A Preliminary Analysis of Tyler Perry’s ‘House of Payne’ and ‘Meet the Browns’: Effect on the Black Identity,African Americans’ Frequency of Exposure,Perception of Accuracy and Affective Evaluation

Abstract

A survey method was applied to a sample of 145 self-identified African American members of four predominantly African American churches to assess the influence of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns television shows on their racial identity and how they perceived and evaluated the shows. Results indicate that (1) particular socioeconomic factors, more specifically education attainment, may negatively influence exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns, 2) religiosity may account for viewers’ exposure more to House of Payne than to Meet the Browns, 3) House of Payne may have a more significant influence on viewers” black identity than Meet the Browns, 4) Frequency of exposure, income, and education may predict affective evaluation and perceived accuracy of both House of Payne and Meet the Browns, and 5) House of Payne may be considered a more accurate and positive reflection of the black group experience than Meet the Browns.

Keywords

African American socialization Tyler Perry black identity black media

Introduction

Black media have become notable in cultivating a black group identity (Allen, 2001; Fujioka, 2005). Since African Americans, historically, have faced significant barriers in accessing predominantly white Anglo-Saxon institutions (Gordon, 1961), the black media have in a compensatory role stepped in to promote in-group relationships and other socially or politically germane phenomena (Gordon, 1961; Myrdal, 2000). Allen, Dawson, and Brown’s (1989) contend that black institutions, particularly the black media, function to fashion an individual’s identity as a person of colour.

Tyler Perry, writer, director, producer and actor, boasts a record of producing #1-rated television series among African Americans, such as Meet the Browns which was originally aired on the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) (Angelo, 2010). But this was not Perry’s first foray into television. In 2006, Perry debuted his first television series House of Payne to an audience surpassing 5 million (Dempsey, 2007). Perry, ‘whose success has surpassed many in Hollywood’ (Haygood, 2009, C01), however, has been faced with harsh criticism centred on the characters his shows portray. For instance, Spike Lee has categorically condemned Perry’s television shows for portraying ‘coonery’ and ‘buffoonery’ (Gordon, 2009). Yet, much as Perry’s work has been financially successful and socially controversial, scholarly research examining the role of his shows in the African American mediated experience is conspicuously lacking. This gap in the research has not been lost on researchers such as Sullivan and Platenburg (2017) who have lamented that ‘Despite a significant body of research examining racial identity’s impact on media selection, there is limited scholarship on the inverse of this relationship and even less on the media’s impact on Black identity development’ (p. 216). Earlier, Fujioka had observed that neither ‘[African Americans’] responses to [mediated black] images nor the influence of these images on [African American] decisions have been sufficiently analyzed ’ (Fujioka, 2010, p. 451). Examining the perception, evaluation and impact of Tyler Perry television images in the African American community would help towards filling this gap in the research and contribute to better monitoring and management of the socialization processes within this community.

The study accomplished three purposes. First, the study analysed how African Americans perceive and evaluate two historically popular television shows directed by Tyler Perry: House of Payne and Meet the Browns. Second, the study examined the influence exposure to these two shows has on black group consciousness also referred to as the black identity. Third, the study also investigated the influence of religiosity and socio-economic status on exposure to these two shows. The following review will focus on definition of the black identity and how it develops; examination of black television in general, and Perry’s television shows, specifically; exploration of the concept of cultural transmission, which helps to explain the relationship between the measure of black identity and black media exposure; and delineation of the concepts of religiosity and socio-economic status.

Black Identity

The black identity is defined in terms of how racially salient or conscious being an African American is to an individual (Cross, 1971, 1995). The black consciousness era stretching from the late 1960s to mid-1970s (Cross, Parham, & Helms, 1998) saw African Americans seeking to reengage positive aspects and attributes that were associated with being an African American. Black scholars such as Molefi Asante (1999) and activists such as Paul Robeson (Stuckey, 1999) in their own unique ways sought to free African Americans from an inferiority complex regarding both their physical and psychological constitutions.

Allen et al. (1989) conceptualize the black identity in terms of five key dimensions (a) the view that blacks should separate themselves or be independent from other racial groups, (b) an affinity for other blacks, (c) an affinity for blacks who occupy a higher socio-economic status and (d) the tendency to espouse positive or (e) negative stereotypes about blacks. According to Allen et al., these dimensions influence how blacks socially construct their reality as they make decisions about themselves and others. More specifically, the authors suggest that these dimensions of the black identity significantly inform African Americans’ political and social behaviours.

The five dimensions of the black identity as listed above parallel what other theories such as nigrescence (refer to Cross, 1971, 1995; Cross & Vandiver, 2001; Cross et al., 1998) have proposed as components of the black identity. Generally, these dimensions quantify the black identity which has been shown as appreciably influenced by the black media including black television (Allen & Hatchett, 1986; Allen et al., 1989).

Tyler Perry and Black Television

Tyler Perry is a black media mogul (Huguenin, 2009; Rainer, 2010) who rose from a humble and chaotic background to being ranked by Forbes as the highest earning male entertainer in 2011 (Bell & Jackson, 2013). He has earned himself a loyal fan base which is mostly African American via his versatility. Based on Perry’s website, in his short career, he is credited with masterminding seven television shows, 20 stage plays, 17 feature films and 1 New York Times’ bestseller (Perry, n.d.). Perry’s first television programme to air, House of Payne (2006–2012), was originally syndicated on TBS but is now in reruns at Black Entertainment Television (BET). On the BET website (BET, n.d.) the sitcom is described as a chronicle of the hilarious and eccentric exploits of a family spanning multiple generations but living together in the same household. It follows the lives of the Payne family, a black family living in Atlanta, Georgia.

