People are upset about the Boondocks' characterization of Tyler Perry and his work. In a recent episode of The Boondocks, called "Pause," Aaron McGruder and his writers attacked Tyler Perry personally, professionally, and spiritually. Since people are ignoring the scene between Riley and Granddad about the importance of saying "no homo" because "If it sounds gay, it's gay," and "How [will anybody] know you not a homo if you don't say 'no homo?'" I can only assume that that's all perfectly fine and dandy. Let's focus on the critiques of Tyler Perry instead.
The episode pissed Tyler Perry fans off, to say the least. Twitter was all abuzz with folks on both sides of the action going at the other. The problem is… Tyler and Aaron have two different, yet equally ignorant, fan bases. My light bulb went off and it hit me: the two can't have an intelligent discourse about their opinions because they don't understand each other.
Tyler's fans are older, black, church-going, single women. They support Tyler because he is a successful black man doing everything for himself. They dismiss The Boondocks by calling it stupid, juvenile, and offensive. Boondocks fans are teenage boys who support the show because it's on Adult Swim and they celebrate its use of "bad" language. They attack Tyler by calling him gay. Both sides feel that the products reflect them in some way. Neither camp appears to truly understand the other so they are both ill-equipped to intelligently point out problems or voice valid opinions. Further… Neither side understands that they're being used and/or exploited by that which they so vehemently defend.
Tyler Perry made his mark on the so-called chitlin' circuit writing plays about Christian values, forgiveness, abuse, love, and self-worth. He has about a dozen plays that he wrote, directed, and financed mostly with his own money. Half of those plays have been adapted for movies and one of them is now a television show. Opening Tyler Perry Studios made him the owner of the first major Black television and film studio. I can't knock his hustle.
However… I despise Madea. I can't stand to see black men in drag portraying black women as less-than-feminine basket cases with power issues. (Before you start with me… I really didn't like Mrs. Doubtfire, either…) I don’t like the subliminal message that a lighter skinned person will always save the day. That the woman is always the problem and all she needs is a good man to rescue her. That all a community needs to do to better itself is make sure the prostitute with the great voice ends up going to church, singing about forgiveness, and taking care of her kids again. And on top of all that… His comedy is just… not funny.
Now… Aaron McGruder's claim to fame is an awesomely funny, witty, satirical comic strip called The Boondocks (some of you may have heard of it…). Starting in his college newspaper before a stint in The Source leading up to national syndication, The Boondocks starred politically radical, 10-year-old Huey Freeman discussing political follies through the eyes of a child. Huey's maturity is offset by the ignorance of his wannabe-hood, 8-year-old brother Riley. The balance between the two is Huey's level-head, conscious best friend Caesar. The boys live with their loveable, strict Granddad who took them out of Chicago to give them a better life. Tom Dubois, his white wife Sarah, and their daughter Jazmine (who is always going through some kind of identity crisis stemming from her mixed race) provide additional fodder for Huey's fire. In 2005, the strip was adapted for television. It brought Aaron's intelligent wit to the world. It was poised for greatness a la South Park.
However… Behind-the-scenes legal issues, censorship, and other restraints caused most of the intelligence to be left in the strip. Still… Season 1 of the show managed to make some compromises and still bring us the nuance readers had come to love. Season 2 seemed awfully dumbed-down, but it was still funny. Now… I find myself shaking my head or sitting with my mouth hanging open in shock more than I find myself laughing. Aaron no longer writes for us, the committed first fans, the original smart audience. Hell… sometimes it seems like Aaron no longer writes (see: the first segment of episode 6 of this season, "Smokin with Cigarettes"). Ignorance via Riley dominates the show and the show's current audience eats it up as representative of their lives, not as the satire it's intended to be. Though Aaron is still trying to talk to his audience by giving us episodes about kickball (really… these kids don't have recess anymore. How can they possibly understand the seriousness of a schoolyard kickball game?) and tossing in Rocky Horror references (which went completely over my 12-year-old brother's head…), it's too little too late. The show jumped the shark and most of us jumped ship.
Both Tyler Perry and Aaron McGruder exploit their core audience and recycle old and tired memes and rhetoric. Many of the people who watched "Pause" and loved it because they agree with McGruder's borderline-homophobic characterization of "Winston Jerome," don't understand why people disagree with Tyler Perry's characterization of the anti-feminine matriarch. Hell, those same kids love House of Payne. The folks who watched "Pause" and hated it because it attacked Perry don't understand that The Boondocks is a satire mostly because, well… it's not anymore; it's just another "ignorant black show."
Truthfully, both audiences should be mad -- at Tyler Perry and Aaron McGruder. Attempting to understand that which you critique will make it much easier to forgive some of the offenses of the opposition.
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