Abstract
In this essay, we will explore the variances in Madea’s character and presence on stage and on screen in both productions of Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail: The Play and Madea Goes to Jail. Specifically, we examine the multiple and varying ways in which the character of Madea performs for different audiences by examining how the roles of violence, religion and wisdom operate on stage and screen. Exploring the subtle—and at times, not-so-subtle—ways in which Madea’s performances differ from stage to screen, we suggest that Madea also performs as a text that Perry then uses to impart different messages to audiences of both stage and screen.
Highlights
Industry leaders recognize Tyler Perry as one of the most successful Black entertainers of all time.1 As the first African American to own a major film studio, Perry has realized success as an actor, playwright, filmmaker and producer
Perry’s works—plays, films, or even television shows—we selected both the play and film Madea Goes to Jail because we argue these texts best highlight the rhetorical performance and nuance that Perry offers to his audiences of stage and screen, respectively
Madea to address the theatergoers), the viewer’s wisdom narrative experience is an abrupt and unforgiving one. It is unclear whether Perry truly intends for works in his varied mediums to converse with one another—to engage in a form of dialogue, responding to and revising what the other says and does—or if the differences between his stage and film adaptations merely reflect the stylistic constraints afforded to each medium
Summary
Industry leaders recognize Tyler Perry as one of the most successful Black entertainers of all time. As the first African American to own a major film studio, Perry has realized success as an actor, playwright, filmmaker and producer. As the first African American to own a major film studio, Perry has realized success as an actor, playwright, filmmaker and producer. Even those who have never seen a Tyler Perry production will likely recognize his name as synonymous with that of his signature character, Madea. Nicole Hodges Persley sees the Madea character as “inspiring black women to translate their salient struggles against classism, sexism, and racism into feminist acts of resistance in ways that make sense to working-class black women.” She argues that “Madea provokes her audience to address contradictions inherent in the heteronormative black family structure. Exploring the subtle—and at times, not-so-subtle—ways in which Madea’s performances differ from stage to screen, we suggest that Madea performs as a text that Perry uses to impart different messages to audiences of both stage and screen
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