The Concept of 'Magical Negro'

In 'Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in "Magical Negro" Films' by Matthew W. Hughey, the author discusses the concept of the term 'Magical Negro.' I have never heard of such term until I read this article. The author defines the term 'Magical Negro' as "a stock character that often appears as a lower class, uneducated black person who possess supernatural or magical powers. These powers are used to save and transform disheveled, uncultured, lost, or broken whites into competent, successful, and content people within the context of the American myth of redemption and salvation" (p. 545). 

One thing about high budgeted mass media outlets such as films is that the production companies are very careful about their investments due to the fact that the film projects are extremely costly compared to other outlets. It is not like a TV show, which they can air the pilot and study the reaction, and thus getting projections of the show's future. Unless they are major blockbusters with millions of dollars as a budget, many film productions are more of gambles, which is why the production companies and sponsors are less likely to put themselves in risks. 

Although many would like to believe that America is in the post racial era, the majority of consumers are still caucasian based, and this trend will stay the same for a very long time. Because of this reason, many films have followed the procedures of past successful projects, which may include being racially sensitive towards Caucasians' perspectives rather than others. 

Negative and offensive portrayal of the African American community arose to the attention as many civil rights leaders fought and pushed for social equality. Directors such as Spike Lee are well-known for his jabs at the society and heavily accentuating the racial representation of the African American Community, and perhaps even accentuate them. 

I believe that the authors were more referring to the African American characters that play support roles. Hughey mentions the popular action film 'the Matrix'. In the film, Lawrence Fishburne plays Morphius, a vital support character that aids the main character, Neo (played by Keanu Reeves) reach his destiny as the hero of the storyline. While Lawrence Fishburne's character is important to the storyline, his purpose is to help Keanu Reeves character come to the realization of being a hero and saving the world. Morphius would be the perfect example of what a 'Magical Negro' in films would be. 

I believe that people's mentality against racial roles in the society have evolved for the better. However, I cannot shake the feeling that somewhere in the society's consciousness, there are still some deep-rooted racial images stuck in the minds that prevent us from seeing people completely separated from the concept of race.

The Magical Negro

In Cinethetic Racism, Matthew Hughey discusses the Magical Negro (MN).  Hughey states that the MN is typically a lower class, uneducated black person who always ends up saving and transforming “broken” whites.  In that sense, the MN is seen as a servant, and we can feel bad for them if something happens; however, we are not able to place ourselves in their shoes.  An obvious example of the MN (and I think we mentioned this in class) is Bruce Almighty.  Although Morgan Freeman plays a superior character (God), he is portrayed as the janitor.  Before talking about this in class, I assumed that he took on the role of a janitor because God is supposed to be someone who serves us and gives us a helping hand when needed.  I saw it as more of a religious thing rather than racism.  However, after taking a closer look, I can definitely see how this would be considered “new racism."  Although Morgan Freeman is playing God, he is still serving and helping a white person, and his janitor outfit only reinforces the idea of a servant which goes back to slavery. 

With that in mind, has much really changed since minstrelsy?  This new type of racism that Hughey discusses reminds me of Bonilla-Silva’s colorblind racism.  Because blacks are being given these roles, racism must no longer be an issue.  Although there might be more instances of blacks taking a more important role in the media, they are typically a stepping stool for the white characters. 

So, I think we have come a long way in terms of racism.  However, the issue still exists.  Since the media heavily influences us, I think the change needs to start from there.  Yes, minorities are given bigger roles now, but the racism is still there.  It’s just more subtle.  With that said, I guess the bigger question would be what can we do to further reduce racism, specifically in the media?   

Julianne Hough dons blackface for Halloween

Not again!! A couple of days ago, I was browsing through dlisted, one of my favorite celebrity gossip websites where I came across an image of Julianne Hough donning blackface for Halloween this year. Her and all of her friends dressed as characters from the new Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Julianne dressed as the character Crazy Eyes, who is played by an African American woman Uzo Aduba. I cannot believe her friends let her go out in blackface! It is really hard to believe they saw nothing wrong with this and allowed her to go out in public. It seems like our society is still unaware of the deeply embedded emotions and history associated with blackface and African Americans. I understand that she was dressing up for Halloween and maybe this shouldn’t be taken too seriously but there is nothing right in this situation at all. Blackface is offensive simple as that.

