There is currently a bombardment of TV commercials for Tyler Perry’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” on TNT, and it got me thinking about identities. Tyler Perry is actor/writer/comedian(?) with such notches in his belt as “House of Payne” on TBS. I’d say that the majority of the time in his TV shows or movies he acts as his character “Medea”, the matriarchal old grandmother of a usually chaotic family in some terrible holiday situation.
His use of Medea has gotten to the point where I’ve begun to wonder: Does Perry wake up as Medea only to disrobe and put on men’s clothing for meeting? Or does he wake up as Perry only to don the gray wig and fake bosoms of his female alter-ego? Is he more Perry or more Medea?
In the last six years there have been some “party switches” by national pols that’s drawn major media attention. Let it be known that I’m not talking about the party switch that goes on over your head when you’re walking around with a case of Miller Lite under your arm and your favorite pants on. In 2001, then-Sen. Jim Jeffords from Vermont became an independent switching from the GOP. And most recently, Sen. Joe Lieberman became an independent after losing the Democratic primary in 2006. He was eventually reelected back to his seat that same year. Even more recently Lieberman, Al Gore’s vice presidential nominee in 2000, spoke at the GOP convention in St. Paul advocating for a John McCain presidency.
Before I move on I’d like to state that one of the reasons Congress sucks harder than an octopus right now is the loss of Independents in both Houses. With the increased polarization of the two parties platforms are rammed through when a majority is gained and any true governing is done by the handful of party politicians willing to think across the aisle.
John McCain is one of those politicians. It remains to be seen whether Barack Obama is one, benefitting of course from his lack of time in the Senate. But with McCain, he was a politician who tinkered with switching parties in 2001 before Jeffords did, according to articles. And in 2004, Kerry, painted as a windsurfing liberal and fake veterean despite him still having shrapnel in his body, seriously courted McCain to join him on the ticket.
The question for Republicans, especially conservative ones, and independent voters this year is what kind of McCain they’ll get: the regular Tyler Perry version who is a Republican that votes solidly Republican a vast majority of the time or the Medea version who is a Republican and everyone can tell she is but the media keeps portraying her as a maverick so he/she begins to wonder?
Does McCain wake up as an independent only to disrobe and go to meetings as a GOPer? Or does he wake up a Republican only to don the fake bosoms of a maverick?
PS–Stay tuned for a monster post after this weekend because it’s a doozy. My friend Sean gets married, the first presidential debate, and I square off against my buddy Mo — a titan among children — in fantasy football. I’m going to try and keep a running diary of the entire event. There may be some photos too…
September 24, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Have you ever watched a Tyler Perry film? They are terrible, but their popularity is easily attributable to a yearning for films about successful black men and women and for more talk about morals and fidelity in that particular community. I lived down the street from Tyler Perry’s studio in Atlanta. That guy is a cottage industry down there.
However, these films, in some ways, with their focus on religious convention are harbingers of the next big party switch: the voting black public switching to the GOP.