February 13, 2011

• “FOR COLORED GIRLS” – WHO WILL NEVER CONSIDER CENSORSHIP WHEN THE TRUTH IS ENOUGH

   

  "The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them."

                                                              -- Maya Angelou

   

   

  I finally saw this film today. I am a neat freak, a loner, and a recluse. That means that the average filthy public theatre, filled with loud, rude, and germy fools is truly hellish for me. So, I see most films very belatedly in the comfort of my own living room… “For Colored Girls” was worth the wait!

  Truth telling is always discomforting. The truth usually hurts. Envy is stronger than pain. Tyler Perry is hated because he is gifted and rich. He is despised because he is a brave and honest feminist. He is loathed because he is man enough to bring truths about black female pain to screens.

  I adore Tyler because he loves black women. His movies feature strong black women in every hue and class. They are the women who created me. They are the women who nurtured me. They are the women I know. They are the women I love.

  People of all races and genders who can handle cold hard truths love this film as I do. Millions of black women endure deep pain and abuse each day. They will never pretend that black men do not cause the majority of that pain. And, they never should. Wounds heal best in open air. African Kings tend and heal our open wounds, while court jesters simply demand that we hide all wounds within closed suicidal whispers.

  There is not a single lie in Ntozake Shange’s classic choreopoem “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow is Enuf”. Likewise, there is not a single lie in Tyler’s screen adaptation. Tyler superbly channeled authentic pain onto screens. He told hard truths as excellently as always.

  This film is a classic black look at universally hard truths. It is painfully true that date rape is real. It is true that adulterous husbands typically cheat with infectious diseased women/men. It is also true that millions of gays are living legally married deceitful heterosexual lies. It is true that many holy hypocrites use mindless religions to wield mental and emotional torture. It is true that many colorist blacks engage white supremacy via interracial designer breeding.  It is true that millions of weak codependent women suicidally adore fatally abusive men, to the detriment of their helpless and hopeless children.

  It is also true that alcoholism and war traumas breed many monsters. It is equally true that some men are tender, unconditional, and ideal lovers and friends. It is true that illegal abortions are brutal and deadly. It is visibly true that Janet Jackson is suddenly bleaching her skin as Michael Jackson always did…All of these truths shine in Tyler’s deeply intimate and raw film.

  When I see any Tyler Perry film I know that I am not going to endure ghetto gun play and gangsta rap. I know I will see real homes and hear real music. I will see real honorable black parents and rainbow black people in all of their diverse splendor and humanity. I will see passion and imperfection. I will see feminists and sages. I will see heroes and cads. I will see demons and angels. I will see reality with its warriors and its warts. That is what I have come to expect from every Tyler film. To date, Tyler has never disappointed me.

  “For Colored Girls” features many hypnotic, unnerving, unforgettable, and magical moments. I have not seen a date rape that sickened me so since “Sugar Hill”. I have not watched a traumatized parent grieve as hauntingly since “The Women of Brewster Place”. I have not seen a black male lover so intimately perfect since “Set it Off”. Tyler has infused the sheer raw emotion of each of these classic films and made an even better one.

  I adored Tupac Shakur in all of his regal rage and flawed fierceness. In his classic song “Wonda Why They Call U Bitch”, he crucifies a hood rat. I love that song. Clones of the hood rat parents he described have destroyed children I have taught and struggled to save for decades. Many fertile bitches that hate and doom their own unwanted children have shattered my heart. As a lesbian, I have dated wicked bitches that have wounded my soul. As an African Queen, I knew that a King like Tupac loved his fellow regal women. I knew he was not talking to me or about me or the black women I adore and admire.

  Ever notice how whiny black men who lament realistic images of horrid black men are always mute about realistic images of horrid black women? Has any gangsta rapper ever been attacked by these black men like Alice Walker has been? Has any black male author ever been crucified like Michelle Wallace? Has any director of gangster cinema ever been libeled and slandered like Tyler Perry? Most people minor in the major and major in the minor. Cowards deny and distract. Revolutionaries deal with reality, no matter how painful and unflattering that reality may be.

  When weak black men whined about “The Color Purple”, they ignored droves of cursed realities for rural black females. It was that reality that compelled Tina Turner to refuse the role of Shug Avery, because the film was too excruciatingly real for the little country girl named Anna Mae Bullock, whom the icon Tina once was. My own mother has never watched the entire film because the realistic Celie reminds her of too many tortured girls she knew growing up in rural Arkansas.

  When those same black male court jesters whined about the film “Precious”, they brazenly ignored droves of early childhood educators like me, who see sexually abused children daily. Teachers have been clairvoyant about an inhumane generation of toxic young parents and horridly abused children. But, most persons never pondered dual incest until they viewed this film, or the rapes and murder of Shaniya Davis on the “Nancy Grace Show”. That same arrogant ignorance and amoral denial fueled all of the soulless whining about “For Colored Girls”.

  Do not believe the whiny hype of sexists who hate and envy Tyler Perry. “For Colored Girls” is a cinematic masterpiece. It is a piercing pained scream, a collective soul deep chant, and a blood curdling triumphant shout. It is a celebration of self love, survival, and sanity in a sexist and racist world that does all it can to destroy all that is black and female. See this real and classic film ASAP.

   

  

  

  • 10:17 PM
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