'For Colored Girls' Should Be Banned!

BY XAVIER JAMES


Just when you thought Tyler Perry couldn't possibly out due himself-he did. 'For Colored Girls' is amazing; amazingly ridiculous. The title alone (‘For Colored Girls') makes Black women think the movie is something inspiring and uplifting. But nothing could be further from the truth. Here are a few of the comments I've heard from people so far:


"It’s overdone."                 "The most dread filled movie I've ever seen."             "Makes me feel like there's no hope."       And my favorite;     "it should be banned."

 I agree with them all. Tyler Perry is good at exploiting the fact that Black folks want to see black movies because we want to see ourselves on the big screen. The problem is 'For Colored Girls' isn't drama it's a horror movie containing about ten sub-plots in a script full of underdeveloped characters. In one scene a Black man murders his children. Something I've never heard of in my life. In another scene Janet Jackson's character receives the most tragic news of her life but goes out partying ten minutes later. Thandie Newton’s character appears to be a whore for no reason at all.

None of the issues the characters faced were ever resolved; unless you consider the group hug at the end of the movie- therapy. It kind of reminded me of Jerry Springer exploiting and laughing at his guests the entire show, then at the end, his final thought makes it all better. We're all use to Tyler Perry’s constant demonization of Black men in his movies but this unprovoked attack on his core fan base is perplexing. The overt message throughout the movie is that Black women are stuck on stupid, desperate and don't need to be with Black men. And of course the subliminal message; get a “White man because Black men ain't sh*&!”

A lot of Black folks hated B.E.T. because of the images they transmitted to our children and around the world. The damage they did to Black minds has lasted at least two generations. In a parade of buffoonish mockery and shameless stereotypes wrapped in melodrama, Tyler Perry has been doing the exact same thing for years now. These types of images make people of other races hate you before they even meet you. It also poisons the way we interact with each other.

The trend in Hollywood for the past 10 years shows us how studios “green light” and heavily promote movies that portray Black folks as evil or stupid. Be it 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman', 'Precious', 'Nsecure', 'For Colored Girls', or ‘Waiting to Exhale’ they've gone out of their way to demonize the image of the Black male and make Black women look like fools or whores. Although 'For Colored Girls' is based on someone else’s writing (which Tyler Perry took completely out of context. Watch the original play for yourself) he could have simply said no to the project. I don't care how many people he exploits (oops, I meant employs) wrong is wrong.

You need to understand this; seeing images of strong, positive, intelligent, honest, righteous Black folks reinforce pride, commitment and a desire to strive for excellence. Our minds set a psychological bar of which to aspire. The opposite instills self hate and hopelessness. Do you remember the 'White doll' experiment? The Black children kept choosing the White doll over the Black Doll because they had been bombarded from birth with images of self hate.

Let's get analytical for a second. A man who loves to dress like a woman and beat up on men in most of his movies, Tyler Perry himself must be consumed with an enormous amount of self hatred to constantly send these false, despicable, one sided images of Black Folks around the world. Someone asked me what other movie I would compare 'For Colored Girls' to? I thought for a second, and then I told them 'Birth of a Nation'. Yeah, because the psychological effect of that one movie did irreparable damage to Black folks in America and has lasted in the minds of White folks to this day. And just like 'Birth of a Nation' the images in this movie will live among us for many years to come. The vast majority of this movie is not representative of Black men or Black women. They are untrue and quite frankly 'Colored People' should feel down right insulted! From xavierjamesuncensored.blogspot.com