Meet the Browns (2009–2011) which was Perry’s second television programme after House of Payne also was on TBS originally and is now aired on BET as reruns. The show features a very colourful group of characters and follows the ‘misadventures’ of Leroy Brown and his family.

Both shows have been wildly successful in terms of drawing large audiences. The premier of House of Payne brought in over 5 million viewers (Dempsey, 2007) while Meet the Browns premiered with 4.2 million viewers becoming the second most watched series among blacks behind Fox’s American Idol in 2009 (Yourse, 2009). House of Payne was nominated in 2008 and then awarded in 2009 with the NAACP’s Image Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. In 2009, both of these shows were the most watched among blacks 18 to 34 (Yourse, 2009).

Criticism of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns

Black media figures including journalists, social activists and other important leaders in the black community have been openly vocal when it comes to Tyler Perry and his very popular television characters in House of Payne and Meet the Browns. Spike Lee, who seems to be the most openly vocal about his distaste for the shows, repeatedly likens Perry’s characters to unflattering historical images of blacks such as Mantan Moreland and Sleep ‘n’ Eat (Gordon, 2009). He suggests that these representations merely mirror stereotypical images that blacks have fought so long to cast from the media’s eye. Bianco (2007) of USA Today calls attention to Perry’s use of ‘horrendous mish-mash of old jokes and ugly stereotypes’ found in the House of Payne (p. 4D). Moreover, Hilton Als (2010) of The New Yorker adds that ‘…Perry’s work does fill a need, building on the comfortable predictability of such black sitcoms as Good Times and Sanford and Son, and adding a dose of Christian reassurance’ (N010).

The effects of media images, especially as they pertain to people of color and how such people use those images to make decisions about themselves and their racial group generally, are quite evident. Black media are, indeed, a significant reinforcing factor of racial belief systems (Allen et al., 1989). The authors found that black television media positively influenced perceptions of black autonomy, positive stereotypical beliefs about the black group and closeness to other blacks. Later, Jones’ (1990) study of the BET channel specifically examining black viewers’ feelings towards the medium in addition to measuring their black identity found that high racial salience was positively related to the likeliness of viewing BET programming.

Social Cognitive Theory of Mass Communication and Criticism of Perry’s Shows

Bandura’s (2002) Social Cognitive Theory of Mass Communication suggests that individuals use the media to learn about themselves and the world around them. This theory suggests that learning is a process that takes place vicariously through the use of symbolic models. The media play a significant role in disseminating these symbolic models. By observing these models, viewers learn new behaviours, beliefs, ideas and the possible consequences of those behaviours without the need to directly experience them. Observational learning is an important characteristic of symbolic modelling as media models have the ability to relay messages to a large and diverse audience. It is the assumed messages about the black group as relayed in House of Payne and Meet the Browns, described above, that give Perry’s critics pause.

Audience Perception and Consumption of Black Media Images

Criticism of Perry’s work notwithstanding, what has been missing in scholarship is examination of the voice of a demographic that has yet to be wholly heard: Perry’s audience. Not just any audience, but the black audience. At the height of their success, Perry’s television shows garnered a large following. The premier of House of Payne brought in over 5 million viewers (Dempsey, 2007) while Meet the Browns premiered with 4.2 million viewers becoming the second most watched series among blacks behind Fox’s American Idol in 2009 (Yourse, 2009). In this same year, both shows were the most watched among blacks 18 to 34 (Yourse, 2009).

The perception of Perry’s millions of viewers is important to consider. As research rejects the idea of a passive audience and suggests that viewers seek out content that fulfils certain needs (Rubin, 2002), results of such a study may, in fact, identify differing viewpoints between the media professional/scholar and the actual viewer/fan.

Minorities, in general, and blacks, in particular, consume media images proportionately more and differently than white audiences (Abrams, 2008; Gandy, 2001; Jones, 1990). When watching black media images, black viewers tend to evaluate the message’s effect on their identity as members of their racial group (Fujioka, 2005). As Tatum (1997) suggests, the issue of racial group identity fails to be an issue for most white viewers. Black media messages, however, share an important role in informing black viewers about who they are and how others may view them as members within the black community (Allen, 2001).

According to the theory of collective identity, a commonality in race and ethnicity can promote a sense of community and belonging (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1989). This suggests that, for black audiences, black media images can both encourage and support the feeling of one’s membership within the collective black group identity (Fujioka, 2005). Viewers then evaluate those images and make judgements on the accuracy of those images in portraying the African American group in general.

Some researchers such as Davis and Gandy (1999) assert that evaluations of black media portrayals are heavily influenced by the evaluator’s ‘sociostructural environment’ which includes age, education and peer interaction (p. 383). Therefore, it should be expected that perceptions of and behaviours towards media will vary within the African American community in terms of these factors. Further, Allen and Bielby (1979) specifically demonstrated frequency of exposure to black media accounted for variations in both perceptual and behavioural responses by blacks to black television images.

Popular black media have faced criticism for not accurately reflecting the black group experience. Inniss and Feagin (1995) found that, although very popular, some black viewers perceived The Cosby Show as a less than accurate portrayal of what it was to be black in America. The Huxtable’s upper middle class, two-parent household, for some, was not reflective of the black family. In a study examining strategies black viewers use to protect themselves against threats to their self-perceived black group membership, Fujioka (2005) found that black viewers did not perceive the depictions of African Americans in entertainment media as accurately reflecting blacks as a group.

