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Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion: Colorism, Sexism, and
Violence of African Americans
Marcia Bilbo
MATC Graduate Student
Texas State University – San Marcos

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The dominant culture has always controlled the type of entertainment created, what it is
about, and who is allowed to participate in the creation of given forms of media. There are ten
times as many prominent Caucasians within the film industry than any minority race. Although
minorities have been allowed to participate in the creation of given types of media, minorities
have only had limited mobility in the directing, producing, and acting roles within the
entertainment world. While many minority actors such as Sydney Portier, Morgan Freeman,
Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, Denzel Washington, and few others have been able to
cross racial lines to act in prominent roles, many other minority actors and actresses are reduced
to either taking on stereotypical roles of a given culture, or settling for roles within low budget
movies. The same applies for directors within the movie industry. According to the New York
Times, over ninety percent of movie directors are white males over forty (Cieply, 2009). The
most well known African American directors were Spike Lee and John Singleton for decades
until Tyler Perry began to make his rise to fame.
With a predominately white film industry, understanding how a Black director, producer,
playwright and actor such as Tyler Perry quickly rose to success within the African American
community is clear. Although Spike Lee and John Singleton have been producing and directing
movies for decades, their movies mainly focused on addressing serious issues within the Black
community or telling stories about the daily struggle for many Blacks living in various
environments throughout the United States. Tyler Perry differs from Lee and Singleton in that he
chose to display his messages for the Black community within comedies where the messages are
often delivered by Perry himself dressed as an over sixty-year-old grandmother. In addition to,
Perry includes religious messages of forgiveness, hope, and prayer within all of his films. Tyler
Perry has created three television shows, written and starred in eleven plays, and produced,

directed, and appeared in eleven movies that have appealed to many Black audiences for
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providing them with an aspect of their lives that had been missing from media since the 1990s.
One of Tyler Perry’s earlier movies, Madea’s Family Reunion, focuses on issues of love,
abuse, generational curses, self-pride, and forgiveness as different characters struggle to handle
personal situations only to overcome and triumph in the end. Madea’s Family Reunion is a story
about being able to rely on family during difficult times, finding love after pain, and knowing
when to be strong despite all odds. The movie has an outstanding cast with Blair Underwood,
Jennifer Lewis, and Lynn Whitfield along with influential figures Maya Angelou and Cecily
Tyson delivering messages of love and family pride. Madea’s Family Reunion is the movie that
truly sets Perry’s movie career in motion and made him the prominent Black producer, director,
writer, and actor he is today.
In a society that is controlled by the dominant white culture, Black entertainment, actors,
and audiences praise Tyler Perry for consistently producing entertainment made by, for, and with
African Americans. However, not all African Americans praise Tyler Perry for what he has done
for the community. In fact, many believe that Perry is further damaging the image of Blacks
through the many stereotypes he repeatedly includes in his movies in addition to his role as a
cross-dressing grandmother. Using Thomas Huckin’s (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA),
I will demonstrate how Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion is not only reinforcing
stereotypes about African Americans, but that it is also promoting internal racism within Black
entertainment and the Black community along with anti-feminist depictions of women.

Critical Discourse Analysis Framework
I will use CDA as the framework for which I will identify dominant discourses that
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portray women and African Americans within society and the movie industry, and analyze how
these discourses reinforce internal racism, violence, and sexist ideals within African American
communities. CDA recognizes that different forms of media are not created, seen, or heard in
isolation, but have relevance in a society and examines those discourses in context for the affects
media can have on that society. According to Pimentel and Sawyer, in their CDA of Akeelah and
the Bee, “CDA is an ethical approach to analyzing texts with the goal of uncovering power
imbalances that are embedded within texts and images that work to (re)produce racial constructs,
and in extension, the status quo” ( 2011). Similarily, Pimentel and Valesquez interpret CDA as
the analyses of “written and spoken texts to reveal discursive sources of power, dominance,
inequality, and bias and how these sources are initiated, maintained, reproduced, and transformed
within specific socioeconomic, political, and historical contexts” (2009). All in all, CDA takes an
in depth look at all forms of written and spoken media and analyzes it for dominant discourses
that reinforce, reproduce, and reiterate stereoptypes, demeaning perspectives, and portrayals of
minority groups in an unfavorable light as entertainment without considering the effects of these
depictions on society. With this in mind, Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion is not a movie
that is simply a form of entertainment, but has an affect on the way African Americans and
women are viewed, treated, and discriminated against within the real world. The discourses
portrayed within Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family Reunion, and in all of Tyler Perry’s movies and
plays, as well as many other mainstream forms of media, which I will discuss in this article are
internal racism – more importantly colorism – sexist and anti-feminist portrayals of women, and
the idea that Blacks are a violent people.

