In the interest of full disclosure, this is a cheeky post, because I solicited ETC's commentary on Hilton Als' Tyler Perry piece. I don't have a lot to say about the skin tone issue--not solely because I'm white, but because I'm not well qualified to (a) discuss it in theory and (b) never having seen a TP film, in no way qualified to discuss it within his body of work.
But what HA had to say about women--in the case of TP's characters, black women--was interesting to me, especially since, as I'd mentioned, I'd just finished reading "The Fourth Hand" by John Irving, and really didn't like the way he wrote women. It's been a while since I've read some of this other works, which I enjoyed a lot more ("The World According to Garp;" "Widow for One Year;" "Cider House Rules;" "A Prayer for Owen Meany;"), but I don't remember having the same reaction. Reading TFH, I thought, JI has a very narrow idea of what his idea of a reasonable woman is. If she's "too" career-driven--similar to what HI says about TP's characters--she's pretty one dimensional. She's a type. He's pretty transparent about it, actually.
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Sadly, I'm in much the same position as you, since I've only seen two of his films and he's made so many, that I don't feel like I have enough knowledge of his canon to really talk about this.
As for Irving, I'd say give him a pass, since his other women have been so interesting and good. I was just talking to someone about his tattoo artist mom (Until You? Until I Find You? Can't remember the title exactly), and I thought she was complicated and wonderful. Same goes for Cider House and Widow For A Year.
Interestingly enough, I think men have been getting a bad rap for being too career driven for years, so I wonder if this isn't a good thing that now women are getting blasted. Don't both sexes get into domestic trouble when they let their careers take front and center?
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