($26 million in case you’re wondering).

Beefs between prominent African-Americans go back almost a century, from Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, to 2Pac and Biggie. There’s nothing wrong with a little competition (except in the Biggie/2Pac case of course).

But Lee isn’t the only black filmmaker who hates Perry’s movies, as this article in the Daily Beast suggests; he’s just the most outspoken. The rest of “black Hollywood” would prefer Lee and other critics keep their mouths shut for a couple of reasons. One, Perry’s the only one giving black actors jobs – and not in pithy, peripheral roles either, but in major starring ones (Janet Jackson has had an acting-rebirth thanks to him). And two, given how few black directors there are in Hollywood, the desire to keep a united front and support black filmmakers is understandably strong. Here’s what one anonymous source had to say about the situation.

“Listen, no one in black Hollywood is going to attack Tyler’s work—in public that is," says a well-known black Hollywood producer who also asked not to be identified. “But be clear, no one--not the black actors in his films or anyone else black in this industry--thinks he’s doing outstanding work. No one is going to say that out loud of course because they need the work. He’s the only one hiring." 

I’ve criticized Perry on this site before for putting out stereotypical portrayals of African-Americans, as well as the NAACP for supporting mediocre films in general, but I’m starting to re-think my earlier aspersions for a couple of reasons:

1)    Mainstream Hollywood movies and independent films are rife with terrible and often racist portrayals of African-Americans from the segregation era to the present day. But unlike Perry’s work, they get critically lauded and are often nominated for Academy Awards (see Precious, Training Day, The Blind Side, Monster’s Ball).
2)    I’m sympathetic to Perry for trying to create films for black people, even if they aren’t exactly the most progressive. And it’s hard to buy the argument that his movies are racist when his target audience is black. I doubt if he would be as successful as he is today if that were the case.
3)    What the hell do I know? Despite my love and respect for the history, personalities, politics and culture of African-Americans, I have little real understanding of it beyond what I’ve read in books, and experienced in film, television and music. Clearly there’s something in Perry’s work that resonates with a large amount of black folk that I’m just not privy to, and probably never will be either. His movies are box-office gold, so clearly he’s doing something right.

Unfortunately, I don’t see this debate coming to an end anytime soon. With the dearth of prominent roles for African-Americans, and worst still the number of black directors and producers, this is a subject that will outlast both Tyler Perry and Spike Lee. If there's an irony in all this, it's that Perry has replaced Lee as the most polarizing black filmmaker alive. Weird too.