Black Americans have a unique relationship with the mass media and television in particular. When compared to Caucasians, African Americans watch television at substantially higher rates (Abrams, 2008; Allen & Bielby, 1979; Bales, 1986). Gandy (2001) and Jones (1990) found that in addition to watching high amounts of television (3 to 5 hours each day), black respondents spent the majority of their time with media that were directed towards an African American audience. This is an important finding because as Bandura’s (2002) social cognitive theory suggests, viewers are more apt to model the behaviour of television characters that they can most identify with. In his discussion of Spike Lee’s film ‘She’s Gotta Have It’, Scott (2003) suggests that the media’s effect on viewers is increased or strengthened when the media model closely resembles the viewer.

Additionally, Allen et al. (1989) suggest the importance of mass media in the ‘communication and transmission of cultural orientations’ (p. 426). These authors argue that exposure to black media, especially black television media, had the ability to reinforce black group consciousness. More specifically, the authors found a positive and statistically significant relationship between exposure to black television and three of the four dimensions of the black identity including: the inclination to hold positive stereotypical beliefs towards blacks, the belief that blacks should be separate from other races and a feeling of closeness to other blacks. These results mirror Allen and Bielby (1979) and Allen and Hatchet’s (1986) studies which found that those blacks who viewed black shows were more likely to feel a sense of ‘alienation from white society’ (p. 443) and those who spent more time with black television were more likely to have a black separatist perspective, respectively.

In a study of the BET channel, Jones (1990) specifically examined black viewers’ feelings towards the medium in addition to measuring their black identity. The results showed that high racial salience positively related to the likeliness of viewing BET programming. In addition, Allen and Hatchet (1986) also found that frequent viewers of black television were more likely to exhibit ‘strong nonmainstream black group identification’ (p. 114). These are both important and telling findings, as they reinforce the relationship among exposure to black television programmes and the black identity measure. More specifically, they portend the potential effects Tyler Perry’s television portrayals have on black viewers.

Cultural Transmission

Cultural transmission, a theory rooted in the anthropological process of socialization, provides an effective way to describe the relationship between exposure to black television media and the black identity measure. Outlined by Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman (1981), cultural transmission suggests that ‘culture is learned and transmitted’ (p. 10) from generation to generation. Bisin and Verdier (2005) define cultural transmission as ‘the transmission of preferences, beliefs, and norms of behavior which is the result of social interactions across and within generations’ (p. 2). Mercer and Wanderer (1970) define it as a process ‘whereby a society preserves its norms and perpetuates itself’ (p. 31). Both definitions illustrate the core objective of cultural transmission: to preserve and sustain the cultural artefacts that make up a society. Scholarly work on cultural transmission and African Americans include Oliver’s (2006) examination of ‘the streets’ and its role as a socializing institution among black males in a lower socio-economic status and Leslie’s (1998) discussion on black mothers and their use of Brer Rabbit stories as a cultural socializing tool.

Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman (1981) define cultural transmission as a two-step process in which one first becomes aware of his or her cultural trait and then makes the decision to accept or reject that trait, which in the cultural transmission process can be better defined as the decision to learn a new behaviour or be socialized. It is this process of awareness of and deliberate choice to learn that determines the Darwinian fitness of a trait. Unlike the biological process in which a trait is genetically transmitted through persons and generations, ‘cultural inheritance’ is dependent on social interactions (p. 78).

Cultural diffusion and inheritance are a function of three models of ‘social transmission’ (Hewlett & Cavalli-Sforza, 1986; Schonpflug, 2001, p. 174): vertical, horizontal and oblique. Vertical transmission is the process by which culture is passed down from parent to child while horizontal transmission defines the process by which culture is transmitted from persons within the same generation such as siblings, friends, peers and even family members that are proximal in age and oblique transmission can occur in two ways: (a) the learning of cultural traits from teachers, grandparents and religious leaders and (b) through the transmission of mediated messages. This study seeks to examine the role these models play in the transmission of an African American belief system or black identity as it relates to black group consciousness, by specifically examining some aspects of the socializing influences of the black media in the black community, more specifically Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns.

Beyond examining the socializing influence of black media programming on African American identity, this study also sought to understand how religiosity and socio-economic status account for the frequency of television among Africans.

Religiosity and Black Television

The black church is a uniquely important institution in the black community. Among other functions, it serves to promote social relationships, health activities, spiritual nurturing and even political awareness among African Americans (Gordon, 1961). Of the 30 million African Americans in the USA, about 24 million attend one of the major denominations within the black church (Henderson & Hayes, 2006). Research has shown that, in the black community, religious commitment or dedication is a major factor in determining one’s exposure to black media. Allen et al. (1989) provided empirical evidence that blacks with a strong connection to the black church tend to exhibit high measures of racial consciousness which then leads them to seek out media that portrays black characters and content. Wilcox and Gomez (1990) also found that, for blacks, religion is positively associated with black group identification. Similarly, Jacobson (1992) found that religion positively correlated with the black pride dimension. While the latter two studies do not directly focus on the relationship between religiosity and exposure to black media, when combined with the Allen et al. (1989) study, they do reinforce our understanding of the connection among religiosity, racial consciousness and black media exposure.

Socio-economic Status

Generally, research has posited a negative relationship between socio-economic status and the rate of exposures to television (e.g., Glasser & Metzger, 1975; Greenberg & Dervin, 1970). Indeed, Allen and Bielby (1979) found this pattern to hold among African American consumers of black television programming. Similarly, Allen and Hatchett’s (1986) reported that less educated blacks who were racially trained by their parents were more likely to view black television than their counterparts with a higher education status. Further, Vercellotti and Brewer (2006) found that as income levels increased exposure to black television news media decreased among African Americans. However, an exception to this trend was Allen et al.’s research (1989) which failed to find a link between socio-economic status and exposure to black television media among African Americans but instead found a positive link between socio-economic status and exposure to black print media in this population.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

In the light of the foregoing discussion, two research questions primarily based on adaptation of Fujioka’s (2005) study and six hypotheses mainly arising from adaptation of Allen et al. (1989) and related research guided this study:

RQ1: How will African American viewers evaluate the portrayal of the black characters in

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns?

