Just Who is "For Colored Girls" For?
BY t. tara turk
My friend Bassey Ikpi wrote a FANTASTIC article on Huffington Post about the Tyler Perry "For Colored Girls" movie and why it's going to be hard to see it. So I can't really add much more to her dope diatribe except for the fact that Hollywood surely loves to make something where there shouldn't be anything at all.
"For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" is actually the title of Ntozake Shange's choreo-poem (the first of its kind, ushered in by the legendary Woodie King, Jr.) that made it to Broadway some 35 years ago. Ntozake called it a choreopoem because Ntozake was a poet, dancer, actress, and bohemian, feather goddess who just wrote what she wanted to see. Now, "for colored girls..." (this is how it's usually spelled when you speak of it theatrically) is not even my favorite Ntozake choreopoem/play. My favorite is "Spell #7" which is a mixed gendered journey into love and realization of one's self. That piece is full of BOMBS (please don't read this Tyler Perry. You've done enough). I would hate to see it on the silver screen.
As a writer of many mediums (stage, screen and page), I believe that most projects come to us 'writerly folk' in a form for a reason. If I hear dialogue and I see movement, I know it's a play. If it's a story that almost feels epic in proportion, it's a novel. If I am disciplined, I can write the screen. Sometimes one can be adapted for the other. But sometimes they can't be. Toni Morrison, one of my FAVORITE writers (so favorite that I have some of her words tattooed on me since I EARNED them), is very difficult to FEEL on the screen. I know Oprah did "Beloved". But um.... so anyway, how about those elections? Seriously, even Ntozake considers Tyler's film "unfinished." Hmm...
Sometimes the machine of Hollywood and all its players, get so starved to make a "relevant" project that they forget to check the RELEVANCY of the story and its medium. There are exceptions (as always). Great artists abandoned great pieces all the time because the excuse, "I've always wanted to tell that story" is not enough to make a great piece. You have to be more respectful to the process of telling the story than "because you think you can."
Not sure I will see it. Super Professor Melissa Harris-Perry summed it up for me: "The play 'for colored girls...' changed my life. TPerry films make me wish I were dead."
T. Tara Turk's fiction has appeared in African Voices, Exit the Apple and the international anthology X24. Her plays have appeared at New Federal Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater and the Actor’s Studio. Her screenplays have been featured in such festivals as Reel Sisters, BHERC and on BETJ. Contact her at scruffdiva[at]gmail.com.
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| Ntozake Shange |
As a writer of many mediums (stage, screen and page), I believe that most projects come to us 'writerly folk' in a form for a reason. If I hear dialogue and I see movement, I know it's a play. If it's a story that almost feels epic in proportion, it's a novel. If I am disciplined, I can write the screen. Sometimes one can be adapted for the other. But sometimes they can't be. Toni Morrison, one of my FAVORITE writers (so favorite that I have some of her words tattooed on me since I EARNED them), is very difficult to FEEL on the screen. I know Oprah did "Beloved". But um.... so anyway, how about those elections? Seriously, even Ntozake considers Tyler's film "unfinished." Hmm...
Sometimes the machine of Hollywood and all its players, get so starved to make a "relevant" project that they forget to check the RELEVANCY of the story and its medium. There are exceptions (as always). Great artists abandoned great pieces all the time because the excuse, "I've always wanted to tell that story" is not enough to make a great piece. You have to be more respectful to the process of telling the story than "because you think you can."
Not sure I will see it. Super Professor Melissa Harris-Perry summed it up for me: "The play 'for colored girls...' changed my life. TPerry films make me wish I were dead."
T. Tara Turk's fiction has appeared in African Voices, Exit the Apple and the international anthology X24. Her plays have appeared at New Federal Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater and the Actor’s Studio. Her screenplays have been featured in such festivals as Reel Sisters, BHERC and on BETJ. Contact her at scruffdiva[at]gmail.com.
Very interesting perspective, TP is one of the best at what he does the black woman is THE best at what she does. We are no longer crying about life we are strengthened by the struggles. More to come . . . .
ReplyDeleteWowwee
You can read T. Tara Turk weekly at On Demand Weekly too.
ReplyDeletehttp://ondemandweekly.com/blog/article/who_the_bleep_did_i_marry_vod_hidden_gem/
it is interesting. i hope the readers will keep this conversation going. more to come...
ReplyDeleteI've seen two productions of FCGWHCSWTRIE (no way I'm typing that full title) and each production has been moving and involving and free flowing and at the same time, claustrophobic because of it's intimacy. One of the lines that stood out was "THERE WAS NO AIR," and there really wasn't. Like Tara, I fear a Tyler Perry production of this piece because what was once intimate will inevitably become very broad and overdone. But this film--this work needs to be seen by a large audience. Tyler Perry, in association with Oprah can deliver that audience. For years, this piece has been remade under different names that have waited to exhale the "no air" Shange brought into the public consciousness. It's time her voice, her ideas were brought to a larger audience because the condition she depicts and the hope that she elicits is for more than just colored girls. Will Tyler Perry ruin it? He may make a bad movie--but he cannot kill the message. It transcends format.
ReplyDelete"exhaled" the "no air" Colored Girls first breathed into existence. Will thet film be
how can you judge something you've never seen? is that a bit hypocritical? i appreciate your opinion and your creative/somewhat theoretical spin, but please experience it first and then let's have the dialogue....
ReplyDeletefrom t. tara turk:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (the last one unless you're all the same person!),
This wasn't meant to be a review more so a reason why there are a LARGE group of people (who aren't haters) who are reluctant and skeptical to see the movie because they know the history of the story and because of the filmmaker. I think I'm allowed to have the opinion because I've given Tyler Perry enough of my dough to know I never walk away from any of his films impressed, amazed or moved. You know how you hear of a new project by a director/actor/writer and you immediately know you're checking it out? He's not on my list. As someone who pays for her movie tickets, I have a right to make that decision. There are lots of people having great conversations about the film (my favorite is the one black men are having about how this black man portrays them) but this blog wasn't about that. Thanks for your comment.
-t.tara turk
Hey Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteIf you want to read Rod Gailes OBC's post, he offers his perspective after having seen the film. It s not a review either but you may find it interesting. check it out: http://thatgirl006.blogspot.com/2010/11/tyler-perry-is-not-devil.html
Thank you for comment!