Internal Racism and Colorism
The least evident but most prevalent discourse within Madea’s Family Reunion is
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colorism. “Colorism is the allocation of privilege and disadvantage according to the lightness or
darkness of one’s skin” (Burke, 2008). Colorism is a form of internal racism where an ethnic
group holds members with features similar to Europeans to a higher standard than others.
“Colorism beliefs and practices operate both within and across racial and ethnic groups” (Bonilla
– Silva, 2009). Individuals with fair skin (the term lighter than a brown paper bag is often used
within the Black community to describe individuals that were not considered dark), eye color
other than brown ( hazel, gray, green, blue, etc.) and curly, wavy, or naturally straight hair are all
physical characteristics favored within some African American communities and therefore
receive better treatment than traditional looking Blacks that favor their African ancestors more.
“Throughout the decade, several studies highlighted that skin color functioned as epidermic
capital, providing lighter skinned individuals with special privaleges and advatages” (Herring,
Keith, & Horton, 2004). The sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha was originally known for only
accepting pledges that were “lighter than a brown paper bag” (Maxwell, 2003). Tyler Perry
reinforces colorism not only through his choice of lead actors within Madea’s Family Reunion,
but also through the way specific characters are portrayed within the movie. The light-dark
dichotomy is seen played out between the two sisters Lisa and Vanessa as well as between their
mates Carlos and Frankie.
Lisa Simmons is one of two sisters who is fair-skinned with curly hair and light brown
eyes, her mother’s pride and joy, and the fiancée of an attractive Investment Banker. Vanessa,
Lisa’s half-sister, is darker than Lisa, although still “lighter than a brown paper bag,” struggling
financially with two kids, single, and her mother’s enemy. From the start of the movie, Lisa is

portrayed as a beauty that is meant to be charished as a fragile piece of art from the way she is
viewed and protected by various characters throughout the movie. The movie opens to Lisa
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waking up in a bed that is lightly covered in rose petals that travel down to the floor and create a
pathway leading to the bathroom. Once Lisa arrives to the bathroom, she is greeted by her fiancé
who has champagne, a bubble bath, and a full string quartet waiting for Lisa to enjoy. This
opening scene not only lets the audience know that Lisa is beautiful and worthy to pampered, but
it also supports the idea that light skin women are romantized within society. Later in the movie,
Carlos proclaims that he is a “collector of beautiful things” insinuating that light skinned women
are more beautiful.
Whereas, the first impression the audience receives of Vanessa is that she is a single mom
with two kids by two “no good baby daddies.” Within Vanessa’s first lines in the movie, she
exclaims that although she has two wonderful children, neither of her children’s fathers are
helping her raise her kids. Not only does “baby daddy” have a negative connotation within
society, it is normally a word associated with low socioecononic Blacks that are viewed as
“ghetto”. The omission of either of the children’s fathers in the movie emphasizes the stereotype
that Black men are always having sexual relations with women but disappearing whenever the
woman has a child. It also emphasizes the idea that Black women are unable to choose suitable
mates that will marry them instead of leaving them as single mothers. Not only is Vanessa
portrayed as a stereotypical unmarried, dark skinned Black woman struggling to provide for her
two children, she is also portrayed as beneath her fair skinned sister by working as an assistant in
planning her wedding. This notion is reiterated in the scene where Lisa and Vanessa’s mother,
Victoria, does not even acknowledge that Vanessa is in the room when Lisa asks her if she was
looking forward to seeing her grandchildren. Victoria responds “I don’t want to see those little