 She apologized for her actions in tweet that said: “I am a huge fan of the show Orange is the New black, actress Uzo Aduba, and the character she has created. It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way. I realize my costume hurt and offended people and I truly apologize.”

I appreciate that she took responsibility for her actions but cannot get over her ignorance. How do you guys feel about her costume choice? Do you find it offensive? Or do you find it acceptable because she dressed as a fictional TV character?

Here is the link for the article if you’re interested: http://dlisted.com/2013/10/26/what-in-the-hell-kind-of-gd-crazy-eyes-costume-is-this/

Look at the comments! Some interesting points were made.

The Magical Negro

 While watching the movie, The Help, it reminds me of some of the terms that Hughey discussed in his article, Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in “Magical Negro”. One of the terms that I recalled is white normativity  nd superiority. While finishing 3/4 of the films, I found the level of being white is as superior as it gets right before the civil right movement. One specific racial racism problem that played an important role during the movie is the use of bathroom. The servants were not able to use the white people’s bathroom, which I think is very racism and stereotypical. However, at that time period, it is normal because the black people are not having the equal rights that they are supposed to have. Because of this incident, it reminds me of the term white normativity and superiority that Hughey talked about in his article. Another term that I think is important is Magical Negro (MN) because I think the film does made a significant point that these black woman servants are important to the household because they are the one who can help them take care of the house chores and the kids. For example, the character in the film, Aibileen, who raised more than ten white children in her life that try to teach them everything they can and give all the love she has to these white children. She has the power of trying to change the current situations that they are facing by agreeing to reveal their story in a book. Personally I do think this film should be considered to be a magical negro film, because it showed the voice from the black person’s point of view and understanding their perspective. 

Cinethetic Racism

In Hughey's study about "Magical Negro" films, he posits that themes of racism in cinema affect our understanding of racial representations in the media today as well as how this environment creates magical black characters that are seem both positive and negative.

He describes a prevalent character in  cinema called the "magical negro" as
a stock character that often appears as a lower class, uneducated black person who possess supernatural or magical powers. These powers are used to save and transform disheveled, uncultured, lost, or broken whites into competent, successful, and content people within the context of the American myth of redemption and salvation (p. 545).  This character is usually humble, and almost saintly in a way.  The character does not necessarily have magical or mythical powers but does present wisdom and a deeper understanding of life or the situation.  

These characters exist to support the Caucasian character.  On the converse side, Hughey also talks about how in cinema there has been a "utopian reversal".  He explains that  cinema shifted in the 1980s and
Black characters gained modes of representation on par with, or in command of, whites, Race was far from being ignored, but was instead specifically addressed.  Instead of anti-black stereotypes being perpetuated, cinema placed black characters in powerful, educated, and successful positions.  I feel as if they were trying to over compensate for the past anti-black stereotypes.  Or, potentially film makers were trying to avoid criticism and scrutiny over obvious anti-black stereotyping.  

Violent lyrics

Lyrics in music is a very interesting thing.  They're the main way for a musician to express him/her self and they can have no apparent meaning or weave stories of immense scale that carry a listener to and from.  Yet, it seems like every now and then lyrics are used as a scapegoat when shootings or violent activities occur.  Take the shooting of Columbine High School in 1999.  Little did Marilyn Manson know that he would shoulder some of the blame for the 12 kids killed that day.  It always seems to come down to two genres of music when violent lyrics are concerned, rap and heavy metal.  According to Carrie Fried's 1999 article Who's Afraid of Rap she points out that while both genres are criticized for enacting violence, there is a slight difference between the two (Fried, 1999).  She states "rap music focus on how it provokes listeners
to commit violent crimes and to endanger society. On the other hand, violent heavy-metal music draws concerns that the music will harm the listeners by driving them to use drugs or to commit suicide" (pg 707).  While I may not agree with that fully, I can understand why songs such as Body Count's Cop Killer ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSvD5SM_uI4) are viewed as dangerous to our society.  However, part of the reason songs like this, and rap in general, get a bad reputation is because we, as a society, tend to associate rap with "urban black males" (Fried, 1999, pg 707).  This obviously scares people because our society has this stereotype that the "urban black male" is the one that's going to stick us up at gun point and take our money.  Yet despite how violent some rap lyrics are, there are some metal songs with lyrics that are equally as violent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R69BIYyfoa8 for example) but it seems as if metal isn't quite as high a priority when it comes to criticism of violent lyrics.  I believe this has a bit to do with this idea of the "urban black male" being this feared and dangerous entity while the "suburban white male" (most metal listeners) is often seen as more docile and less violent (Fried, 1999).  People fear the "urban black male" so when they see music that is connected with this image they instantly feel that it is full of violence and thus must be bad for society.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much that can be done as of right now, though I do feel that the rap scene is slowly becoming more and more accepted in the eyes of many critics.  I think as we get more and more racial diversity into the rap genre then I believe we'll begin to see a decline of this "urban black male" stereotype that is attached to the music.