RQ2: How accurately will African American viewers believe

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns

reflects the black group membership experience?

H1: Exposure to

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns

has a positive relationship with black autonomy African Americans.

H2: Exposure to

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns

has a positive relationship with closeness to the masses of African Americans among African Americans.

H3: Exposure to

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns

has a positive relationship with the propensity to adopt positive stereotypical beliefs about African Americans among African Americans.

H4: Exposure to

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns

has a negative influence on the propensity to believe in negative stereotypical beliefs about African Americans among African Americans.

H5: Socio-economic status has a negative relationship with exposure to

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns

among African Americans.

H6: Religiosity has a positive relationship with exposure to

a. House of Payne

b. Meet the Browns

among African Americans.

Methods

A convenience sample of 145 people (29% men, 71% women) was drawn from four churches in a Central Florida community. All four churches were pastored by an African American male and consisted of either an all or majority black membership. The survey was self-administered. The mean age was 42.95 (SD = 13.9) years of age. Education was spread among the respondents with 33 per cent completing some college, 29 per cent obtaining a college degree, 20 per cent with only a high school diploma and 13 per cent with some form of a postgraduate degree. Twenty-five per cent of respondents had a total family income at or exceeding $65,000 per year, while the remaining 46 per cent of respondents’ total family income fell between $20,000 and $50,000. Religious affiliation was unequally distributed among the respondents: 69 per cent described their affiliation as non-denominational, 12.4 per cent as Pentecostal, 9.7 per cent as Baptist and the remaining 4.8 per cent were characterized by ‘other’.

Measures

Based on an adaptation of Fujioka’s (2005), evaluation of the accuracy of portrayals of African Americans in House of Payne and Meet the Browns was measured by responses to the following statement on a 5-point scale from 1 (very inaccurate), 2 (somewhat inaccurate), 3 (neutral), 4 (somewhat accurate) to 5 (very accurate): ‘Please rate how accurately you believe the characters in each of the following two shows portray African Americans’.

Evaluation of the portrayals to be positive or negative (affective evaluation) was measured by responses to the following statement on a 5-point scale from 1 (very negative), 2 (somewhat negative), 3 (neutral), 4 (somewhat positive) to 5 (very positive): ‘Please rate how positive or negative you believe the portrayals of African Americans are in each of the following two shows’. Demographic variables including age, education, gender and income were measured by asking the following questions: ‘What is your age?’ ‘How many years in school have you completed?’ ‘What is your sex?’ and ‘Approximately, what is your total family income per year?’, respectively. Type of Tyler Perry show was conceptualized as either House of Payne or Meet the Browns.

Based on an adaptation of a study by Allen et al. (1989), black identity was a composite variable made up of responses from four scales which measured closeness to blacks, black separatism and positive and negative stereotypical beliefs towards black individuals. Respondents’ measure of closeness to blacks was measured by their responses to some of the following questions on a 4-point scale ranging from 1 (not close at all) to 4 (extremely close): ‘How close do you feel to religious church going black people? How close do you feel to younger black people? How close do you feel to older black people?’ Respondents’ level of black separatism and positive and negative stereotypical beliefs towards blacks was measured by their responses to the following statements on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree): ‘Black children should study an African language. Most black people are ashamed of themselves. Most black people are hard working’.

Guided by Allen et al. (1989), respondents’ exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns was measured by their response to the following statement on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (very often): ‘How often do you watch each of the following programs: Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns’.

Still, based on Allen et al. (1989), socio-economic status was measured by asking respondents the number of years they completed in school and their total family income per year (occupation was not measured in the present study). For years in school, the available responses ranged from high school, some college and college degree, to postgraduate degree. Total family income was measured on a scale ranging from $0–$10,000 to more than $60,000.

Also, following Allen et al., religiosity was measured by respondents’ response to the following questions on a 5-point scale which ranged from 1 (never), 2 (rarely), 3 (sometimes), 4 (often) to 5 (very often): (a) ‘How often do you read religious books? (b) How often do you listen to religious programmes? (c) How often do you pray? (d) How often do you ask someone to pray for you?’ These four questions were combined to create one scale of religiosity.

Results

Tables 1 and 2 highlight the categorical and interval variables used to investigate the research questions and hypotheses employed in this study. The first research question sought to examine how African American viewers evaluated the depiction of black characters in House of Payne and Meet the Browns. As Table 3 shows, multiple linear regression analyses found that frequency of exposure was a significant predictor of the positive evaluation of the portrayal of black characters for both House of Payne (F [1, 116] 30.353, p < 0.0001) accounting for 29 per cent of the variance (B = 0.42, SE= 0.08, t = 5.509) and Meet the Browns (F [1, 113] 39.780, p < 0.0001) explaining 36 per cent of the variance (B = 0.46, SE.= 0.07, t = 6.307). This means that every unit increase of exposure to House of Payne led to a 0.42 increase in the perception of positive evaluation of its portrayals of African Americans, while every unit increase of exposure to Meet the Browns precipitated a 0.46 increase in the perception of the positive evaluation of its portrayal of African Americans.

Table 1.