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bastards” as if Vanessa was not there to hear her say those words. Throughout the movie Victoria
is seen praising Lisa while insulting and fighting with Vanessa about everything she does. The
mother treats Vanessa as if she is less than Lisa and therefore not worthy of any affection.
Victoria’s way of cherishing the light-skinned daughter while mistreating the darker-skinned
daughter can be seen in many African American families. “In fact, colorism was considered, by
some, to be as influential on individuals’ and families’ life course as race itself” (M. E. Hill,
2000; Wade & Beilitz, 2005). Tyler Perry supports this idea through the way the mother,
Victoria, dotes on her lighter-skinned daughter Lisa, and in the way that Carlos treats her as a
trophy wife for everyone to see.
Lisa’s role as a beautiful, light-skinned maiden is only exemplified by the fact that her
rich fiancé Carlos is a dark-skinned abusive, controlling man. Although Carlos is a successfully
established Black man, all of that is overshadowed by his abusive, abrasive, controlling behavior
towards Lisa throughout the movie. There are several instances were Carlos is more violent
towards Lisa than he is loving and affectionate. In the first scene of Madea’s Family Reunion,
the audience gets the sense that Carlos is a loving fiancé concerned about his future wife, which
is the only scene where he shows Lisa any affection. But in the next scene, he strikes Lisa down
to the floor for not answering her phone and having a stripper in his house. In following scenes,
Carlos threatens to beat Lisa for yawning during a dinner date with another couple, threatens to
kill her if she tries to leave him, and even attempts to throw her over a balcony when she does try
to leave. All of these scenes not only set up Carlos to be the villian of the movie, but it plants the
idea in the audience’s mind that all dark-skinned Black men are evil, controlling, abusive men.
On the other hand, Vanessa’s boyfriend in the movie, Frankie, is a light-skinned man that
is loving, passionate, caring, hardworking, and a good father. Whereas Carlos’ successful career

was overshadowed by his violent actions, Frankie’s blue collar job as a city bus driver is
overshadowed by his loving ways. Frankie is even portrayed as the hero in the sense that he
saves Vanessa from her past beliefs about men through his love for her. There is not even one
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scene in the movie where Frankie becomes upset or frustrated with Vanessa’s reluctance to allow
him into her life. He just remains a patience man just waiting for her to allow herself to love him.
Similar to Carlos and the depiction of dark-skinned men, this creates the idea that fair-skinned
Black men are heros of love by healing emotionally hurt women.
By Tyler Perry selecting the darker-skinned sister and fiancé to play roles associated
most with African American stereotypes whereas the fairer-skinned actor and actress play the
beauty and the savior, not only is he supporting stereotypes, but he is also strengthening the
notion that light-skinned Blacks are just better than darker-skinned Blacks. Perry is also
supporting the idea that having more lead actors that represent one spectrum of the color scale
over the other is acceptable. Carlos, played by Blair Underwood, was the darkest lead character
within the movie, and he was the villian. Any other dark-skinned actors within the movie were
only minor characters. Not only does this lead people to believe that dark-skinned actors and
actresses are not worthy to have lead roles in movies, but that anything closer to white better.
Since some studies have already shown that White movie goers will not pay to see movies with
two Black leads (Jacobs, 2011), Tyler Perry reinforces this by not allowing more than one dark-
skinned actors to have a leading roles. This says to all races that fair-skinned actors are more
aesthically pleasing on screen and deserve more lead roles in movies.

Sexism and Anti-Feminism
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Madea’s Family Reunion also includes sexist and anti-feminist ideas of women. Sexism
is defined by Merriam-Webster as “behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of
social roles based on sex” (Merriam-Webster, 2011). Since the Women’s Rights Movement,
ideas on what the traditional roles of a woman and how women are depicted in media have been
challenged and many have been fighting to change the way women are viewed. Unfortunately,
sexism is as common in society as racism, especially among certain ethnic groups. “Many
racial/ethnic minority women are exposed to various forms of rascism and sexism that come
from a variety of places including interpersonal relationships, workplaces, media, and legal
systems” (American Psychological Association, 2007). Women in Madea’s Family Reunion are
depicted as mothers, wives, girlfriends, or fiancée. None of the women in the movie have
careers, talk about having or obtaining a career (aside from Madea’s foster daughter), or mention
past careers.
Tyler Perry does not include depictions of young, independent women in Madea’s
Family Reunion, but portrays women as damsels in distress that are incapable of fully providing
for themselves and needing a man to save, provide for, protect, and love them. This idea is most
evident with Lisa, Vanessa, and their mother Victoria. While Vanessa works at a bridal store,
which is sexists, neither Lisa nor Victoria have jobs although both are shown living lavish
lifestyles because of Lisa’s fiancé and Victoria’s deceased husband. There is no mention of an
education for any of the women, nor do any of the women express dreams of being anything
other than loved by a good man as if all women, particularily Black women, only want to be in
love. This presupposes that women do not want to have a successful career, or fulfill a life long
goal of opening a business, or do anything other than find a loving husband.