For the love of God

Rap doesn't cause violence. Video games don't cause violence. People cause violence.

It's foolish to blame rap for violence. They may have written a song about it, but as far as I know, Ice T never killed a cop, nor did his listeners after hearing Cop Killa. Our society just needs to find a scapegoat for everything bad thing that happens, and entertainers/entertainment is (are) an easy target.

Sure, when this article was written rap was seen as "black" music. But today there's plenty of evidence to show that just as many white kids listen to rap as do african americans. And while I don't have much interest in watching old rap videos, I can only assume that the findings of the 1995 study conducted by Johnson, Adams, Ashburn, and Reed were either a gross overgeneralization or focused on subjects already living in areas plagued by violence. Think about it - in 1995 the Internet was just making it's way into our homes, and while MTV still played music at this point, not everyone could afford cable. And since the study focused on black youths, it would be quite surprising if they had unlimited access to rap videos.

What really interested me about this article was the blame these past studies placed on music. While it did focus on blacks, white musicians have been blamed for arguably more violent acts. Take the 1999 school shooting in Littleton, Colorado for example. Marilyn Manson more or less became public enemy number one due in large part to incorrect media reports. After the media were done interviewing grieving parents and the crowds outside the funerals for those 13 victims, reports claimed that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were wearing makeup, dressed in black, and listened to Manson's music. While they may have been wearing black (I don't actually know), they weren't wearing makeup and more importantly, they didn't even listen to Marilyn Manson. Regardless, his music was blamed for Harris and Klebold's decision to attack the school.

Manson said it best when he wrote, "Isn't religion the first real entertainment? People dress up in costumes, sing songs and dedicate themselves in eternal fandom,". Look at Jim Jones' Jonestown and Charles Manson. They were able to convince people to partake in some of the most vile acts of violence all for the sake of religion. On a smaller scale, people regularly kill doctors who perform abortions or people who identify as homosexual for the mere sake that the bible says it is sinful. 

In short, Fried's article is yet another testament to how fucked up our society is.

Is Eminem a Blackface performer?

That reference kind of caught my attention as I was reading Yousman's article. It was just a passing reference, but the sentence still stuck:

"...a White male fan's emulation of an artist like DMX, or the White rapper Eminem's parroting of Black gangsta rappers...bears much in common with earlier blackface performances...(Yousman 2004: 380)".

It made me think. Is this craze for Black culture and hiphop just another White supremacist tactic to subtly take over once again? I have to say that out of all our readings of this week, Yousman's made me the most paranoid.

But he makes some good points, especially about how 'Blackophilia', as he terms it, does not actually stimulate or create political or social reform. Instead, it has the effect of leaving change dead in the water. Rather that mobilizing the majority to action, the hiphop culture has merely make the stereotypical image of Black culture popular. That is, lower-class, dubiously-employed, violent, aggressive and hypersexualized.

Which brings me to another point. It's obvious that many reference to Black culture (and to a large extent, a lot of grounds for 'blackophobia') are based on this idea of wild and rampant sexuality. Whether it be the easy 'hoes' or misgoynist, shirtless self-named criminals, we are certainly not bombarded with a conservative image of Black sexuality. '

This concept of modern blackface, along with not-so-subtle reminders of Black sexuality can easily lead to the conclusion that as the dominant culture we Whites (yes, I include myself!) feel threatened by people we thought we could fit into a snug little box.

Personally, I think this discomfort could be a good thing, as long as it leads to the recognition of a need for change and not some hyper-masculine need to "whip it out and measure it".