Categorical Variables

	Frequency	Percentage
Sex
Male	42	29.0
Female	103	71.0
Social Economic Status
Education Level
High school	30	20.7
Some college	49	33.8
College degree	42	29.0
Postgraduate degree	20	13.8
Total Family Income
$0–$10,000	09	6.2
$10,001–$20,000	13	9.0
$20,001–$30,000	18	12.4
$30,001–$40,000	25	17.2
$40,001–$50,000	23	15.9
$50,001–$60,000	14	9.7
More than $60,000	37	25.5

Source: Authors’ own.

Table 2.

Interval Variables

	M	SD	N	Range (1–5)*
Exposure Frequency
House of Payne	2.94	1.19	141
Meet the Browns	3.00	1.25	139
Accuracy of Show
House of Payne	3.50	1.11	141
Meet the Browns	3.11	1.23	131
*Range above refers to scale
Evaluation
House of Payne	3.69	1.01	137
Meet the Browns	3.45	1.08	130
*Range below refers to response
Religiosity				Range (9–20)*
House of Payne	16.02	2.48	133
Meet the Browns	15.97	2.53	133
Black Identity
Autonomy				Range (7–30)*
House of Payne	16.07	3.21	121
Meet the Browns	16.18	4.04	130
Closeness to African Americans				Range (10–28)*
House of Payne	22.00	3.39	118
Meet the Browns	22.00	3.39	118
Positive Stereotypes of African Americans				Range (3–15)*
House of Payne	11.65	1.97	128
Meet the Browns	11.62	1.97	127
Negative Stereotypes of African Americans				Range (7–35)*
House of Payne	13.53	4.10	115
Meet the Browns	13.53	4.10	115
Age	42.95	13.96	135

Source: Authors’ own.

Table 3.

Multiple Regressions of Sitcom Type’s Positive Portrayal of African Americans by Frequency of Exposure

	Positive Portrayal in House of Payne (HP)		Positive Portrayal in Meet the Browns (MB)
	B	(SE)	B	(SE)
Frequency of Exposure	0.42*	(0.08)	0.46*	(0.07)
Sex	n.s.		n.s.
Age	n.s.		n.s.
Education	n.s.		n.s.
R ²	0.29*		0.36*
N	(116)		(113)

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: * p < 0.001.

In addition, a repeated one-way ANOVA established that the type of Tyler Perry sitcom had a significant effect on the evaluation it received from viewers in terms of its portrayal of black characters (F [1, 205] = 18.401, p = 0.0001). House of Payne (M = 3.64, SD = 1.07) was perceived as more positive in its portrayal of black characters than Meet the Browns (M = 3.43, SD = 1.69). However, while neither respondents’ gender nor their educational level was shown to be a significant predictor of each show’s perceived positive or negative portrayal of black characters, a bivariate regression (refer to Table 4) detected a statistically significant difference (F [1, 114] 3.95, p < 0.05) accounting for 2 per cent of the variance among viewers of Meet the Browns in terms of their age (B = −0.01, SE= 0.01, t = −2).

Table 4.

Bivariate Regressions of Sitcom Type’s Positive Portrayal of African Americans by Age

	Positive Portrayal in HP		Positive Portrayal in MB
	B	(SE)	B	(SE)
Age	−0.01*	(0.01)	−0.01*	(0.01)

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: *p < 0.05

Also, as Table 5 indicates, income level emerged as a significant predictor of perceived portrayal of black characters in both House of Payne (H [6, 207] = 15. 55, p = 0.02) and Meet the Browns (H [6, 199] = 19. 477, p = 0.003) based on Kruskal–Wallis tests. For House of Payne, a post hoc one-way ANOVA showed that only the second lowest income bracket (mean rank = 135.20) and the third highest income bracket (mean rank = 86.29) were significantly different. Also significant was the difference between the second lowest income bracket and the highest income bracket (mean rank = 95.11). Regarding Meet the Browns, a post hoc one-way ANOVA indicated that the second lowest income bracket (mean rank = 135.20) and the third highest income bracket (mean rank = 86.29), second lowest income bracket and second highest (mean rank = 78.56), and the second lowest income bracket versus the highest income bracket (mean rank = 82.27) were significantly different.

Table 5.

Kruskal–Wallis Tests of Evaluation of Portrayal of Black Characters in House of Payne and Meet the Browns by Family Income Level

$ Income Level	Mean Rank
House of Payne*
0–10,000	122.65
10,001–20,000	135.20
20,001–30,000	109.89
30,001–40,000	107.21
40,001–50,000	84.59
50,001–60,000	86.29
>60,000	95.11
Meet the Browns**
0–10,000	126.61
10,001–20,000	137.62
20,001–30,000	109.74
30,001–40,000	101.21
40,001–50,000	90.10
50,001–60,000	78.56
>60,000	82.27

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: *p < 0.001; **p < 0.02

With regard to the second research question which investigated how much African American viewers perceived House of Payne and Meet the Browns to accurately present the black group membership experience, bivariate linear regression analyses (Table 6) showed that frequency of exposure was a significant predictor of how accurate the depiction was in both House of Payne (F [1, 119] 32.583, p < 0.0001) accounting for 30 per cent of variance (B = 0.47, SE= 0.09, t = 5.708) and Meet the Browns (F [1, 114] 26.782, p < 0.0001) accounting for 31 per cent of the variance (B = 0.47, SE = 0.08, t = 5.13). These results indicate that for every unit increase of exposure to House of Payne, there was an increase of 0.47 perception of the accuracy of its portrayal of the African American membership experience. Similarly, every unit increase in exposure to Meet the Browns precipitated a 0.47 increase in its perceived accuracy in depicting the African American membership experience. Further, a repeated one-way ANOVA detected that type of Tyler Perry sitcom had a significant effect on the perception by African American viewers of its accuracy in coverage of the black membership (F [1, 207] = 24.97, p < 0.0001). House of Payne (M = 3.51, SD = 1.11) was perceived as more accurate in reflecting the black group membership experience than Meet the Browns (M= 3.17, SD = 1.25).

