"Maxine's Baby: The Tyler Perry Story," a new documentary about the man who created Madea and became a self-made writer-director-actor-entertainment mogul with a reported net worth of $1 billion, is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
The film chronicles Perry's rise from a New Orleans childhood filled with horrific physical abuse from his father, his do-it-yourself approach to bringing theater to a Black audience, a long and steady stream of Hollywood box-office hits starting with 2005's "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," the creation of multiple TV series and the opening of his sprawling eponymous studio on a 330-acre former Army base near Atlanta.
Along the way we learn of Perry's faith, relentless work ethic and outsider's approach to the business side of the entertainment industry. There are interviews with Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, rapper Killer Mike, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and more. Among them is Keith Corson, associate professor of film at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
The 47-year-old Corson grew up in Colorado and is the author of "Trying to Get Over: African American Directors After Blaxploitation, 1977-1986."
"One of the things the documentary sets out to do is make the case for Perry being someone who created his own luck and his own good fortune," Corson told us earlier this month. "There has been systemic exclusion of African American film artists, especially directors and writers."
Perry didn't go to school for film or theater, but began writing plays after moving to Atlanta in his early 20s. He produced the gospel musical "I Know I've Been Changed," which didn't catch on with audiences. Broke and desperate, his next play, 1999's "I Can Do Bad All by Myself," featured the first appearance of the character Madea.
He staged plays on the urban circuit in Atlanta, Houston, Memphis and other areas to appreciative crowds. He also sold home videos of his productions, which expanded his audience even more.
"He built this national audience that showed up for his first movie, 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman,' in February 2005," Corson said. "That film was No. 1 at the box office and made a ton of money. No one was expecting that."
Perry's work has been criticized for what some see as stereotypical portrayals of Black men and women. The documentary, which was co-directed by Gelila Bekele, the mother of Perry's child, and Armani Ortiz, who directed Perry's TV series "Ruthless," delves into this a bit. The filmmakers speak with poet, playwright, novelist and Perry critic Carl Hancock Rux, who says "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" is "not really the diary of a mad Black woman or an angry Black woman. It's the diary of a puppet." There's also older footage of Spike Lee in which the director shares his not-so-favorable views of Perry's movies.
Corson, however, says that "Perry's films are far more nuanced and complicated than we give them credit for. They are ornate things that on the surface read as simple comedies, but they're much more. They're more like Bollywood cinema with, like, five genres coexisting at once rather than one tone, one note, one surface sensibility. There is a lot of subtext going on."
He also observes that Perry's movies are best enjoyed in a theater with other viewers.
"These films are meant to replicate the stage experience. They don't function like most movies you can watch at home by yourself. They are developed with the idea of a theater audience in mind. The audience is engaged and there's actually call and response."
Corson says "Why Did I Get Married?," the 2007 comedy-drama written, produced, and directed by Perry who also stars alongside Janet Jackson, Jill Scott and Malik Yoba, is one of his favorites.
"It's this bonkers movie about four couples going on a vacation to Colorado," he says. "It's so over the top funny; it pulls on your heartstrings and it's -- I mean this in the most loving way -- so unhinged that you just can't help but have fun."
It's usually the film he chooses when he teaches Perry in his African American film survey class.
"Even though Madea is not in it, it articulates for the first-time viewer the sensibilities of Perry, the reason audiences get invested and have fun in the theater."