Do You Want to Be Well? The Gospel Play, Womanist Theology, and Tyler Perry’s Artistic Project

Patterson's analysis of Diary of a Mad Black Woman uncovers how content and artistic form mutually embed Tyler Perry's black women characters in masculinist paradigms that restructure but do not transform the patriarchal bases of black women's oppression. I argue that Perry's use of womanist theological paradigms in his representation of religion, gender, sexuality, and wellness would help him achieve his self-professed goal of defying Hollywood's stereotypical representations of black people, and, by extension, black life and culture. This analysis finally argues that if black womanist theological reflection figured more prominently in black religious practice and ideologies, black theological reflection could reconstitute a theological practice that truly aims to liberate all black people and engender experiences of wellness for black women in particular.

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jfemistudreli.30.2.41

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