krazykidd said:
Well, the thing is that stereotypes exist because they happen to be true, that's what sociology is all about, as this basic truth can be used to manipulate people for purposes like advertising and the like. Guys like Tyler Perry very much exploit these truths in creating their ongoing movie franchises which continue to make millions upon millions of dollars.
I frequently mention Bill Cosby in posts about race largely because when he talks about education (he has a PHD in Children's Education) he frequently touches on the subject of black culture and what it does to hurt black America by promoting unrealistic expectations and codes of behavior, and causing people to literally squander the opportunities given to them, education being seen as akin to "selling out". He explains it much better than I can, and as I've said with some frequency over the years you could read his stuff. I believe what your seeing here is an extension of this basic problem, when your a black person, become fairly well educated, and fit in better with mainstream society (which makes you something of a "sell out") and look at black culture from the outside you can sort of see the problems, the stereotypes, the trends, the attitudes, and how the problems are occurring. Of course getting someone to understand that is difficult, Bill Cosby for example has been attacked quite a bit for saying the things he's done, with "race traitor" being high among the list of insults.
For the most part the basic "attitude" of black culture is that it's okay to act that way, but it's also okay to attack anyone as a racist or a bigot for calling them on it, or saying, doing, or even talking about half the things that black culture promotes in of itself. Along with this comes certain attitudes of pro-black racism, entitlement, and of course a willingness to use any tool including screaming racism in the other direction towards pro-black ends. Anyone who happens to be black and becomes critical is either a race traitor, or someone who "sold out so long ago they can't understand what it is to be black anymore". This makes helping these people, halting the conflicts, and dealing with the problems very difficult.
On some levels Bill Cosby and Tyler Perry are polar opposites when it comes to successful, educated, black men, who work heavily with black culture through the entertainment industry. Bill Cosby has spent a good part of his life on educational causes, donating millions to education, founding programs, and even starting things like "Picture Pages" fairly early on to try and help poorer children with less opportunities educate themselves better (albeit the realities of that program and printing costs apparently made it so it wasn't viable for the target audience which is why it died). Basically Bill has been pushing to get black America to grow up and join the rest of society, and assimilate black culture into the mainstream, along with pushing for generally better children's education along the spectrum. It hasn't always made him popular with "his own people". Tyler Perry on the other hand is a really smart guy who pretty much sees a gold mine in black America, a nearly endless gravy train he can ride by encouraging and preying on the worst inclinations of black America. In his comedies he basically uses a style of humor that both mocks and validates this kind of culture and it's associated behaviors. What's more he makes so much money doing it, that he winds up getting a lot of well educated black actors and talents to literally debase themselves when they need the money, which means that a lot of people who otherwise probably would have been positive role models, wind up contributing to the problem when they become heavily associated with his work.
Now, I mostly talk about Tyler Perry because he's the big "name" here, but the same thing could have been said about the Wayans brothers and other people who have done similar types of things over the years, albeit in some of these other cases I think they did as much other stuff they became known for to not quite be considered as destructive a cultural influence.
Outside of "black comedies" you also have the entire genera of black gang movies, which are thankfully not as prevalent as they could be due to the various shootings they have inspired (right there in the theaters) when multiple groups from that culture converge on the same place to see it and act pretty much like the movie suggests they do. Outside those violent incidents (which add to the glamour) these movies then turn around and do as much if not more to glamourize the "Git rich or die trying" lifestyle than rap music, while also selling all of the same garbage Tyler Perry does.
To my way of thinking, the best thing you can do is well... pretty much just keep living, pointing out the problems with the culture when you get the chance, pointing out the stereotypes and how people do not want to actually BE that no matter how much they see it in movies, and similar things. With time, some will listen, and maybe eventually enough people will to the point where this kind of behavior really will just be people sounding off about racist garbage. Of course honestly I doubt you'll ever see many changes in your lifetime, simply because there are millions to be made, political careers to maintain, and voting blocks to be manipulated, all contingent on black america staying pretty much right where it is. Tyler Perry and his ilk need their money, and guys like Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, and the NAACP need this culture with a continued chip on it's shoulder to follow them, so they can broker their influence. After all, if Black America wasn't what it was, things like the whole "Zimmerman" case wouldn't have happened, complete with false information about what the guy slamming his head into the ground looked like. That case, and others like it, act as a demonstration as to what these leaders/groups can do, just or not, and that's a big deal when election time comes around and politicians are offering power and payouts to those who can bring them votes.
Deserved or not, I tend to give Eddie Murphy a general pass as he's done some genuinely good stuff on his own, however his lack of many big successes means he's gone through long periods of "anything for a paycheck". His period of doing Disney movies was... interesting... I kind of give "Nutty Professor" a pass here largely because he had a hard act to follow with it being basically a remake of one of Disney's more classic movies. For the most part it was weight humor. The follow up "The Clumps" however was closer to what your talking about, and pretty bad, mostly he tried to do an entire movie around his talent for playing various characters interacting with each other by using different makeup for each one, which was cool, but not enough to base a movie around. It was a sequel to "Nutty Professor" and really I don't think it was a good idea... at all.
