A Great Example...

Tyler Perry is a great example of a Black male doing something positive to change the way society views the Black community. His films and plays show the Black culture in positive ways, while still maintaining cultural roots. Today, instead of focusing most of my attention to my British Literature paper, I did what I do best-I procrastinated. But it worked in my favor because I spent most of the day watching Perry's film Why Did I Get Married? and I am currently on its sequel. In the film, he shows four different couples and the pitfalls that they face in their marriages. While two of the husbands do in fact cheat, they are not praised for it, in fact, the other two men try to show them the error in their ways and explain to them that women should not be treated in that way. All four of the men are successful, Perry's character is a pediatrician. Perry is a loving father, and all he wants is for his lawyer wife to spend more time with him and their daughter. It was just nice to see a film that is able to display positive core values and also keep some important cultural ideas intact. I'm also glad that he did not just have these four perfect men in there because that would have been unrealistic, but rather, he used these men who were having infidelities as a way to show his young audience, especially Black young men, that disrespecting women is not a practice that should continue.

I became so interested in Perry that I looked for an interview with him on YouTube and came across one that he had with Oprah, where he admitted to being raped as a young man by another man, as well as by a woman on another occasion. I felt that the fact that he was able to take those things in his life and use them in proactive way-making films that highlight Black people in a positive light, and being honest about hardships he's faced-proved that we can move away from this need for recognition in a violent way. Perry has gotten recognition in the way that he should, for being successful and rising above his past. He is a great role model for all men, I believe.