Tyler Perry's character, Medea, 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,

Medea has been criticized for playing into harmful stereotypes by some and beloved by others.

Now after a brief absence, she's back in her 12th film, now streaming on Netflix, a

Medea Homecoming. And like pretty much all Tyler Perry content, it straddles the line between

being extremely topical and extremely old school. I'm Aisha Harris and today we're talking

about a Medea Homecoming on popcorn-jer-happier-our from NPR.

Joining us today is JC Howard, a producer on NPR's How I Built This. Welcome back, JC.

Hello, hello. And also joining us is co-host of the podcast Fanty, journalist Trevelle Anderson.

Welcome back Trevelle. Hello. I was waiting for the hilarious. So glad. Yes, thank you. Thank you

for that. That gets us right in the mood. That's right. So in a Medea Homecoming, Tyler Perry steps

into the wig and fat suit of his signature character, Medea, a boisterous old Southern lady with a

huge family. Perry also dons a ton of prosthetics to play Medea's crude brother Joe, whom she lives

with. Now the occasion for this homecoming is the college graduation of a great-grandson Tim,

played by Brandon Black. He's nervous about sharing a secret with his family though. He's gay.

Tim arrives for the festivities at Medea's house with his best friend and roommate Dabby,

who is played by Aisha Blocker. Meanwhile, Tim's mom Laura, played by Gabrielle Dennis,

is recently divorced and ready to move on from her ex and Tim's dad Richard, who is played by

Amani Atkinson. And in an unexpected international crossover, Dabby's family from Ireland is also

an attendance. His great-on Agnes, played by Brendan O'Karrel, and cousin Kathy, played by Jennifer

Gibney. Agnes and Kathy are actually long-running characters on what could be considered the Irish

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