Negro Almighty

During some aspects of this weeks reading in regards to the Magical Negro I almost felt like the author was somewhat stretching the definition of the Magical Negro to encompass characters like Morpheus and God (Morgan Freeman) who in my opinion don’t necessarily fit the bill.  I don’t disagree with the main points or concepts the author is trying to get across but I do believe that at times he is crossing Magical Negro’s with character archetypes that are used by writers to enhance the story.  Granted the Magical Negro is an archetype but it is one that can easily be mistaken for another archetype, which is the teacher/guide of the hero.  Examples of this is someone like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Morpheus who calls the protagonist of the film to adventure and advises them throughout the course of the film.  Now just because the character is black or white doesn’t really matter.  Another archetype is the God or Goddess character that offers supernatural aid and other worldly advice to the protagonist to help them succeed or learn a valuable lesson.  The Magical Negro, which is characterized a poor, usually uneducated black person with supernatural powers, plays the role of both a guide and supernatural aid from a subservient role rather than a superior role and that is what distinguishes them from other similar archetypes.

            I almost feel like Hughey was reaching at times when making his claims and characterizing certain film characters in order to provide more evidence for his claim.  For the most part I thought he hit the nail on the head when he mentioned Bagger Vance and John Coffy because they really were Magical Negros and he had other great examples as well.  My question I guess would be do these media researchers sometimes look for evidence in places where it is a bit ambiguous or may not exist at all? Why?  

Arrest Gap between Minorities and Whites

Although it's been a couple of weeks since we discussed racial profiling, the subject was just talked about in my criminal justice class (and let's be honest, racial profiling is constantly present and therefore will always be current until we see change).  My CLJ professor touched on the relationship between profiling and racial inequality and policing.  

The professor mentioned that everybody–Whites, Blacks, Latinos, etc. all use marijuana at approximately the same levels. Blacks and Latinos, however, are more likely to getting arrested for the possession of it by a significant difference.  He mentioned that in Illinois, African-Americans make up 15% of the population, but account for about 60% of the marijuana-possession arrests.

I found it rather interesting how racism is constantly present in everyday topics because I don't necessarily have to be in my Minorities and Communication class to discuss racial inequalities, but the subject comes up because it is real. 

I recently read an article for class, which discusses racial profiling.  In his essay Law Enforcement by stereotypes and serendipity:  Racial Profiling and Stops and Searches without Cause Rudovsky (1999) discusses an experience of 4 African Americans who were stopped by a police officer.  After being asked out of their vehicle, and being searched thoroughly–both the men and the car with the help of a narcotics-trained police dog, one of the men asked why they had been stopped.  The police officer's response was, "because you are young, black and in a high drug trafficking area driving a nice car" (p. 296).  

This reminds me of the incident that Tim Wise describes in his video of the Pathology of Privilege when he mentioned that he asked a police officer what he would think when seeing a young black man driving a nice sports car and the police officer replied, "I would think that he was a drug dealer."  Yet when asked the same question, but if the driver was a young white man, the officer said he would think he was a spoiled kid, whose dad bought him his car.  

See below to see the racial disparities among the 25 most populous counties in the U.S. 

The numbers don't lie, and therefore it is obvious that racial profiling continues. 

Who is to blame for racial profiling and stereotypes?  Is it the media, which over represents African Americans and Latinos as perpetrators, while the Whites are depicted as victims?  Is it the t.v. news that we watch, which shows yet another African American suspect on the murder of a white person? What should America do to reduce the racial disparities that are still present today?   

For more statistics on the significant difference of racial disparities throughout the U.S., read The Washington's post article on the black/white marijuana arrest gap.  

The Concept of Magical Negro and our Moden Society

Mathew W. Hughey states that "The MN (magical negro)  has become a stock character that often appears as a lower class, uneducated black person who possesses supernatural or magical powers". This concept of what a magical negro is, highlights this idea that racism is hidden within our society. Although it is clearly implied that there is change in what media shows the audience, stereotypes of black individuals still prevail within our society. Black history has changed, however the concept behind slavery still continues, such that we can find it within our society. Stereotypes still exist because of the past.

