Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry

From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry

Russworm, Treaandrea M.
Sheppard, Samantha N.
Bowdre, Karen M.

Paperback

Black American StudiesFilm StudiesGeneral Sociology

ISBN10: 1496820177
ISBN13: 9781496820174
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: Aug 10 2018
Pages: 290
Weight: 0.94
Height: 0.65 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English


For over a decade, Tyler Perry has been a lightning rod for both criticism and praise. To some he is most widely known for his drag performances as Madea, a self-proclaimed mad black woman, not afraid to brandish a gun or a scalding pot of grits. But to others who watch the film industry, he is the businessman who by age thirty-six had sold more than $100 million in tickets, $30 million in videos, $20 million in merchandise, and was producing 300 projects each year viewed by 35,000 every week.

Is the commercially successful African American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, and producer malt liquor for the masses, an embarrassment to the race!, or is he a genius who has directed the most culturally significant American melodramas since Douglas Sirk? Are his films and television shows even melodramas, or are they conservative Christian diatribes, cheeky camp, or social satires? Do Perry's flattened narratives and character tropes irresponsibly collapse important social discourses into one-dimensional tales that affirm the notion of a post-racial society?

In light of these debates, From Madea to Media Mogul makes the argument that Tyler Perry must be understood as a figure at the nexus of converging factors, cultural events, and historical traditions. Contributors demonstrate how a critical engagement with Perry's work and media practices highlights a need for studies to grapple with developing theories and methods on disreputable media. These essays challenge value-judgment criticisms and offer new insights on the industrial and formal qualities of Perry's work.

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