Tyler Perry’s character Madea has occupied a unique and polarizing space within Black American culture for more than two decades. A gun-toting elderly lady who curses and often finds herself at odds with the law, Madea has been criticized for playing into harmful stereotypes by some and beloved by others. After a brief absence, she’s back in her 12th film, now streaming on Netflix: A Madea Homecoming. We talk about the film and how Tyler Perry’s work straddles the line between being extremely topical and extremely old-school.