Hughey makes a clear and important argument. He states that although black people are shown in media more as successful important people; there is this focus on white characters. White characters are subjects, and black people are shown as objects that help the white people succeed. This is an important factor because it contributes to this idea that black people’s feelings and emotions are not as relevant as white people’s feelings and emotions.  The author uses the show Evan Almighty to highlight how blacks are portrayed in media. This example is essential because it highlights this idea that black people can be shown on media, but their own feelings and ideologies are not as important than white peoples feelings and ideologies.  As an audience, this concept takes away that black people are again there to help white people.

In the past, black nannies and minstrelsy were great example of how we can find this in media today. Although we might not see “happy” black nannies serving their masters, or white people portraying black people by painting their faces to entertain other whites, we can still see the idea being carried out today.

A great example of this is Black History Month, for individuals to acknowledge, celebrate and learn about black history. Black history month exist, so people can educate themselves to learn all about the negative and positive contributions in black history. Howe an still find hidden racism within our society. Tim wise once said in his video that the bigger problems in society are being ignored, because we as society would like to think that there are improvements. He uses the example of information that is present to us, in which we categorize people. He talks about the word “underprivileged”, which is used to describe a group of people who do not have certain necessities to become independent.

The concept behind black history month and the concept behind the words presented to us, such as “underprivileged” can be linked because it gives individuals this contradicting notion that changes are present in our modern society, however how can changes be present when terms such as underprivileged exist? Underprivileged is an important example because it is used to describe minorities in such a way to distinguish “us” from “them”. This notion that they are different from us, because they do not have what we have or they are in this state because of the path they chose or the environment that they live in. These examples contribute to the idea that it must be thier own fault to become underprivileged.

This idea makes me think how quickly we are able to hold pride as a society because we see overall changes, (such as the end of slavery; blacks being shown in the media) but we refuse to see the bigger problems that are hidden within our socie

Great questions to consider are  why is there words such as underprivileged in our society to describe minorities, yet society as a whole would like to think that opportunities have become more accessible as we are reminded of the past history and we see improvements from our past to our present, with the concept behind Black History Month. 

Does this mean we are okay with what is being shown in media and how minorities are treated? or does this mean we have become better at ignoring the bigger problems because are constantly reminded that change has come.( change such as, the first black president in US) ? 

What would we do without the "Magical Negro"?

The “Magical Negro” is as simple as it sounds. The black character magically helps and/or advises the other character through their hardships. The “Magical Negro” does not have the advanced background and can be primarily seen as an object or tool that is used by the other characters, usually of white decent. We feel bad for them if something happens, but cannot situate ourselves in their shoes. The character is usually happy to help guide the other characters along while they stay in a fixed position. The “Magical Negro” does not up rise and become a dominant character, they stay helpful and subservient. Of course the first problem I see with this type of character is that it reminds me of the history of slavery. The black character serves the sole purpose to help the white character. Without the white character, there would be no black character.

In relation to this idea of the “Magical Negro” it is important to look at recent shows or movies we have watched to see how often this character is present. I have been watching the show, Hart of Dixie, and I did not realize until after reading Matthew Hughey’s article, Cinethetic Racism, that Lavon Hayes is a “Magical Negro”. The African American character is a retired football player that now serves as the Mayor of a small southern town. Not only does Lavon Hayes play a sport, a stereotypical relation to African Americans, but he also assists the entire town with their troubles throughout the episodes.  He is always the go to character and always has a smile on his face. I think it is interesting that the mayor was chosen to be black. Many people would think that this is a dominant role and that it is a step in the right direction, but in actuality he accompanies the white characters through their lives. From the outside it looks like a good change in the stereotypical black character, but the problem still exists. He is still a character without much complexity and plays a subservient role. 

How Bill Cosby Changed Television

Bill Cosby has been praised for his show, The Cosby Show because of its representations of blacks in television. It was a great shift during the 80-90's when television shows only represented blacks as a simple character that didn't have much of a background. Cosby opened the floor and allowed a middle-upper class African American family to express their emotions and follow them through their daily lives. The characters were relatable and that caused many people, including myself to watch the show. The problems that have arisen from this show were particularly based on the fact that the show doesn't show a real representation of how many African Americans live. It gave a false portrayal of how simple social mobility is. The show along with others during this time gave the audience a sense of awareness that African Americans are doing fine. The article, Enlightened Racism by Sut Jhally, explained that there was actually an uproar in poverty for African Americans during this time and because the mythical world of television was telling us everything was “alright” many people thought there was no need for affirmative action. I believe that was the most troubling part of the article. Many people are naïve and believe what they see on television is true and that isn’t Bill Cosby’s fault, it’s our own. In order to shift this belief do we need to place African Americans in roles of hardship or impoverishment to get the audiences attention that not everything is all right? It seems like either way it will have a negative connotation.

