The Magic of “Big Mama”

“You better give your heart to God, cus your ass is mine!” … words that although seem funny, terrorized generations of my family. To hear those 12 words was to know that something serious was about to go down and it would be far from a good time. Whatever you thought you did and got away with? It was over for you.

When Madea came about, everyone and I mean everyone, made it a point to say that the character of Madea favored my grandmother’s persona. While the masses were just getting introduced to her, we’d already known her all of our lives.

In 2005, Tyler Perry brought the character of Madea to screens and stages everywhere; and a couple years prior in 2000, Martin Lawrence did something similar with the character of “Big Momma” in “Big Momma’s House”. The truth is, much like most things within our culture, while these characters were just being introduced to homes everywhere, they were already major players in the lives of Black families for generations.

It’s no secret that both characters were played by Black men and so it would only make sense to assume they both took inspiration from their respective childhoods. The almost unique yet common personality traits of — intimidating but loving, stern yet wildly sarcastic; known for, more often than not being inappropriate in the best ways … my grandmother Geraldine McKnight, or “Gerry” as most would…