Table 6.

Bivariate Regressions’ Sitcom Type’s Accurate Presentation of African American Experience by Frequency of Exposure

	Accurate Portrayal in HP		Accurate Portrayal in MB
	B	(SE)	B	(SE)
Frequency of Exposure	0.47*	(0.08)	0.46*	(0.09)
Sex	n.s.		n.s.
Age	n.s.		n.s.
Education	n.s.		n.s.
R ²	0.30*		0.31*
N	(119)		(114)

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: * p < 0.001

However, just like in the results for the first research question, the respondents’ gender was not a significant predictor of whether a show would be perceived as accurate or inaccurate in its portrayal of the black group membership experience. Unlike the results for the first research question, neither respondents’ age nor their education level was a significant predictor regarding accurate or inaccurate depiction of the black group life. Still, a follow-up Mann–Whitney U-test (U = 1646, p = 0.05) showed that Meet the Browns was seen as less accurate by viewers who possessed at least a college degree (mean rank= 70.64) versus those who did not (mean rank = 57.88). House of Payne was not.

In addition, two Kruskal–Wallis tests (Table 7) showed that income level was a significant predictor of how respondents perceive House of Payne (H [6, 214] 12.803, p < 0.05) and Meet the Browns (H [6, 199] 19.477, p < 0.003) regarding accurate portrayal of black life. For both shows, however, the only significant difference identified by a pair of post hoc one-way ANOVAs was between the second lowest versus highest income bracket. For House of Payne, respondents in the second lowest income bracket (mean rank = 137.77) perceived the show as more accurate than those in the highest one (mean rank = 94.34). Likewise, for Meet the Browns, respondents in the second lowest income bracket (mean rank = 129.44) perceived the show as more accurate than those in the highest income bracket (mean rank = 79.29).

Table 7.

Kruskal–Wallis Tests of Perceived Accurate Portrayal of Black Life in House of Payne and Meet the Browns by Family Income Level

$ Income Level	Mean Rank
House of Payne*
0–10,000	124.09
10,001–20,000	137.77
20,001–30,000	117.43
30,001–40,000	108.04
40,001–50,000	95.02
50,001–60,000	97.39
>60,000	94.34
Meet the Browns**
0–10,000	122.91
10,001–20,000	129.44
20,001–30,000	115.73
30,001–40,000	104.21
40,001–50,000	99.90
50,001–60,000	81.85
> 60,000	79.29

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: *p < 0.003; **p < 0.05.

In response to the first hypothesis which contended that exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns would have a positive relationship with black autonomy, the results failed to support the hypothesis. Two separate bivariate regressions were performed with each show as a predictor of African American autonomy, but they did not turn out statistically significant.

The second hypothesis positing that exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns would have a positive relationship with closeness to the masses of African Americans was supported. A bivariate regression (refer to Table 8) with House of Payne as an independent variable produced a significant model fit (F [1, 121] 7.07, p = 0.009) accounting for 5 per cent of the variance (B = 0.75, SE = 0.28, t = 2.66). Similarly, another bivariate regression (refer to Table 8) with Meet the Browns as an independent variable also generated a significant model fit (F [1, 120] 3.958, p = 0.05) accounting for 2.4 per cent of the variance (B = 0.55, SE = 0.28, t = 1.99).

Table 8.

Bivariate Regressions of Closeness to African American Masses by Frequency of Exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns

	Closeness to African Americans in HP		Closeness to African Americans in MB
	B	(SE)	B	(SE)
Frequency of Exposure	0.75**	(0.28)	0.55**	(0.28)
R ²	0.05**		0.024**
N	(121)		(120)

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: * p < .009; **p < .05.

As for the third hypothesis which contended that exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns would have a positive relationship with the tendency to espouse positive stereotypical beliefs about African Americans, it was partially supported by the results. Specifically, a bivariate regression was performed for each show but while the model fit for House of Payne as an independent variable was significant (F [1, 128] 4.054, p = 0.05, accounting for 3 per cent of the variance), the one for Meet the Browns was not. Table 9 shows that House of Payne positively influenced the dependent variable (B = 0.18). The fourth hypothesis which suggested that exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns mitigates the tendency to believe in negative stereotypical beliefs about African Americans was also not supported by the results.

Table 9.

Bivariate Regressions of Positively Stereotyping African Americans by Frequency of Exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns

	Positive Stereotyping of African Americans in HP		Positive Stereotyping of African Americans in MB
	B	(SE)	B	(SE)
Frequency of Exposure	0.29*	(0.15)	0.18	0.14
R ²	0.03**		n.s.
N	(128)

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: *p < 0.05

Concerning the fifth hypothesis which predicted that socio-economic status would have a negative relationship with exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns, the results were mixed. Socio-economic status was operationalized using two separate measures that included education level and total family income. As Table 10 shows, a Kruskal–Wallis test detected a statistically significant difference (H [3] = 15.925, p = 0.001) among four education levels held by African American viewers of the House of Payne. Viewers with a high school education registered the highest mean rank (93.29) of exposure followed by those with some college education (67.08), a college degree (59.75) and post- graduate education (57.62). A post hoc one-way ANOVA utilizing the Tamhane test revealed that pairwise differences were significant only between high school education and each of the other levels. These results were further reinforced with a post hoc Bonferroni test.

