In my opinion, the film industry has spawned two African-American directors who have portrayed the realities of being Black in America without fear or hesitation. The first director is John Singleton, who has brought the harshness of gang life and its too few survivors from the rug it used to be swept under up onto the big screen. The second director is Spike Lee, who has explored the murky waters of race relations many times over and revealed the America nobody likes to talk about. As a child, I wasn’t allowed to watch films directed by either icon for fear that I was too immature to fully comprehend the vast issues being photographed. Even now, the untimely and unjust deaths of Radio Raheem in Lee’s Do the Right Thing and Ricky in Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood cause me to squirm in my seat. Sometimes there is too much truth in a story. But there is hope on the horizon.

The rough lives of African-Americans have a new champion and he wants to show the world the upside of living as a Black person in white America. He will show the shadows, but not without giving us a flashlight: a flashlight named Madea. Thanks to his flagship character, Tyler Perry has injected the positive back into Black culture--and he did it in drag.

“I put on the costume for the first time, looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘What the hell are you thinking?’” Perry recalled with a laugh. “Here I am six feet, six inches, in a wig and makeup.”

While Madea is Perry’s most popular character to date, she is not the only one in Perry’s arsenal. With Perry’s latest film, Meet the Browns, Madea might have to start sharing her stardom: Leroy Brown is in the house. For those of you who don’t know, Leroy and Madea actually have a past. They have experienced “intimate relations” with one another and bore a child. A daughter named Cora. Off-screen, though, Madea, Leroy and Cora are actually the same age.

“Madea, [Leroy] Brown and Cora were all born at the same time,” Perry said.

Madea has already spent an ample amount of time on the big screen headlining the films Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Madea’s Family Reunion. Those of you who associate Perry with his female counterpart will be sorely disappointed at her lack of screen time in Meet the Browns.

“Madea only shows up in one scene as a set-up for the film Madea Goes to Jail,” Perry said.

Even without Madea, the movie features many familiar faces, as Perry has been able to attract numerous A-list stars to his productions. The ever-growing list includes Janet Jackson, Kimberly Elise, Blair Underwood, Cicely Tyson, Maya Angelou and, most recently, Angela Bassett. While it may appear that Perry has that certain something that allows him to get anyone he wants to act in his movies, the reality is just the opposite. Even though Bassett was thrilled to be a part of Meet the Browns, it still surprises Perry.

“It blew my mind that she wanted to work with me because you see these people and you know what they can do,” Perry stated. “For her to say yes meant the world to me.”

The recent success Perry has had in the entertainment industry has made him one of Hollywood’s top-earners. The relative influx of cash has allowed him to form his own production company and gives him the freedom to make movies his way without fear of studio intervention or censorship. Luckily, he hasn’t had any trouble with the studio trying to exert any control.

“As far as the studio goes, I have a ton of support working with Lionsgate,” Perry said. “It’s been a great marriage.”

The one thing Perry should be praised for is his ability to entertain audiences of all ages and his capacity to teach life lessons that all should adhere to. The young will be taught that they can trust the knowledge of those who came before them and the young-at-heart will learn to believe in the hope that comes with youth.

“I always try to bridge the generations with my work,” Perry said.

His work certainly deplores an amalgamation of generations because Perry often utilizes actors and actresses that all generations have come to love, whether it be Cicely Tyson or Gabrielle Union. His movies embrace people of all ages, races and creeds without judgment or prejudice.

“I don’t necessarily see color lines, especially within our own race,” he said.

Before his movies, the demographic Perry seemed to appropriately reach was African-Americans, but the aftermath of his films have started a shift where his audiences are beginning to fill with different colors.

“I saw it on my last tour,” he said. “The racial makeup of my audience started to change. The most amazing thing is to stand onstage and see every generation and all races represented.”

If ever there was a sign that somebody was doing something right, that would be it.

Would you like me to tell you why Tyler Perry is so successful? It is his propensity to tell stories that are relatable to any person who has ever experienced anything even minutely resembling a family. Add that to his light-hearted portrayal of truths often told in violent tones, and Perry is single-handedly transforming the image of Black families across the nation and throughout the world. While Lee and Singleton should be commended for their bold awareness of Black life, Perry has done something different. He tells the optimist’s side of the story. Rather than emphasize the weakness of family, he speaks on its strengths. Rather than show the sorrow of those who don’t make it out of the hood, he shows the joy of those who did survive. In these expressions of Black prosperity, African-Americans across the nation, both young and old, are discovering a new mirror to look into and are finally seeing a new reflection.

Meet the Browns opens in theaters Fri., March 21.

For more information, visit meetthebrownsfilm.com.