Hey guys. It has recently come to my attention that black film directors and Spike Lee and Tyler Perry apparently have "beef" with each other. Why do you ask? why is it that the very few black film directors that both produce good work just can' t get along? Well the way that I see Spike Lee dosn't think that Tyler Perry is putting out good work and calls it "coonery buffonery" ( I think that is hilarious, I don't know if it's because it rhymes but I just found that phrase funny. Tyler Perry obviously isn't happy about the hate being thrown his way by Lee telling him to "Go to hell". Here is my opinion on this. First of all, it's sad that these two are fighting, but I will say that I can to a certain extent see Spike Lee's point. I don't agree with the coonery buffornery statement though I do find it funny. I do agree that even though Tyler Perry has made millions from his films they arn't the most thought provoking films. They are very formulaic with the same concepts, story lines and characters being repeated in each film. Before you go and see it you already know how it will start and finish. I would be a hyprocrite if I said that his movies didn't give me a couple of laughs, because they have. There is nothing wrong with producing films that you know are going to uplift people and make them laugh. The thing is, I do wish that as a director Tyler Perry would aim for having more variety in his films. Spike Lees films have always been known to be thought provoking and to push the bounderies. His movies have become iconic in black film even contributing to pop culuture ( LOL everytime you see a person of another race with a black man you say they have Jungle Fever). Movies such as School Daze and Do the Right thing have always worked to bring to light a lot of issues within the black community. On the other hand he hasn't come out with any movies lately, the last known movie being Miracle at St.Anna I believe, a movie that barely made waves at the box office. I definitely don't knock Spike Lee. There is more worth to a director than the amount of money they pull in at the box office. It's about the art. It's about expressing your views and sometimes your views arn't going to be as appealing as the kick ass special effects of Transformers, the buffonery of Zack Galifinakis of The Hangover or even the gun wielding psychotic mess that is Madea. There are plenty of great directors out there that focus more on the art and don't necessarily care about pulling in big box office dough like the works of Michael Bay or Stephen Speilberg. No matter what you say about Tyler Perry at least he is continuously with every film providing jobs to many black actors especially Black Women who constantly struggle to find acting jobs, that don't have them playing the same part over and over again. I'm sure that many of these actors would love to participate in other movies but he's the only one hiring and they still have rent to pay and for some of them children to feed and take care of. With all of that being said after thinking of things from both perspectives, I think that they should settle their differences and even try to work together on a project. There is no use in using all of this time disputing when it can be use to make some good black cinema.
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