Why Tyler Perry's Temptation Kills Women With HIV

[dlwickham]

I have been sitting with and following the reactions to Tyler Perry's Temptation over the last couple weeks. Within the HIV community, and outside of it. Within the feminist community, and in other communities of women. In communities of color, among reproductive justice folks, and outside of those spaces.

What has been most distressing to me is the way that Tyler Perry played on and abused the high levels of internalized stigma and oppression, evident in responses from women of color and women living with HIV with respect to the film. [In the movie, the character of Judith cheats on her husband and she contracts HIV from the other man.]

"She chose to leave Bryce." "She made a choice to put herself at risk." "She wasn't grateful enough for what she had, so she deserved it." "Harley is a monster, like the monster who infected me." These are only a smattering of the comments I've seen, read, and heard over the last weeks.

My reaction to witnessing the dialogue among HIV-positive women is the same motivation that originally drove a group of 28 women to co-found Positive Women's Network-USA in 2008, rejecting the seemingly widespread notion that women living with HIV were forever destined to be held up as examples and nothing more.

http://www.poz.com/articles/naina_khanna_2676_23808.shtml

[diabeticman]

1. My wife is a fan of Perry's movies but is COMPLETELY confused by this post. Can someone

shed more light on this?

[EOTE]

2. I think the post refers to the shocking twist at the end of Perry's latest bomb.

I haven't seen it, but I've read about it and I find it (excuse me) darkly hilarious. I really dislike Tyler Perry's movies and I probably won't see this one, but I guffawed when I heard about the horrific conclusion, but then again, my sense of humor can be fairly sick. It very much reminded me of a scene from "Team America: World Police".

And oh: If you'd like me to message you the ending, just ask. I'd hate to give away the shocking conclusion to any of Perry's fans :p

[diabeticman]

3. please do. Yes, Perry movies do get preachy in my wife's eyes but they are good for

a laugh if she is stressed out.

[EOTE]

4. Done. Check your PM. nt

[diabeticman]

5. got it

[dlwickham]

6. so you think people getting HIV is funny?

bet you're a hoot at parties

[EOTE]

7. I think Tyler Perry infecting multiple people with HIV as his "twist" ending is pretty hilarious.

If for nothing else it completely cements his career as an entirely unbearable, awful film maker. M. Night Shamalan at his worst wouldn't try anything so stupid and offensive. And I'm guessing you're a blast at social gatherings as well.

[dlwickham]

8. guess you aren't familiar with the whole DL thing among the African-American community

and how some see HIV as some sort of plot by whites against blacks

[EOTE]

15. I am, in fact.

And, once again, I think it's both despicable and hilarious that he'd use that as his "twist" ending. Do I need to repeat myself yet again?

[redqueen]

9. Outstanding. Thanks for posting this.

If these are some of the messages coming from that movie, damn...

1. I'm a woman, so I don't know if or when I want sex. If I say no, I don't mean it, and when I say no, it's because I am trying to live up to a societal expectation that women should say no, even if we don't mean it. Therefore a man has the right to interpret my "no" and to rape me based on his decision that I did not really mean "NO!"

2. Men with HIV are sexually irresponsible, predatory and violent, and fail to disclose.

3. As a woman, I should be so afraid of the big bad world that I should not dare consider leaving my relationship. (Also, it's a slippery slope from teetotaler to using cocaine regularly.)
...

And this...

It takes a very, very long time to undo decades of media and public health officials and faith based institutions telling us that people living with HIV are getting what we deserve. It takes even longer to undo the internalized oppression that comes from colonization and slavery and displacement. And I cannot imagine how long it will take women to undo internalized sexism and its deadly consequences.

Yes. She said a hell of a lot right there.

[REP]

10. Better piece: Lindy West in Jezebel

Tyler Perry Isn't Just an Artless Hack, He's a Scary Ideologue

There are a lot of things to laugh at in Tyler Perry's Temptation: Kim Kardashian's attempts to move and talk at the same time, Vanessa Williams's fake French accent for no reason (hoh-hoh-hohhh!), the alien dialogue, the blunt-force moralizing, the sheer ineptitude of Perry's filmmaking. (Worth noting: None of Perry's actual scripted "jokes" made the list.) But, that said, it is not a funny movie—it's a frightening one. Temptation is a movie about punishing women. Specifically, Perry is obsessed with punishing women who stray from the good woman/bad woman binary dictated by traditional Christian gender roles. That is the film's entire purpose. I watched it 24 hours ago and my skin is still crawling. And I'm starting to believe that Tyler Perry isn't just artless—he's reprehensible.

Temptation is framed as a story told by a marriage counselor to her client. The client, some white lady, comes in and is like, "I'm thinking about having an affair! YOLO!" And the marriage counselor is like, "Well, let me tell you a little story, lady. About my, um, 'sister.'" (The first of a million spoilers: IT'S REALLY ABOUT HER. SHE IS HER OWN SISTER.)

The "sister" in question is Judith—a nice, pretty, church-going "good woman" who wears ugly high-collared blouses, cooks dinner for her man every night, and only has married-sex in bed with the lamp off. Judith's husband, Brice, is a "good man." He works hard at a pharmacy all day, wears glasses, and is on great terms with Judith's mother. They are "happy." Except that they're totally not (spoiler #2: it's Judith's fault).

The first hint of Judith's discontent comes when she and Brice are heading home from a romantic dinner. A group of ne'er-do-well youths on the street cat-call Judith as they pass. Judith flips the fuck out and has to be physically restrained by Brice, who tells her to calm down, ignore it, let it go. They get in the car and go home. Judith refuses to speak to Brice for the rest of the night, because he didn't defend his property her honor by fighting the cat-callers to the death. He didn't do his manful duty. "But honey, they could have had guns!" Brice says. THEN HE APOLOGIZES TO JUDITH FOR NOT FIGHTING THE YOUTHS. I didn't see the rest of the scene because my eyes fell out and rolled away.

Read the rest of, it's worth it

[jmowreader]

11. This could have been eight words long

"It is a feature length Chick tract."

And that comes as a shock? All Tyler Perry does is live action Chick tracts...he started out writing church plays for Pentecostal churches, and continues to make that kind of entertainment now that he's a filmmaker.

If you go to a Tyler Perry movie you should expect to be beaten over the head by a cross made from railroad ties.

[REP]

12. There's something distasteful about a member of an oppressed group being such a dick to other

oppressed groups. It shouldn't be - dickness is equal opportunity - but it's not unreasonable to expect some empathy to others who face intolerance and bigotry.

Plus bad reviews are often the most fun to read.

[dlwickham]

13. very well said