In the midst of a revival of gospel theater aimed at Black female Christian audiences, Tyler Perry mastered a successful approach to Black independent gospel plays. Eventually, Perry transferred his work to the film screen, exploring the struggles of Black women in their relationships with Black men. While his depiction of Black men has garnered much controversy, Perry characterizes Black masculinity throughout his romantic storylines using a formulaic approach seeking to uplift his predominately Black female audience, while exploring the faults and various tropes of Black masculinity. In Perry’s female-oriented romantic storylines, Black men are usually categorized as an affluent shape-shifter, neglected love interest, transformed hard worker, crooked hoodlum, or Black messiah redux. Throughout this study, Perry’s usage of these characterizations is explored. Unlike 1990s New Black Realism films, which could have driven the explosion of female-oriented gospel-themed works, Perry fuses Black theological perceptions of manhood with a patriarchal-centered exploration of Black womanhood.
AlexanderB. (2014). Bootlegging Tyler Perry/Tyler Perry as bootlegger: A critical meditation on Madea’s family reunion. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 15-31). New York, NY: Routledge.
2.
BarkerD. (2014). Adapting Tyler Perry: Madea goes to jail. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 114-128). New York, NY: Routledge.
3.
BauschK. (2013). Superflies into superkillers: Black masculinity in film from Blaxploitation to New Black Realism. Journal of Popular Culture, 46, 257-276.
4.
BoykinK. (2005). Beyond the down low: Sex, lies, and denial in Black America. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf.
5.
CareyT. (2014). Take your place: Rhetorical healing and Black womanhood in Tyler Perry’s films. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 39(4), 999-1021.
6.
DiawaraM. (1993). Black American cinema. New York, NY: Routledge.
7.
DunnS. (2014). Cool drag: Black masculinity in Big Mama disguise. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 57-68). New York, NY: Routledge.
8.
Files-ThompsonN. (2014). Why Did I Get Married?—to her? Women’s place in middle-class marriage. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 129-140). New York, NY: Routledge.
9.
FinleyS. (2007). Homoeroticism and the African-American heterosexual male: Quest for meaning in the Black church. Black Theology: An International Journal, 4, 305-326.
10.
GlennC.JohnsonD. (2014). Life in Black and White: Cautionary tales of internalizing cultural norms of race, class, and gender in the family that preys. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 97-113). New York, NY: Routledge.
11.
GlennC.SpieldennerA. (2013). An intersectional analysis of television narratives of African American women with African American men on “the down low.”Sexuality & Culture, 17, 401-416.
12.
HarrisC.TassieK. (2012). The cinematic incarnation of Frazier’s Black bourgeoisie: Tyler Perry’s Black middle-class. Journal of African American Studies, 16, 321-344.
13.
HarrisP. (2014). Prolific stereotypes of Black men and images of Black masculinity in Tyler Perry’s diary of a mad Black woman. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 212-221). New York, NY: Routledge.
14.
HarrisT.HillP. (1998). “Waiting to exhale” or “breathing again”: A search for identity, empowerment, and love in the 1990s. Women and Language, 21(2), 9-20.
15.
HillE.HatchJ. (2003). A history of African American theatre. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
16.
Kirk-DugganC. (2014). Signifying love and embodied relationality: Toward a womanist theological anthropology. In Manigault-BryantL.LomaxT.DuncanC. (Eds.), Womanist and Black feminist responses to Tyler Perry’s productions (pp. 147-162). London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
17.
LyleT. (2011). “Check with yo’ man first; Check with yo’ man”: Tyler Perry appropriates drag as a tool to re-circulate patriarchal ideology. Callaloo, 34, 943-958.
18.
MassoodP. (2003). Black city cinema: African American urban experiences in film. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
19.
NealR. (2013). Savior of the race: The messianic burdens of Black masculinity. Exchange, 42(1), 51-67.
20.
PattersonR. (2014). Do you want to be well? The gospel play, womanist theology, and Tyler Perry’s artistic project. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 30(2), 41-56.
21.
PeoplesW. (2014). (Re)mediating Black womanhood: Tyler Perry, Black feminist cultural criticism, and the politics of legitimation. In Manigault-BryantL.LomaxT.DuncanC. (Eds.), Womanist and Black feminist responses to Tyler Perry’s productions (pp. 147-162). London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
22.
PerryT. (Producer). (2005). Diary of a mad Black woman [Motion picture]. USA: Lions Gate Entertainment.
PerryT. (Producer/Director). (2013b). Temptation: Confessions of a marriage counselor [Motion picture]. USA: Lions Gate Entertainment.
35.
ReidM. (1993). Redefining Black film. Berkeley: University of California Press.
36.
SaineK. (2005). The Black American’s chitlin/gospel/urban show: Tyler Perry and the Madea plays. Theatre Symposium, 13, 105-115.
37.
SandersL. (1988). The development of Black theater in America: From shadows to selves. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
38.
TaylorT. (2014). Black women, thou art produced! A womanist critique of Tyler Perry’s Gosperella productions. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 196-211). New York, NY: Routledge.
39.
TaylorY.AustenJ. (2012). New millennium minstrel show. In TaylorY.AustenJ. (Eds.), Darkest America: Black minstrelsy from slavery to hip-hop (pp. 296-301). New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
40.
TomlinsonY. (2014). “A people that would take care of ourselves”: Tyler Perry’s vision of the community and gender relations. In Manigault-BryantL.LomaxT.DuncanC. (Eds.), Womanist and Black feminist responses to Tyler Perry’s productions (pp. 91-106). London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
41.
WardE. (2005). Homophobia, hypermasculinity and the US black church. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 7, 493-504.
42.
WhiteA. (2014). Screening God. In Manigault-BryantL.LomaxT.DuncanC. (Eds.), Womanist and Black feminist responses to Tyler Perry’s productions (pp. 73-88). London, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
43.
WhiteS. (2014). “Let the church say, ‘amen!’”: Tyler Perry’s treatment of the African American church and pastor in I can do bad all by myself. In BellJ. S. C.JacksonR. L. (Eds.), Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on race, class, gender, and sexuality (pp. 141-151). New York, NY: Routledge.
