Tayari's Blog: The Rainbow is Not Enuf
Posted by TayariJones on September 6, 2009 08:27 AM
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Current Events
Everyone is going crazy because Tyler Perry is going to write and direct the film adaptation of "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf." I'll admit to clutching my pearls along with everyone else. I'm late putting this post up because I really don't know what to say. I don't like Perry's work. I find Madea offensive. I also feel that his gender politics are a disaster. And he's corny.
"For Colored Girls..." is sacred ground for me. I remember that I was about ten years old and my mother went to see it. My mom wasn't a person to go out much; this is probably why I remember it. She said it was "powerful." I snuck and read the book but I didn't get it, but I remembered that it moved my un-moveable mother.
Later, as a student at Spelman College, I read the text and I got it, or I thought I got it. (I mean at 18, what did I know about "Someone Almost Walked Off Wid Alla My Stuff."? Still, Toussaint Jones stole my heart, only for Beau Willie Brown to stomp it at the end.) At 38, I more than understand the lives that Ntozage Shange was bad enough to commit to writing. (And let me tell you, alla my stuff has almost gotten away from me, more than once.)
As a writer, I understand, too, what Ntozake Shange went through to tell those truths. If you thought that backlash against The Color Purple was bad, imagine that times 50. Ntozake Shange was called all kinds of man-hater and accused of being a pawn of the white man in a diabolical plot to destroy the black race. As you can see from her beautiful novels, Ntozake Shange is a community-loving woman. To be accused of being its enemy was a crushing blow. (And when you think of the black women writers who have been accused of high treason-- Ntozake Shange, Gloria Naylor, Alice Walker, Gayl Jones, Michelle Wallace-- where are they now?)
While I was looking for more information on this Tyler Perry story, I found this interview with Nzingah Stewart, a young sister filmmaker. In 2007, she did a Q&A with Clutch:
Clutch: What projects are you currently working on?
Nzingha: Finishing up a video for Jill Scott and preparing to shoot my first feature film an adaptation of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide: When The Rainbow Is Enuf, starring Angela Bassett, Alicia Keys and Sanaa Lathan.
It seems that Hollywood is walking off wid alla our stuff.
(Photos: Orginal Broadway poster, Ntozake Shange, Tyler Perry, Nzingah Stewart, "Madea")
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There are 5 comments on "The Rainbow is Not Enuf". If you'd like to leave a comment, click here to jump down to the comments entry form.
Comment #1, by Rochelle ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
Good post, Tayari... For me, the problem isn't Tyler Perry or his films; it's that he is the only *consistently* commercially successful black director, and so his images become the representation for an entire community. If we had a wider range of voices and visions out there, then Mr. Perry would not be the default director for a complex project ("For Colored Girls") that seems at odd with the kind of broad humor/melodrama that have made his films so popular.
September 6, 2009 01:15 PM
Comment #2, by minaj
Wouldn't Julie Dash or Kasi Lemmons be an almost automatic choice? There's absolutely nothing in Mr. Perry's work that would indicate that he would have a clue about "Colored Girls." Both women have had highly praised, successful movies with the necessary lyrical touch that this film will require. I'm really not ready for "Someone Almost Walked Off Wid Alla My Stuff" performed by Mr. Perry in drag.
September 6, 2009 02:37 PM
Comment #3, by Rochelle
Reading over my comments, I feel like I sound like a snob. :( I actually like some of Tyler Perry's movies--I enjoyed Jill Scott's performance in Why Did I Get Married & I liked Kimberly Elise in that Madea movie. And I'll probably go see I Can Do Bad..I guess what I was trying to say is that I don't see a problem with his movies in and of themselves; I just wonder if he's right for this particular project, and I wish that more black filmmakers had found a wider audience.
September 7, 2009 05:24 PM
Comment #4, by Shalema
I am a Tyler Perry fan. I am also not that familiar with Ntozake Shange, though I have heard of her and this particular title. Who owned rights to the book? Maybe out of all the offers that were on the table, Tyler's vision was the better or best. And I would call him a far cry from Hollywood, because Hollywood still has not embraced him. As of today, my favorite movie of his is Diary of a Mad Black Woman.
September 7, 2009 09:41 PM
Comment #5, by Shalema
FYI-- Nzingah Stewart (from the Clutch Magazine article) is still attached to this project, as writer. View link below.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1971220/. She also worked with Perry on his most recent play The Marriage Counselor as a director. For Colored Girls... will not be produced under Tyler's production company, Tyler Perry Studios that he's used in the past but under his 34th Street Films banner. (For more info view http://www.singersroom.com/news/2359/Tyler-Perry-Gives-Back-Opens-34th-Street-Films-For-Filmmakers
September 7, 2009 09:51 PM