After watching the intros of many television shows, I believe that Cosby did a good job of making the show light hearted and although the show gave the laissez faire idea it was a step in the right direction. It may not have fulfilled all the requirements necessary to shift the stereotypical African American, but it offered a good variety and started to normalize blacks in the television world. 

TV News Vs. Television Vs. Movies

The portrayals of blacks between television shows, movies, and television news is interesting. Each category has a different way of show portraying black people on television.

The news usually tries to portray black people as criminals and not as heros or law defenders. The news wants people to see the bad in black people and become scared of them. When the news frames their stories in certain ways without actually telling the truth in whole. I feel like it is up to the movies and television shows to portray blacks in a positive light in order to ensure that black people are not bad people but are instead like everyone else. Although television shows and movies are still flawed in the ways they portray black people because they want them to be seen as white or there for the white people's benefit. It is still not as harsh as the news who makes them look completely flawed. 

Although television is still flawed with the ways they show black people, television portrays them as a normal family. An example of this being The Cosby's. Even though there is a problem with The Cosby's being seen as white and easy for everyone to reach the American Dream, when in actuality it is not, is still a better portrayal than what the news does. When blacks are portrayed as normal it allows people of all races to relate to them and they do not have that stereotypical image that all black people are bad people. They are able to see that black people are just like them and it slowly takes away from that schema they made in their head. 

Blacks in movies has changed dramatically since the past. Now we see blacks in roles that would have never been granted to them in the past like playing God, a CEO, or the top agent. It is still seen that blacks are the "magical negro" and there to help the white person when they fall down. They are there to give the white person moral support when they need it the most. There is still racism towards blacks but i feel entertainment industries try to portray black people as white or white figures to down play what the news says about them. This is because the news are overtly racist towards blacks when showing them on television. 

It is unfair altogether how black people are portrayed because the news only sees them as deviant, television tries to picture black people as normal but whites do not see it that way, and movies still enforce blacks to be inferior to the white lead, why is this a constant thing in media today in the new millennia?

Do you think we will ever get past this stage of media or do you think that it will just stay the same as time goes on? 

The Huxtable's are black and normal

I am a huge fan of The Cosby Show and grew up watching this show with friends and family but after reading Jhally’s, “White Responses: The Emergence of “Enlightened” Racism,” I understood the show from a different perspective. I loved The Cosby Show, because it was funny and it showed that an African American family is able to be successful and make it. For this very reason, the notion of blacks “making it” in society is something that white viewers cannot buy into because most black families are not like the Huxtable’s. Most people believed that the show did not represent a “typical” black family, which made me think…what is a typical black family? When whites expressed that the Huxtable’s were not a typical black family and said things like the Huxtable’s were “just like them” and “you can’t notice their race at all,” I began to see the show from a different perspective and recognized why white viewers did not see the Huxtable’s as a black family. They did not act out stereotypical “black behavior.” The family portrayed whiteness and appeared to be “just like white people,” which made it easier for white audiences to watch and enjoy the show. After reading responses from the white respondents, the majority of them watched the show for reasons different from mine. I loved this show because it reminded me of my family. This African American family in my eyes is just like mine. Not once did I ever think this was not a typical black family. The Huxtable’s are black and I see them as a normal family! What will it take for people to acknowledge that they are black and normal? I do not understand how there are people who still believe that blacks cannot make it, and believe this show presents a false reality for black viewers. This show was nothing but positive growing up and I will continue to see it in a positive light.

Hughey and the "Magical Negro"

While reading Hughey's essay on the idea of the "magical negro" in film, it reminded me of an example that supports his thesis. Hughey states that the idea of the "magical negro" is one in the film that possesses supreme wisdom or magical powers. This idea conveys to white audiences that, "a saintly black character is the moral equivalent of a 'normal' white character" (2009). This reminded me of an episode of How I Met Your Mother (himym). Though this is a television series rather than a film, it depicts many of the points that Hughey discusses and shows how the "magical negro" stereotypic role is not only depicted in film, but other pop culture mediums as well.

