Essay on The Impact of African-American Sitcoms on America's Culture

The television shows from 1950 to the present are connected in many ways. The characters showed in the 1950s television show called Leave It To Beaver all have white coloured skin and portrayed as a happy, perfect family. As the decades increased, the nuclear families turned into blended families, and the television shows started to have coloured characters. The families started to have problems and social situations. The viewer sees the conflicts inside the family begin as the years progress. For example, in the 2000's we examined a television show called Arrested Development. The show portrays the characters as if they are troubled and have problems. The children do not listen to their parents but instead have

The 1987 film documentary Ethnic Notions directed by Marlon Riggs, identifies the evolution of African American cultural depictions through ethnic stereotypes and caricatures in American culture. I feel Ethnic Notions exposes the roots of false generalization from the beginning and presents a series of classifications for racial depictions that still are noticeable in today's society. These racial depictions identified with in this film begin in the mid 1800's and continue thought to the 1960's. I now after viewing Ethnic notions agree that there are generalizations and depictions that are exaggerated in American popular culture and entertainment.

Shameless is a Golden-Globe nominated show with a white dominated cast. One of the siblings on the show is black, but is identified as a White male contrary to the character’s skin tone. “When it comes to representations of Blacks on television, the 1980s can be seen as a decade of elevated inclusion both in terms of the quantity and quality of roles -- which remains the norm today. (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, 2015). Over the years, we will see more shows gearing their audiences to the black community. Producers add in a few social issues to reel viewers in, but the fact remains the same that a prime time heavy hitting shows, will most likely have less than 20% of their cast of African descent. In consonance with researchers, blacks currently constitute between 14-17 percent of the prime-time population. (Tukachinsky, Mastro, & Yarchi, 2015). The lack of representation in the media can lead to some interpreting that the Caucasian race is the superior race, and in retrospect, can influence the attitudes and beliefs of viewers. Prior research has shown that exposure to counter stereotypic exemplars in the media can have a positive effect on inter-group relations. (Scharrer, & Ramasubramanian, 2015) In order to reduce the misrepresentation from taking over the media, we must depict a positive image on the lives of minorities and portray them as successful, thriving human beings. By

Living by the restrictions that society places upon us, humanity is constrained to follow rules. Television writers were forced to write a certain way and were forced to leave out information that society would deem as improper, rude, and even racist. However, in 1971, a groundbreaking American television sitcom broke through societal boundaries and transformed the way that the American audience viewed television. Engulfed by the Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, fight for women's right, and the Watergate scandal, Norman Lear persevered through stereotypes and entertainment norms with his show All in the Family. This show approached its audience in a very blunt and crude manner; it made conflict the center of its comedy. It dealt with contemporary cultural issues in a relatable way, which blue allowed blue-collar workers to learn about their current everyday issues and concerns. Through his show All in the Family, Norman Lear highlighted sensitive topics such as racism, bigotry, and sexual relations to prove that they are still alive in our country; thus, Norman Lear is an agent of change by bringing awareness to social issues.

Released in 2001, Disney Channel’s The Proud Family was a Black cartoon frequently watched by children who grew up during its airplay. Not vulgar or satirical, The Proud Family centered around Penny Proud and her family as she grew up through her years. As a child, I innocently watched this show, but picked up on unintended implications based off of the character’s skin color. The main character Penny was a lighter skinned girl, who appeared to possess “more Eurocentric phenotypic characteristics (Steele),” exhibited more intelligence, wealth, and virtue, as opposed to her darker skinned best friend, Dijonay, who was associated with deviance and sassiness, while speaking with a more Ebonic style of talking and possessed a more “ghetto” name. Although the show attempted to provide an accurate representation of a “traditional African American family,” it still regardlessly instilled these stereotypes of the African American community into my mindset, which were not disproved in my mind until later in my life (Steele).

