Madea's Family Reunion

Madea's Family Reunion (2006)

--Written, Directed, and Produced by Tyler Perry

Sorry I haven't posted in a longgggg time. I've seen a lot of movies but I don't know when I'm going to find the time to review them anytime soon. Maybe I'll get some done today?

Anyway, I've been watching a lot of Tyler Perry movies lately. For those that might not know, Perry is the first (hopefully not the last!) African American to own their own studio. He got started doing theater and is currently (mostly) converting his plays into films. This isn't the first one I've seen, and it would probably make more sense to do some that came before this one first since they kind of feed into one another, but I just saw this one, so it's gettin' done to-day!

The first thing you need to know about this film is that it is nottttttt at all like some of the previews! The previews usually feature the character Madea who is more about physical slapstick comedy, which can make people think that that is what this film is all about, when it's actually about sexual violence and Madea plays a small role, as does that actual literal family reunion, it's more about three women reuniting as a family--or trying to--or not actually do that... it's about a lot of things. So the main characters are three women (and Madea)--two sisters and the mother. One of the sisters is being pushed by her mother to marry a very rich man even though he beats her. The other is trying to overcome her past experiences with relationships (and rape) while falling in love with a new guy. And the mother is just kind of horrible. She's basically portrayed as the catalyst for all of the negative in her daughters' lives. She knows her daughter is getting beat, but forces her into the relationship anyway, and she just outright rejects the other daughter because she blames her father (versus her other daughter's father) for abandoning her. And yeah, there is a family reunion! And guess who's in their family? Maya Angelou (she's awesome, seriously). Madea is a character who is both accepting and very abusive. She opens her home up to anyone in need, in this film that includes a 13-yr-old in foster care and one of the sisters and her two kids. But she is also very physical violent, which is complemented with her brother's sexual and verbal abuse (her brother lives with her two, both of them are played by Perry).

Ughg it's so complicated I don't even know where to begin. Perry's films are really complicated, especially because it's really awesome that he is a black man who employs other black people in his films and who is in control of the portrayal of other black people, instead of how films in hollywood are usually written/directed/produced/acted/employing white people and our views of people of color are all channeled through this hollywood version of color. That said, I also have to say that Perry is very into masculinity, "traditional" gender roles, heterosexism, and negatively stereotyping women. It's beautiful that he has created this voice for African-American-ness in film, but it's horrible that he then uses this voice to try to (sometimes very violent) control men and women's behavior.

Violence in his films is a real problem for me. I like that he isn't afraid to say that violence against women is a real problem. I don't like that he seems to be saying that violence is an appropriate and sometimes necessary response. Case one: Madea beats the 13 yr-old a couple of times to get her what she wants her to do. One time after she didn't go to school, Madea bends her over and swats her with I think a belt. And... eventually she does what Madea wants and is "reformed". Apparently Perry is saying that it's okay to beat your children because that is how you teach them valuable life lessons. I'm sorry, but no child deserves to be physically violated. How I usually look at it is that children cannot pick which family they end up in (in the sense that they are born to parents, adopted, bought, acquired, however you want to say, they don't really get to decide where they end up), so how is it fair that some children will end up with parents who are not physically abusive (e.g. don't spank and such) while some with inadvertently end up with parents who think that physical abuse in an appropriate response to transgressions? It's not fair and no one, NO ONE, deserves to be physically abused. The other cases will be discussed in other film reviews, but you should know that all Perry's films include some sort of violence that is "justified" within the reality of the film.

Okay, now to stereotyping of women/masculinity of men. Tyler Perry is very into making men into the monolithic patriarchic figures that jives well with how white men also like to be portrayed. The Perry man is the head of the family, the woman's savior, the breadwinner, the rock, etc. The women are consistently broken in some way (especially in this film), and there are usually dichotomies between the woman as whore (who is irredeemable in most of his films, and apparently it's okay to verbally abuse these women) and the celibate Christian woman--who is the ideal. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It's only the basic tenants of white heterosexual patriarchy and it is deeply ingrained in American society. Thanks for helping (white people) to shame black people into submitting to these ideals too. He also seems to believe that women are very jealous of other women and are consistently fighting with other women (which is a general stereotype in our society). There are some exceptions to this in various films, in this one the two sisters have a bond and there are bonds between older women (who are nostalgic for "the way things were"). This bond between sisters doesn't exist in all of his films though. Sometimes he'll show a tight-knit group of female friends, but they are still juxtaposed with the "whore" characters that are in "their man's" life ("Why Did I Get Married?"). Anyway, he likes grouping women into two categories and then letting his "good" characters bash the "whore" character/s.

Okay, those are my main issues with Perry's films (that I can think of anyway). But... I still find them enjoyable? Is that weird? Maybe it's because I don't have to sit and say "hey, why are all of these people white?" or maybe it's because they at least address physical sexual emotional violence. Or maybe it's because they try and blend comedy and drama (this film is crazzzy emotional, trust me, but Madea serves as comic relief, though in this film she's also pretty insightful). Or maybe I just like them, cause we can't always point to reasons for liking certain film right? Anyway, I enjoy the complexity of his films and I hope that someday he'll get over some of his issues about positive violence (this isn't it, ya'll) and hating on women, and I hope that his films pave the way for greater interest in films by African Americans.

For this film in particular, I couldn't help thinking that it might have been better were it done by a woman. Especially the emotionally and revealing scene between the three core female family members. I thought, whoa, this is intense, but, wait, how much better would it be if it were done from a woman's perspective? If you ever watch this one, maybe you'll think about that too.

There are a lot of other things I just realized I could talk about too, but, honestly, this review is getting kind of long, so I'm going to stop it here. And just add, once again, that Maya Angelou is beautiful. She reads a poem at one point in the film (another thing I liked about this one is that there was a lot of poetry in it and I thought that that was really interesting and thematically enriching) and it is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard in my life. Truly. Worth it just to see her. She isn't just a poet in this film (and technically I don't think she's meant to play herself) she's also a member of the family and is pretty cool. Anyway, go watch it if you want to. It's probably not the best Perry film to watch first, since this one is kind of a sequel to "Dairy of a Mad Black Woman," but I thought this one was better than that one, so.