Another Kruskal–Wallis test (refer to Table 10) examining the exposure to Meet the Browns and socio-economic status also identified a statistically significant difference (H [3] = 13.503, p = 0.004) among the four education levels possessed by African American viewers of the show. Just like in the case of House of Payne, viewers of Meet the Browns with a high school education had the highest mean rank (90.6) of exposure to the show followed by those with some college education (66.04), a college degree (62.01) and those with a postgraduate education (54.35). A post hoc one-way ANOVA which also employed the Tamhane test and a subsequent Bonferroni test identified exactly the same pattern of significant pairwise difference as described above in the case of House of Payne.

Table 10.

Education Level by Frequency of Exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns

Education Level	Mean Rank	Mean	Significant Differences
House of Payne
High school	93.29	3.66	High school and some college***
Some college	67.08	2.80	High school and college degree*
College degree	59.75	2.62	High school and postgraduate*
Postgraduate	57.62	2.60
Meet the Browns
High school	90.76	3.78	High school and some college****
Some college	66.04	2.89	High school and college degree***
College degree	62.01	2.79	High school and postgraduate**
Postgraduate	54.35	2.56

Source: Authors’ own.

Notes: Kruskal–Wallis test: p < 0.001 and p = 0.004.

Tamhane test: *p < 0.001, **p = 0.004, ***p = 0.01, ****p = 0.02.

Regarding the total family income measure, however, Kruskal–Wallis tests failed to find statistically significant variations in the total family income levels of African American viewers of each of these two shows vis-à-vis their frequency of watching. Even when income levels were collapsed into two categories based on the median response, the results were still not significant. Also, as a fail-safe, the total family income measure was treated as an interval variable and engaged in a bivariate regression analysis with frequency of exposure to both shows as the dependent variable, but it did not make a difference in the results.

In response to the sixth hypothesis which stipulated a positive link between religiosity and exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns, the results were mixed. While a bivariate linear regression analysis showed that religiosity was a significant predictor of exposure to House of Payne (F [1, 133] = 5.584, p = 0.02; refer to Table 11), accounting for 4.1 per cent of the variance in frequency of watching the show by members of the African American community, another bivariate linear regression analysis did not reveal a statistically significant relationship between religiosity and exposure to Meet the Browns.

Table 11.

Bivariate Regressions of Frequency of Exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns by Religiosity

	Frequency of Exposure to HP		Frequency of Exposure MB
	B	(SE)	B	(SE)
Religiosity	0.01*	(0.04)	0.04	(0.04)
R ²	0.041*		n.s.
N	(133)

Source: Authors’ own.

Note: * p < 0.03

Discussions and Conclusion

Guided primarily by Allen et al.’s (1989) model of an African American racial belief system, this study examined the influence of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns on the four dimensions of the black identity, including black separatism, closeness to blacks and the belief in positive and/or negative stereotypes about blacks. In addition, it was important to explore the relationship between socio-economic status and religiosity with exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns, as these two factors have been shown to influence exposure to black media in general (Allen & Hatchett, 1986; Allen et al., 1989; Vercellotti & Brewer, 2006). Based on literature such as Fujioka (2005), the study also examined how African American viewers perceived each of the two shows in terms of accuracy and affective evaluation of the portrayal of African Americans and their experiences.

The study’s results provide a basis for making five conclusions: (a) particular socio-economic factors, more specifically education attainment, may negatively influence exposure to House of Payne and Meet the Browns, (b) religiosity may account for viewers’ exposure more to House of Payne than to Meet the Browns, (c) House of Payne may have a more significant influence on viewers’ black identity than Meet the Browns, (d) frequency of exposure, income and education may predict affective evaluation and perceived accuracy of both House of Payne and Meet the Browns and (e) House of Payne may be considered a more accurate and positive reflection of the black group experience than Meet the Browns.

Based on Allen et al.’s model of the African American racial belief system, this study hypothesized that socio-economic status would negatively impact exposure to both House of Payne and Meet the Browns. More specifically, it was expected that the higher one is ranked in socio-economic status the less exposure he or she would have to the two shows and vice versa. For both shows, the results supported this hypothesis. Results showed that as education levels increased, exposure to Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns generally decreased. These results are in line with Allen and Bielby’s (1979) study referred earlier, that also found a negative relationship between the education and viewership variables. Interestingly, the authors (Allen and Bielby) noted that these findings are not unique to blacks, but rather that this relationship applies to the general population as well.

The income variable, however, was not statistically significant when paired with the exposure variable of both the House of Payne and Meet the Browns in the present study. In this regard, the present study’s results mirror those of Allen et al.’s (1989) study although the latter examined socio-economic status as a composite variable consisting of income, education and occupational prestige while the present study measured only the first two and in isolation of each other. Just like Allen et al., Jones’ (1990) study of BET, referenced earlier, found income to have a statistically non-significant role in determining exposure to the black media network.

According to the results of the present study, religiosity’s influence on exposure to Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns was inconsistent. As expected, the degree of religiosity positively influenced the extent of exposure to the House of Payne. This finding corresponds with Allen et al.’s (1989) study, which found that religiosity did have a positive and direct influence on the degree of African Americans’ engagement of black media as a whole, although the link between religiosity and exposure to black television in particular was not statistically significant (in Allen et al.’s study). The positive link between religiosity and Tyler Perry’s House of Payne found in the present study suggests that the content of this particular show may resonate with African Americans more than the content of black television in general. However, failure of the present study to reveal a statistically significant link between religiosity and exposure to Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns may point to some differences in the way the black audience perceives the content of the two shows. Thus, it is possible that though both shows emphasize religion in their content (as suggested earlier), differences in how the audience perceives this content may explain the inconsistent results regarding exposure to House of Payne versus Meet the Browns in the present study. Black viewers may identify with the religious content of House of Payne, thus gravitating towards it in terms of frequency of exposure.

