Fresh Loaf

Atlanta media magnate Tyler Perry must be basking in the popularity of his latest film, Why Did I Get Married?, which has grossed an estimated $38 million as of its second weekend. Go Tyler Perry! You’ll be able to purchase that island in no time!

At Slate.com, Wesley Morris has a good assessment of Perry’s films and their appeal, “Tyler Perry’s Secret for Success,” that does a smart job of placing Perry in a context of film history. I particularly like this observation: “What Perry is making are really women’s pictures, the popular genre that reached its height in the 1940s, starred actors like Joan Crawford and Rosalind Russell, and melodramatically saw women through all kinds of modern crises, from deceitful daughters to the career vs. stay-at-home dilemma.”

He makes another interesting suggestion near the story’s conclusion: “Perry is not August Wilson, Charles Burnett, or Spike Lee, nor does he want to be. But he is well on his way to being America’s most important black entertainer. Perhaps the best comparison isn’t Lee, but Oscar Micheaux, the entrepreneur and pioneering black director of the early 20th century.”

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Tags: movies & tv, Tyler-Perry.