As the fall term picks up speed, college students around the country are digging into the works of Shakespeare, One Hundred Years of Solitude, and Between the World and Me. But for 14 freshmen at Emory University’s Oxford College, the syllabus may include House of Payne and Madea’s Family Reunion.
"In the Language of Folk and Kin: The Legacy of Folklore, the Griot, and Community in the Artistic Praxis of Tyler Perry,” is the first class focusing on the life and work of the Atlanta-based multihyphenate behind Madea, the fiercely protective gun-toting grandmother character whose films have grossed almost $700 million at the box office.
Madea
In the class, students study Perry’s speeches, plays, films, and TV shows in conversation with canonical Black authors and poets like Zora Neale Hurston and Paul Laurence Dunbar. They explore the relationships between Perry’s work and traditions like Greek mythology and the blues. And they use Perry’s life story, a journey from homelessness to moguldom, as a springboard for their own writing and reflection. In a recent class, an interview with People magazine in which Perry discussed his childhood rape and his use of writing as an escape led to a multi-layered conversation about the nuances of speaking out and the complexities of expressing emotion. It’s a far cry from slapstick comedy.
The students in the class hail from an eclectic array of backgrounds, from South Korea to Birmingham. Some are bona fide Perry fans and some have never seen one of his movies. They’re taught by Dr. Tameka Cage Conley, an assistant professor of English and creative writing who has followed Perry’s work ever since encountering recordings of his plays as a 23-year-old graduate student.
Cage Conley was inspired to create the course after the death of her grandmother, who she saw as a Madea-like figure.
“The Madea character is a caregiver at the core. She’s tough, but that toughness is not without love,” said Cage Conley. “[My grandmother] held me up, sustained me, believed in me, and sacrificed so much.”
Cage Conley sees Perry’s work as centering unsung community heroes, people like her grandmother who, although they may never have gone to college themselves, support future generations so that they can experience success. Her students can relate.