Thus, this finding continues to reflect the important role religion plays in the lives of African Americans, as suggested earlier, in that black religious establishments tend to promote ‘racial solidarity’ (Ellison, 1991, p. 477). Frequent exposure to House of Payne by African American viewers then becomes another way of enacting one’s black identity, at least in a religious sense.

Fujioka’s (2005) study, which examined strategies black media consumers use to protect themselves against threats to their black group membership, may also offer a useful way to explain the inconsistencies between the present study’s results regarding House of Payne and Meet the Browns. As described earlier, she found that when black viewers did not perceive the depictions of African Americans in media as accurately reflecting blacks as a group, they exhibited negative evaluations of the images. Fujioka’s findings suggest that black media consumers select media that align with their beliefs and ideas, allowing them to feel the lowest level of discomfort and incongruence. As such, African Americans may find the religious content in House of Payne in agreement with their religious beliefs thus prompting their frequent exposure to the show. On the other hand, the failure by the present study to link the degree of religiosity to exposure to Meet the Browns may be due to the fact that exposure to the show can be explained better by other variables beyond religiosity.

To gain a more concrete relationship between religiosity and the black media exposure variable, it is suggested that future research compares the amount of black media exposure among African Americans that attend traditionally black denominations or majority black churches with that of African Americans engaged in denominations or churches that are not traditionally of African American influence. Based on Fujioka’s (2005) study, it would also be important for future research to consider viewers’ affective judgements towards a programme when determining a relationship between religiosity and black media exposure. In other words, to what extent does the perception of black media as a positive, negative or accurate reflection of the black experience influence the relationship between religiosity and black media exposure?

The results further suggest that House of Payne had a more significant influence on viewers’ black identity than Meet the Browns. More specifically, this study found that while Meet the Browns was linked to only one of four black identity variables (closeness to African American masses) in a statistically significant way, House of Payne was a significant predictor of two of these variables, including: closeness to blacks and viewers’ positive stereotypical beliefs about blacks. The latter finding strengthens Allen et al.’s (1989) examination of the African American racial belief system. According to the authors, the black media function to ‘crystallize black racial consciousness’ (p. 426), by transmitting cultural customs specific to being black. It seems that, as mentioned previously, viewers are more apt to model the behaviour of television characters that they can most identify with (Bandura, 2002). In this respect, as it was emphasized earlier, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr understood the influential power of the mass media and used it to rally black Americans as well as other Americans across the USA during the civil rights movement (Asante, 2005).

It is not clear why only House of Payne and not Meet the Browns would be significantly linked to the African American identity as defined above. Although this study only provided a speculative examination of the content differences between the two shows, the results suggest that viewers may perceive differences that lead them to relate to the two shows differently. It is imperative for future studies to investigate these differences further. For a show that continues to be watched heavily by the black community as Meet the Browns, perhaps, there are other dimensions of the African American experience it corresponds with better but which were missed by the Allen et al., (1989) model.

Furthermore, this study sought to determine how African American viewers affectively evaluated the black character portrayals in House of Payne and Meet the Browns as well as the perceived accuracy of the portrayals as a reflection of the black group experience. Results showed that three factors were statistically significant predictors in this inquiry: frequency of exposure, income and age. More specifically, viewer age was a predictor of viewer affective evaluation of Meet the Browns’ portrayal of black characters while frequency of exposure and income level predicted both affective evaluation of portrayal of black characters and perceived accuracy of these portrayals across the two shows. These results reflect Davis and Gandy’s (1999) assertion that evaluations of black media portrayals are heavily influenced by viewers’ ‘sociostructural environment’ (p. 383).

Finally, the results suggest that House of Payne may be considered a more accurate and positive reflection of the black group experience than Meet the Browns. It is not clear why there is a difference between the two shows. It was argued earlier, however, that House of Payne offers a more traditional and focused portrayal of family life than does Meet the Browns. The results suggest that traditional, family-oriented television programmes may be perceived by black viewers as more accurate and positive than other programmes that are more focused on the workplace environment and non-family relationships.

Earlier in this article, a review of Perry’s most pointed critiques was outlined with the general consensus being that Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns did more harm than good to its black viewers. More specifically, both shows were indicted for simply re-enacting historical and painful stereotypes of African Americans. The results of this study, however, would suggest that black viewers themselves may not necessarily agree with these indictments. Although the present study relied on a convenient and rather small sample that limits its generalizability to the wider African American community, the study’s results facilitate a more analytical discussion of the role of Perry’s work vis-à-vis his black audience. Going beyond the superficial assumptions of mere conjecture, this study quantitatively focused on the media consumer and the outcome of his or her consumption, finding that at least one of Perry’s shows (House of Payne) could potentially be a significant and positive predictor of viewers’ connection to their identity as African Americans. However, given the preliminary nature of this study, caution should be exercised in making such conclusions. Future studies should engage more robust research designs that include qualitative methods and more sophisticated multivariate analyses that capitalize on the tentative findings in this study. Indeed, as there are few documented scholarly analyses of Perry’s work, hopefully, this study will spawn additional analysis that delves deeper into the significance of Perry’s presence in contemporary black media.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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