Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the main event!
To my right, in the blue corner, wearing the white trunks, standing 6’5” and weighing in at 215 pounds, with an ever-expanding film, television and publishing empire that includes 23 directorial credits and counting, his own fully-functioning production studio (a first for a black filmmaker), not one but two production companies (The Tyler Perry Company and 34th Street Films), and the toast of contemporary Black Hollywood whether they like it or not – fighting out of Atlanta, Georgia by way of New Orleans, Louisiana – the undisputed king of Lionsgate Films’ production slate (and bottom line), Emmitt Perry, Jr. better known to the world as TY-LER PER-RY!
To my left, in the red corner, wearing the blue trunks with orange and black trim, standing 5’6” and weighing in at 160 pounds, with an outstanding career that encompasses film, television, documentaries and advertising, not to mention 2 Oscar nominations, 2 Primetime Emmys, a Peabody Award, his own production company (40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks), and 46 directorial credits, with several projects in the pipeline – fighting out of the Bed-Stuy district of Brooklyn, New York – the undisputed middleweight champion of progressive black cinema, Shelton Jackson Lee better known to the world as SPIKE LEE!
Round One
“Spike [Lee] can go straight to hell! You can print that. I am sick of him talking about me, I am sick of him saying, ‘This is a coon, this is a buffoon.’ I am sick of him talking about black people going to see movies. This is what he said: ‘You vote by what you see,’ as if black people don’t know what they want to see.”
This fiery salvo from Tyler Perry was slung at a press conference this past April, following the mere mention of Spike Lee’s name by an entertainment reporter while Perry was promoting his latest film, Madea’s Big Happy Family, the latest in a string of modestly-budgeted, strong box office performers from the prolific Chitlin’-Circuit-superstar-turned-filmmaking-mogul.
Perry’s uncharacteristically-blunt takedown of Lee speaks to the ongoing war of words between the two, which Lee ignited back in 2009 when he was asked what he thought of Perry’s film and television work.
“We’ve had this discussion back and forth. When John Singleton [made Boyz ’N the Hood], people came out to see it. But when he did Rosewood, nobody showed up. So a lot of this is on us! You vote with your pocketbook, your wallet,” Lee said. “You vote with your time sitting in front of the idiot box, and [Tyler Perry] has a huge audience. We shouldn’t think that Tyler Perry is going to make the same film that I am going to make, or that John Singleton or my cousin Malcolm Lee [would make]. As African-Americans, we’re not one monolithic group, so there is room for all of that. But at the same time, for me, the imaging is troubling and it harkens back to ‘Amos n’ Andy.’”
Anyone who is familiar with Spike Lee is fully aware that the outspoken filmmaker has never had any qualms about speaking his mind on any subject, even if his remarks landed him in hot water, which has been the case on more than one occasion over the years. Since the release of his first film (1986’s She’s Gotta Have It) 25 years ago, Lee has publicly criticized fellow black celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Laurence Fishburne, as well as fellow filmmakers Clint Eastwood and Norman Jewison.
“Each artist should be allowed to pursue their artistic endeavors, but I still think there is a lot of stuff out today that is coonery and buffoonery. I know it’s making a lot of money and breaking records, but we can do better. I am a huge basketball fan, and when I watch the games on TNT, I see these two ads for these two shows (Tyler Perry’s “Meet the Browns” and “House of Payne”), and I am scratching my head. [We’ve] got a black president, and [we’re] going back to Mantan Moreland and Sleep ‘n’ Eat?”
As previously mentioned, this is hardly the first public spat Lee has gotten himself into. Back in the early-1990s, he accused Matty Rich, the young African-American filmmaker behind 1991’s Straight Out of Brooklyn of being “ignorant,” after Rich, who proudly boasted about how he made a successful film despite having dropped out of NYU’s prestigious film school (Lee’s alma mater), accused the faculty there of racism. Lee later pointed out that the quality of Rich’s film spoke to his lack of filmmaking craft.
Round Two
According to several Hollywood insiders, Lee, who has never before backed down from a fight, has seemingly done just that after being issued a cease and desist from a group of well-established African-American directors and producers. They felt that presenting a united front – considering Perry’s unprecedented success – was the better route to go despite any criticisms they all might have regarding his work.
Lee has been uncharacteristically quiet in the weeks following Perry’s remarks. Likely in an attempt to arouse a response, a recent article on Newsone.com, a website dedicated to breaking news for black America, posed this provocative title question: “Is Tyler Perry a better filmmaker than Spike Lee?”
In a word, no.
Not even close.
The best of Lee’s films (Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Clockers) are complex examinations of life, love, culture and politics within the African-American community. Lee has also coaxed a host of stellar performances from talented actors making memorable first impressions (Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, Rosie Perez, Mekhi Phifer, and Delroy Lindo, to name a few) and veterans working at the top of their game (the late-Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Alfre Woodard, Denzel Washington, and Al Freeman Jr., among others).
Complex is not the first word that comes to mind when discussing Perry’s work, not even his best work to date (Why Did I Get Married?, The Family That Preys and I Can Do Bad All By Myself). An argument could be made about the complexity of the first film made from a Perry property, the screen version of his play Diary of a Mad Black Woman, but that was the work of director Darren Grant.
It’s oddly poetic that Perry built his ever-expanding empire on the padded shoulders of his most popular creation, Mabel “Madea” Simmons, the outspoken, Scripture-quoting, gun-toting, heroine at the center of his most successful plays and films, who, like Spike Lee, isn’t afraid of a fight.
One thing Perry does have over Lee is an amazing business model. Say what you will about the quality of his films (plenty already has been and will continue to be), his two hit TBS sitcoms and his box office-breaking stage presentations – the man clearly knows what his audience wants and delivers it to them time and time again. Lee’s success is better measured in artistic output than in financial returns.
Seemingly anything Perry attaches his name to is automatically given the go ahead, a position in which Lee has never found himself. It’s safe to say that nobody else in the film industry but Perry could have gotten For Colored Girls (the big screen adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s Tony-nominated choreo-poem, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf”) produced and released theatrically. Anybody else would have been fortunate to get a fraction of the film’s $21 million budget much less a theatrical run. It would have likely been produced for broadcast on PBS or cable or On Demand.
Lee is unquestionably the critical darling of the two with a mantlefull of awards and a string of successes under his belt, but Perry is the multi-million dollar baby, well on his way to becoming the Moneymaking King of all Media. And despite the marked disparity in their collective work, here’s hoping they both keep producing work that gets people fired up, in one way or another.
