FREE ESSAY ON AFRIANCAN AMERICAN'S ROLE OF TELEVISION

AFRIANCAN AMERICAN'S ROLE OF TELEVISION

The roles African Americans play on television are not satisfactory. Though the roles have
changed during the development of television, the current relationship is not
representative of true African American people or their lifestyles. The question is how
do the past roles African Americans play in television sitcoms compare to the current
roles? How does this affect society's perception of the African American in American
culture? Throughout the history of television the roles and the representation of African
Americans has developed with the changing cultural conditions. However, the
representation of African American's has not fully simulated into today's society. What
the average citizen views on his or her television does not accurately portray the
African American's influence on America.
The early days of television held great optimism and hope for this new form of media as
an avenue for African Americans to assimilate into white American culture. However, a
pattern became evident, a pattern of type casting African Americans in roles which did
not accurately and wholly portray the individual. A misrepresentation of African
Americans became the common image on television. Variety shows initially promoted the new
media as an opportunity for equal representation and communication between the races.
However, a trend developed with African Americans often being "portrayed as custodians,
maids, servants, clowns, or buffoons" (Crenshaw). The negative image, which was developed
by these stereotypes, was perpetuated in the Amos and Andy Show. This television show
began as a radio show featuring two white men 
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portraying two comedic black men. When the show was transferred to television, two
African American men were cast in the roles, acting as buffoons. The popularity of the
show was overwhelming. This was the initial image of African Americans in television,
which reached mainstreams Caucasian America and was the foundation for which future
stereotypes were created. A new image of African American families was presented in the
eighty's with the Cosby Show. The Huxtable's were a successful African American family
with a life similar to the accepted and established Caucasian mainstream. This show was
not accepted fully because it failed to represent the full cultural scope of African
Americans. The current trend of television shows in the ninety's is a divide between the
programs and audiences watching them. Caucasians tend to watch programs with primarily
Caucasian casts, and African Americans tend to watch programs with primarily African
American casts. Television has the power to influence American culture in many ways. For
example, the images, which are presented on television, become what individuals expect in
the real world. As negative images, or images misrepresenting African Americans are
projected; the mass culture has a greater tendency to accept the false images as the
truth. It is important for Americans to examine the basis of the expectations they have
from television sitcoms and be careful in accepting its relation to the real world. The
conclusions Americans of all races draw from this are important in lowering 
the stereotypes on television and the interaction between all individuals. 
With the 1980's came a new portrayal of African American's on television. Shows such as
The Cosby Show depicted African American's with middle-class lifestyles. Characters were
seen as successful doctors, nurses, and lawyers. This idea was not readily accepted. In
fact, ABC originally turned down the idea of The Cosby Show because they did not believe
America would be able to handle the idea of an average, middle-class African American
family. (Johnson, 59) The Cosby Show was completely different from any previous African
American show. Before The Cosby Show, African Americans on television were most commonly
characterized as singers, dancers, maids, servants, and buffoons. The Cosby Show was
different. African Americans were viewed with average jobs and average lifestyles. The
African Americans on this show talked intelligently and about important issues. An
article in Ebony magazine titled "The Huxtables: Fact or Fantasy" stated, "The Cosby Show
presents a high level of positive images which are far ahead of other Black sitcoms." The
show continued to allude to famous African American art, authors, and universities. The
intelligent African American was constantly depicted on the show through things such as
the anti-apartheid poster on Theo's door and the naming of Sondra's children (Winnie and
Nelson) after Winnie and Nelson Mandela. 
Bill Cosby tried very hard to eliminate all stereotypes of African Americans in his show.
In fact, Cosby even hired someone specifically take out any 
stereotypes or racial jokes he found in the scripts. He wanted his show to view 
African Americans in a positive light in order to change America's concept of them.
(Racial Stereotypes Persist, 12) However, he was criticized for this very thing. Many
popular critiques said the problem with The Cosby Show and others like it is the
characters were acting white. John Killens asserts,
The Black folk [on these shows] are full of understanding and wisdom, sympathetic all the
way. No basic problems between the races. All men are brothers, right? An undramatic,
middle-classish situation, which hardly has anything to do with the Black experience.
(Torres, 71) 
Many found The Cosby Show to be unrealistic, saying their world was too perfect, but The
Cosby Show, in actuality, did a great job of portraying the middle-class African
American. Its depiction of the African American family was not too perfect; it was just a
dramatic change from what the American people were used to. The Cosby Show quite
realistically portrayed the middle-class African American family, and in doing so helped
to change America's perception of African Americans. During the eighties it seemed as
though African Americans had gotten past the point of there being blaxploitation on
television. With shows like, The Cosby Show and 
A Different World African Americans were portrayed in a way, which was never shown on
television before. They were portrayed in a way in which Caucasians were usually
portrayed on television, as upper class and intelligent. For some reason these types of
shows did not last very long. During the 90's began a trend of African Americans once
again being portrayed in and buffoonish and unintelligent light. With shows like The
Wayans Brothers and Martin African Americans were once again shown as being able to be
funny, but not being able to be serious. These sitcoms show African American males in
particular in a buffoonish way. In both shows they do not seem to have any serious
careers or goals in life. In Martin the character Martin is a disk jockey who does not
seem very successful in his career because he is always aggravating his boss by acting
foolish. In The Wayans Brothers, Sean is an amateur actor who goes to an audition for a
job and gets high before he is about to audition. In predominately Caucasian sitcoms,
like Frasier or Veronica's Closet, viewers will not see this type of portrayal. In
Frasier, the character Frasier plays a psychologist and his brother plays a doctor. In
Veronica's Closet, everyone works at a successful designing agency. When viewers turn on
the WB and the UPN network they see these types of degrading African American shows.
