"A Cautionary Tale: A Review of Tyler Perry's, "Tempation" (**Spoiler Alert**)

After seeing this movie with my husband, I knew I would have to write a critique.  The movie, quite frankly reads like a fairy tale.  Which is unfortunate, because love isn't a fairy tale. The couple has known each other since knowing growing up as children.  They get married and move to D.C. to start their lives together as adults.  Once outside of their environment is where the turmoil begins.

In my opinion, the movie is quite unfair because the way in which the lives of these characters are framed is very static and fixed.  The "inexperienced church girl" meeting characters in the real world seems all too familiar.  If you read my previous blog, you understand that I was born and raised in church.  So watching this story was a bit nostalgic because I could identify with Judith (in some respects).  The only difference is that Judith never steps out of her "box" and it is because of her not acquiring "worldly experience" is why she falls victim to the fate that has been pre-determined for her before the plot even unfolds.

Many would say that the way Judith's life turned out is her fault alone.  Some would say, "She should have remained faithful to her husband who she had been with since childhood," or, "That she took him for granted by thinking that the grass was possibly greener on the other side."  Admittedly all of this may have been true, but many who foster these opinions have neglected to consider the nature of depravity, and how it causes those who are not exposed to the ways of the world are rendered gullible and "starry-eyed" to things that others would merely laugh at.  

It's sad to say that lots of "church girls" fall victim to the "wiles of the world."  Honestly, it has little to do with the "wiles of the world" than with the utter lack of exposure and lack of KNOWLEDGE about the way the world actually works.  The fear of venturing out and learning about the way the world works keeps those entrapped and fixated to what they think is safe...all things church, all things God. In the case of Judith, it's perplexing to me that although she went off to college and even graduate school she still had no "worldly experience."  And I think when I mention "worldly experience" many think that it means adopting the mores, ethos, and principles of the world...nothing could be further from the truth.  To me, worldly experience is merely life experience.  To truly know how something works, is to wield knowledge as a resource to then have the power to self-determine, to then choose what you truly want for yourself.   That's what's so sad about Judith.  It is because she had no worldly experience (life experience), that her lack of knowledge was exploited by a man that saw that she had marital uncertainty.

It's unfair that it seems that Judith assumes the bulk of the responsibility when it comes to the way that her marriage turns out, because anyone in a relationship knows that it takes two to be in a good OR bad relationship.  In the case of Judith's marriage, her husband is emotionally inattentive.  This is a grave mistake.  He takes Judith for granted...forgetting her birthday TWO YEARS IN A ROW.  Her attempts to spruce up their sex life gets shot down....this is a grave mistake.  One (I think) that solidifies her decision to emotionally and physically exit her marriage.  The lack of communication in her marriage overall is problematic, because Judith is NOT communicating her NEEDS and DESIRES to her husband (who has NO clue)...but a lot of the non-communication had to do with being seduced by a perceived way out.  

The nature of seduction rests on what the one being seduced is lacking or THINK that they are lacking; and the one seducing knows this...exploits it.  In this case, the social media investor was able to successfully implant that she was severely lacking in her marriage because he knew that she lacked experience up to and including her marriage.  He got her to doubt the love and commitment for her husband.  It is only when she believed it, did it become true for her.  I believe if Judith had more life experience, although she would have probably been flattered by the advances of the social media mogul, it wouldn't have been enough to get her to revoke the years of relationship with her husband.  With more life experience, the advances might have been a catalyst to turn more deeply into her marriage relationship.  However, her lack of experience was exploited by the investor to widen the disconnection between her husband.  He was successfully able to convince her that she was severely lacking the love that she deserved in her marriage, simply because she had no experience to discern what was real and what was implanted in her psyche, through powerful suggestion, by him.

What's sad about the story of Judith is that it's actually true.  Many "church girls" are taught to NOT venture out into the world, but usually end up there by default.  And what's sad is that these girls are turned ALL THE WAY OUT because they've been locked up and locked out of the world that most human beings live in.  Instead of being taught the truth about the world, and the way in which life interaction works, they're taught to not mingle with it.  Does that makes sense?  How is it possible to live in the world, as a human being, and not understand the principles of the world in which you live?  And please don't confuse understanding the world, with internalizing the mores of the world.  To understand something doesn't mean to choose it.  But to NOT understand something, to not be able to recognize it, is dangerous.  And this is what makes Judith's story so unfair to me.  SHE ends up with HIV.  SHE ends up alone.  SHE ends up just like her mother (fundamentalist, myopic, boxed) something that she never wanted for herself.  But then again, the deck was stacked against her from the beginning it seems.  So.  This movie is the PERFECT cautionary tale for those "church-folk" who like everything over-simplified...black and white.  But for those who live in the "real world" who know that life (and love) is faceted, and aren't afraid to live beyond prescribed boundaries, this movie may be problematic because the real culprit in "Temptation" is not Judith, or even the one who seduces her.  It's her lack of knowledge and overall life experience to make informed, responsible choices that empower herself and ultimately her marriage.