During the process of producing a television series, the demand for the producers to introduce their characters with only their highlighted traits make it impossible for viewers to gain a deep understanding of the community that the characters represent. One of the stereotypic traits that is usually seen on movies and television shows is societal difference that each race is placed into. Michael Omi in his article In Living Color: Race and American Culture stated that “in contemporary television and film, there is a tendency to present and equate racial minority groups and individuals with specific social problems” (546). There are many films and television shows found today that ground racial minorities into a specific social problems that are related to the color of their skin. It can be inferred from the current popular culture that this stereotype still persists.

Dawson’s Landing sees no difference in someone that is 100% black compared to someone that is 3% black. Tom, being the son of the high ranking Driscoll family, lives an easy and privileged life in Dawson’s Landing. Mark Twain uses these three characters to show that status in society was not obtained by a person’s accomplishments or personality, but rather their lineage and race, as seen with Roxy and Chambers.

Although ‘Men Behaving Badly’ is not that much older than ‘Friends’ the more recent episodes of Friends are quite different to the final episodes of M.B.B.

Another example is the episode titled “The Ricardos Visit Cuba” where Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel travel to Cuba to visit Ricky’s in-laws for the first time. This episode brings to light some of the difficulties that interracial couples face, such as the differences in the cultures and social norms. The episode focuses on Lucy trying to gain the approval of Ricky’s uncle because he was upset that Ricky did not marry a Cuban woman. The episode emphasizes the cultural differences between America and Cuba, as well as the social norms that Lucy faced while trying her very best to impress Ricky’s uncle.

The Cosby show is an American television sitcom starring Bill Cosby. The show presents the Huxtable family being an African-American and middle-class family. There are episodes that show significance bonds and social interaction between the parents and children.

I definitely agree with Dean’s claim that the program exploits hillbilly, redneck, or white trash stereotypes. Poverty, working class, and illiteracy are always sensitive themes that have ever been used to mock up the poor in the society, and the show The Beverly Hillbillies is a specific example about this these themes. The episode is about the Clampetts, who suddenly became rich, moved to a mansion in Beverly Hill and tried their best to adjust to their new life. The director of the show exploited four of the members in the Clampetts in a negative and stereotypical way. They were all depicted as poor, illiterate, and foolish people. For example, Granny put pieces of wood into the stove and ignited it. Or even though Jethro was a grown-up

Family sitcoms have been the most popular and positively influenced television shows watched since the 1900s to today. Many of these shows have consisted of African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic families who all play a role that we as watchers look up to or perceive as the right way to run our household. Over time there has been an addition to biracial shows and family role changes throughout these sitcoms. For example, now observing single parent homes, homosexual guardians and even the changing of social interaction has both positively and negatively impacted real families who are watching.

not be as good as we imagined. We are shown quick little images of all

In the early years of television, America’s main focus was on white faces, with the exception of a few black faces, these black people would be shown working low class jobs. America has made major improvements with the implementation of blacks, whites, and other races being shown on the television screen. Most of the changes are good in my opinion, some of them are bad. Many believe that the good changes still set people of color back from white actors. Blacks are given specific roles that fuel stereotypes by showing indecent behavior that society believes they act on.

The Huxtable family in The Cosby Show represents the overarching achievement of the American dream through an African American family. According to Marvin Riggs’s 1992 documentary Color Adjustment there were two types of images of African Americans in the media. On one hand, the news showed the social and racial tensions that enveloped the post-civil rights era. On the other hand, primetime television depicted social harmony among the races–an image that most Americans understood as inaccurate. In the 1980s, most African Americans lived below the poverty line and primetime television hesitated to present that challenged ideology of the American Dream to the viewing public. Henry Louis Gates Jr. argues, in Color Adjustment, that the Black urban sitcoms demonstrated both the greatest potential for representing Black life in television’s history and also the greatest failure. Residing comfortably in a Brooklyn brownstone, the Huxtables embodied a nuclear and solid family resolving everyday issues of urban life, showing that African Americans could move beyond the stereotypical realm of crooks and servants. The world of the Huxtable family created an aspirational fantasy for minorities groups. The “I’m With The In Crowd” episode succeeds in creating this sense of hope for African Americans by idealizing the Huxtable family through the use of costume and set design, while perpetuating certain African American stereotypes through acting methods and the non-diegetic laughter of