Of the three women, Vanessa is the only character that has a job and is somewhat
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independent; however, this is overshadowed by the fact that she does not have a car – shown by
her taking the bus to work – or her own home because she lives with Madea. These details
foreground Vanessa more as a struggling mother and not as a provider for her family. Showing
Vanessa in need of help only makes the idea of Frankie saving her easier to accept because it is
clear that she is struggling financially as well as emotionally. Although Vanessa is originally
depicted as strong-willed, hardworking, and somewhat independent of needing a man, that soon
changes and she sees loving Frankie and allowing him to love her as the most important thing in
life next to her children. Vanessa expresses loving Frankie and her children more passionately
then she does anything else. Having Vanessa go from a loving mother trying to provide for her
children to a woman grateful to have a man love her insinuates that every struggling mother is
not trying to better her and her children’s lives by finding a better job or going to school to
further their education, but are just simply waiting for the right man to come along and sweep
them from their feet. Even the elders of the Simmons family talk about love as if it is the only
goal a woman should strive to reach. Ciecly Tyson’s character May expresses this through the
way she talked about her late husband as if he was the best thing that ever happened in her life.
Tyler Perry frames love for women as the ultimate goal and that nothing else comes close in
comparison.
The way the women are framed within Madea’s Family Reunion also presupposes that
Black women only want to get married so that they are well taken care of because they are
incapable of providing for themselves. Lisa demonstrates this the most through the way she
allows her mother to choose her boyfriend and convinces her to marry and stay with him even
after she finds out Carlos is abusing Lisa. When Lisa first expresses to her mother that Carlos is

eating her, her mother responds by telling her that she must stop doing what she is doing to
upset Carlos so that he won’t beat her anymore as if his abusive nature is Lisa’s fault. Her
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mother goes on to say that Lisa has no choice but to marry Carlos because what else is she going
to do. Victoria ends her argument by telling Lisa “now just be a good wife, do what the man
says, and you won’t have any problems.” Not only does this scene support the idea that being a
good housewife means keeping your husband happy so he does not beat you, it omitted the
possibility that Lisa may have not wanted to marry Carlos or wanted to get married at all. It
framed marriage as the only reasonable option for a young Black woman as if being single and
independent with a career is not an option.
Blacks and Violence
Tyler Perry’s character Madea single handedly reinforces the stereotype that Black
people are violent by nature. African Americans are often depicted as violent beings in movies,
television shows, on the news, and in music which insinuates that all African Americans are
barbaric and appear to “lack intelligence and therefore resort to violence” (Pimentel & Sawyer,
2011) to solve their problems. Not only is Madea’s character known for caring a gun with her
every where she goes, she is also repeatedly seen assaulting adolescents and advising members
of the family to use violence. Madea also has a history of criminal activity that has landed her in
jail which also coincides with the notion that Blacks make up a large majority of people in
prison. Madea is essentially an influential character in the movie and by her using violence to
solve her problems and advising others to use violence emphasizes that Blacks are aggressive,
temperamental, and can only result to violence to solve their problems which often leads to their