There are blocks of African American shows on Fridays and Mondays. The television
companies do not even try mixing these shows with the Caucasian sitcoms. They bunch them
all together, making it seem like these are the only types of shows African Americans are
capable of producing. White producers are the majority behind the scenes and it seems as
though they think African Americans are not good enough for prime time networks. "...In
1992 nearly one out every five characters on prime-time network entertainment programs
was African-American. Last season, that number dropped to one in 10," (Ebony Magazine,
83). Sitcoms are not the only place were African-Americans should be cast. There needs to
be more serious dramas with African-Americans living an everyday life in the real world.
On shows like "90210" and "Dawson's Creek", viewers rarely see an African American
person. America is made up of so many types of cultures, yet some shows make it seem like
it is just made up of spoiled, rich white kids. The public needs to know
African-Americans have issues in their lives as well. Producers need to show African
Americans going through relationship problems and family problems just like white kids in
"white shows" go through. African Americans have at least been shown in different dramas.
There have been lawsuits done by the nation's oldest civil rights organization because
there were not enough African-Americans on dramas. "Reports say new Black characters will
be added to NBC's Law &Order, ABC's Wasteland and Fox's Manchester Prep (Ebony Magazine,
83)." The drama shows portray African Americans in a more positive, realistic way. On the
popular show, ER there is ha Eriq Lasalle, who plays one of the doctors on the show and
goes through the same types of dramas the other characters do. On Felicity they have
Tangi Miller, who plays one of Felicity's best friends. She is trying to get through
college taking the same types of hard classes the Caucasian people are taking. Basically
African Americans need more serious roles on television. African Americas should have
sitcoms on television, but there needs to be a balance between the sitcoms and the
dramas. Dramas would help to show African American's in a more day-to-day, realistic
role.
Many broadcast executives believe whites rarely watch shows, particularly sitcoms, with
largely black casts. The networks broadcast relatively few shows with black or even
integrated casts in prime time television spots. There are two popular, outdated
stereotypes about African Americans. First, whites and non-blacks won't wasted their time
and money on anything perceived as "black oriented". Secondly, blacks are viewed as
marginal, if not irrelevant, as TV and film viewers and product consumers. According to
the annual Burrell marketing survey, blacks spend as much if not more per capita than any
other ethnic group in America on goods and services; moreover, 40% watch prime-time
television. African American's are marginal by no means; in fact, they are essential to
manufactures, advertisers and the success of television shows.
Caucasian shows are for the most part, entirely white. On the other hand, primarily black
shows have been forced to add white characters. "There is always a concerted effort by
white executives to place white faces on black shows," said Steve Harvey, whose show is
on the WB network. "We have had to place white faces on our show this year. We didn't ask
for it. It came down on us. We happen to like those characters, and they've worked out
well. But how often do you find it going the other way? There's never an expectation in a
white show which needs a few more black faces." One of the reason's why there isn't more
African American faces on Caucasian shows is because there isn't a reported demand for
integration; therefore, the executives don't want to take the effort to integrate. Once
again, African American's aren't marginal and should be portrayed accurately on
Television.
Presently, the television is in over 99% of American homes (Color Adjustment). The
television has a power to change mass habits and attitudes. Reverend Jesse Jackson says
media depicts African Americans in "Five Deadly ways: Less intelligent…less
hardworking…less universal… less patriotic… and more violent than we
are." African American's when portrayed are done so negatively. Perhaps, if blacks were
seen more frequently on television in roles comparable to white actors then the black
real-life employment might be favorable affected. 
One way to change the trend is to have more African Americans behind the scenes and in
production in order to have realistic portrayals of African Americans. The past roles
were based on cultural stereotypes of the era and did not realistically portray the lives
of African Americans. The current roles are still not representative of African
Americans. They are more encompassing of African American life, but they are far from
reality. The television has the ability to shape people's opinions, views and stereotypes
of different cultures. If what one views is false, then he or she absorbs and projects
false images. However, if views of other cultures are portrayed more accurately, then one
will enrich the veiwers life and relate to one another more openly. America can then come
to a better understanding of the many cultures it contains and the beauty each has to
offer. 
Audience Reaction
After giving the presentation there were many different views coming
from the audience which were not expected. The audience did not hold the same views
presented to them. The point addressed was about how Will Smith was the buffoon on The
Fresh Prince of Bel Air. They did not feel Will Smith was acting buffoonish, they thought
he just brought comedy to the show. The audience seemed to focus on black people acting
white rather than black people acting ignorant. They brought up the character Carlton,
and how he acted white. When asked the question how they knew he was acting white they
said he went to an all white school and was influenced by the way they acted. The
audience also said Will criticized Carlton for acting white. They excused Will's
buffoonish actions by saying white people were also made fun of through Carlton's
character. This brings up the question how do we know what is characterized as acting
black or acting white, and what makes a show a black show or a white show. Again these
questions revert back to the fact television shows have embedded stereotypes in our
society. This makes people believe there must be a typical black person and white
person.