Tyler Perry embodies his famous creation in Madea Goes to Jail.Most of us on the Right side of the aisle reject that notion.
But there is a man--an Obama supporter, no less--who is unifying people in droves. His name is Tyler Perry.
Perry's methods are not political in nature. His method is merely to do what he has done for the last several years: make popular movies.
But before this weekend's release of his hotly anticipated Madea Goes to Jail, Perry was still described by many (including myself) as a filmmaker who made movies almost exclusively for Southern, Christian, African-American audiences.
While Madea Goes to Jail may indeed be a movie made for that demographic, it's playing to a broader range of folks. Perry made opening-day appearances on "The View" and "Dr. Phil" (in which he mentioned that Mrs. Phil's praises for Diary of a Mad Black Woman were what led Phil to appear in Jail), which are evidence that he's now pitching his pictures to a larger crowd.
It's clear that people are responding. Over the weekend, Madea Goes to Jail racked in $41 million, over 30 percent more than Madea's Family Reunion and double Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Perry couldn't get those numbers by his original target demo alone.
What is the resulting phenomenon? You have real diversity--not the kind Obama has coined--coming together to watch a movie. The number of blacks attending Perry films may still be disproportionately high, but this works perfectly. New Perry viewers can walk into the auditorium and feel welcome amongst his longtime audience, who they may have never seen at a movie before.
What's so special about different types of people sitting in a dark room together? If you have to ask this question, then you should go see Madea Goes to Jail today. Not knowing how the movie woud do, I intentionally went to a neighborhood I thought would have a strong Perry following to see it. I found myself in a long line, then in a near sold-out auditorium, laughing the whole time with strangers next to me, commenting on each part of the movie. In a Perry film, it's pretty much acceptabe to make comments at the screen.
But as I said before, you may not even have to go to certain theatres to find a big audience for Madea Goes to Jail. I believe my days of sitting in an empty auditorium in white, suburban North County San Diego may be over. It must've been the "Dr. Phil" plug that did it for the housewives.
Even if you don't like Perry's movies--they are essentially well-acted soap-operas--you can appreciate that they are restoring a sense of community to the otherwise-sterile multiplexes of America. Rarely does the idea of a shared-experience still permeate beyond word-of-mouth-supported art-house fare and soulless mega-blockbusters (which don't need it anyway). But Perry's latest film, another credit to his brand, is bringing people together in the way that all good art should.
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