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receiving criminal charges. In addition, by Perry framing Madea’s violent tendencies as comedic
situations, he is suggesting that violence is normal and acceptable reaction to all situations.
In Madea’s first scene in Madea’s Family Reunion, she is appearing in court for violating
the house arrest sentence she received in the previous movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman. In
the previous movie, Madea destroyed her niece’s ex-husband’s private property which landed
her in jail and on house arrest. Immediately, Madea reminds the audience of the history that
African Americans have with the judicial system and how they are frequently facing criminal
charges for their actions. The fact that Madea is a grandmother also implies that African
Americans are in trouble with the law throughout their lives, even as senior citizens. This
stereotype is made more noticeable by the fact that the judge knows Madea’s name which
reinforces the idea that Blacks are very familiar with being arrested and appearing before a judge
throughout their lives.
As an alternative form of punishment for Madea, the judge orders her to become a foster
parent and take charge of a teenage girl that has had trouble with the law. After reluctantly
accepting to take care of the teenager, Madea is in the car with Brian and the teenage girl driving
to her home. While in the car, the teenager continues to pop her gum after Madea has repeatedly
asked her to stop. After the teenage girl expresses that she will fight Madea, Madea turns around
to the back seat, yells, and assaults the girl. In another scene, Madea is seen assaulting a high
school boy after he tells her “Shut up old lady!” And in yet another scene, Madea takes out a bag
of belts in which she proceeds to pick one of the belts to beat the teenage girl with because she
skipped school. In these scenes, Madea resorts to physically disciplining all adolescents as
opposed to using alternative methods of discipline. By only showing Madea immediately using
physical methods to discipline children, Tyler Perry presupposes that corporal punishment is the

only way to properly discipline children, and insinuates that all African Americans beat their
children as opposed to talking with them or using other forms of discipline. The movie also
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emphasizes the notion that Blacks are not level-headed and are easily angered and therefore are
quick to lash out by the way Madea is repeatedly seen lunging towards teenagers rather than
calmly talking to them to help solve the issue as to why they are behaving in such manners.
Additionally, Madea views violence and threats as a means for solving problems. Madea
viewed her foster child’s attitude and behavior as a problem, and therefore used violence to solve
the problem. Perry reiterates the idea that beating children works by the way the teenage girl
goes from being disrespectful and rude to sweet and well-behaved. Because Madea’s methods
are proven to work within the movie, it only seems right that she would advise others to
implement the same methods within their lives. When Vanessa hints to Madea that Lisa’s fiancé
is beating her, Madea suggests that Lisa makes a hot pot of grits and when her fiancé is seated at
the table expecting to receive a hot breakfast, she proceeds to pour the hot pot of grits onto him
before beating him with a skillet. Madea even makes a joke about how beating the man in this
manner is like a sport and calls it “Gritball”. In this scene, Tyler Perry omits the legal
ramifications that could occur from pouring hot grits on someone and beating them with a skillet,
but he also does not offer an alternative way for Lisa to get away from her abusive husband.
Madea’s attitude towards violence now only presupposes that violence is the best method for
solving problems, but promotes violence as an acceptable response to all situations.
Conclusion
The media in the United States does not always depict minorities in positive lights. “Most
of the media we are exposed to reinforces racist constructs, and thus the continuation of a

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racialized society” (Pimentel & Sawyer, 2011). Oftentimes, we do not notice the inappropriate
discourses within movies because we are too focused on being entertained. “Popular culture
movies often help reproduce many of the various racist ideologies that negatively frame
minoritized people,” (Pimentel & Velázquez) and Tyler Perry is helping to continue this practice
through Madea’s Family Reunion and other movies. In Pimentel and Velasquez’s CDA of Shrek
2, they discuss a comment by Spike Lee on how African Americans are being “bamboozled into
taking roles that amplify White middle-class society’s negative depiction of African Americans”
(2009). Although Tyler Perry has an opportunity to impact the way African Americans are
viewed in society, he is continuing racial discourses through repeatedly creating movies that
bamboozle Black actors into playing roles that only portray Blacks through repeated stereotypes.
Not only is he further damaging ideas of African Americans through his movies, supporting
internal racism, and using dominant practices of selecting actors, but he is also supporting anti-
feminist and sexist discourses through his one-sided depictions of women in his movies.
Tyler Perry has the opportunity to create movies with positive depictions of African
Americans as successful, well-rounded, level-headed individuals that are able to thrive within the
dominant culture. Tyler Perry has a chance to stop the reinforcement of negative stereotypes
about African Americans and create positive changes in the way African Americans are viewed.
He can be a positive role model for future Blacks wanting to pursue a career in the entertainment
business, and change the way some things are practiced with cultural groups and dominant racial
discourses by not reproducing the same racist and sexist discourses under the guise of comedy.

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