In 2009, himym aired an episode titled "The Three Days Rule". The premise was one of the main characters asking for dating advice from his friends. A character named Stan, played by Kevin Michael Richardson, appeared in the episode and gave relationship advice to the characters. This idea falls under the category of white sexuality/romance that Hughey discusses. It shows a black man giving love advice to white men because he had more style, sexuality, and natural instinct. The speech Stan gives the characters is:

"Tell him that knowing he's out there, thinking about you, caring about you, makes you feel safe. So all your fears, all your yesterdays, wash away, and only hope remains, and the promise of his embrace.

You make me thank God for every mistake I ever made because each one led me down the path that brought me to you. And when we finally come together, I want you to hold me, hold me all night, stroke my hair, tell me I'm a woman and show me you're a man, until there is only now. You and I, and now.

I do not ask for the night explanations, I wait for it, and it envelopes me and so you and bread and light and shadow are..."

 

 

This profound and knowledgeable speech also relates to what Hughey calls folk wisdom. Because of the history, black people are seen to have a deeper spiritual understanding and therefore have more wisdom and outlook on life. It also gives them greater authority to speak on emotional matters. This scene from himym portrays this ideal almost to a tee. Hughey's research could be expanded greatly by looking at the "magical negros" presence on television in addition to film.

The idea of "normal"

This week we looked into how minorities are displayed in the media, specifically TV. We took a look at a chapter from "White Responses - The Emergence of 'Enlightened' Racism," which basically talked about the idea of 'enlightened' racism, which can be defined as racism that is not based on skin color, but is based more on cultural behaviors and stereotypes, and being more quiet (or subtle).

Jhally tries to explain in the chapter how shows like the Cosby Show separates the audiences into the viewers who see the show as "unrealistic" because the family wasn't "normal" and the viewers who didn't see the race of the family in the Cosby Show, because they may have been "acting normal (or 'white')." One question that can be asked here is how and why the word 'normal' can be used in a racist way.

I disagree with the idea that was showed in the reading that mentioned that the Cosby Show was not a accurate representation of "black life," and I think that in shows like that, people need to be able to see the color that the people are, as well as being able to say that they are "normal" in order for us to be able to move forward as a society.

The Cosby Show | A Program Full of Generalizations

I can probably count the number of times I've watched The Cosby Show on two hands. It's not that I dislike the show, I've just never found the jokes to be all that funny. But I suppose the real reason I've never really enjoyed it is because I'm not interested. I realize that sounds ignorant, but it is what it is and I don't think I'll ever enjoy watching The Cosby Show.

Although I went into it with an open mind, Jhally's article just seemed like yet another article placing all whites into one category and blacks in another. I understand that our society has a tendency to do that, but it's hypocritical for race X to be bashing race Y for putting all of race X under one umbrella stereotype. While Jhally's article doesn't do that as severely as Bonilla-Silva's for example, there are still plenty of assumptions regarding whites and blacks. 

Take for example Jhally's statement (page 2) that "...the Huxtable family presented black characters that black and white audiences could relate to." Why can black audiences relate? Because they're black? When watching Paris Hilton's old show The Simple Life, there wasn't anything I could relate to even though she was white. Just because someone is the same race doesn't mean they can relate to one another. And why does Jhally think white people can relate to the Huxtables? Because they're wealthy? Well that's certainly a gross generalization. According to the US Census Bureau, there were 195,112 white non-hispanic individuals with income below poverty thresholds compared to 40,125 black individuals. 

Scholars need to stop assuming that all black people are poor and white people look at them as inferior. They also need to stop asserting that all whites are rich and are racist. On page 5, Jhally says "...what The Cosby Show has confronted, many have argued, is the deep-rooted racism of white Americans who find it difficult to accept racial inequality." Really? Being white does not make someone racist just as being black doesn't make someone a gang member. And what does "deep-rooted" mean? Because many white European immigrants weren't even living in the U.S. at the time. So perhaps the real problem with race in our society is the assumptions scholars and researchers make, and not actually the "beliefs" of each person. 

From Cosby to Cooper

Something that really stuck out to me from class this week was when we looked at black representation on network television and I was actually surprised by how many black sitcoms their actually were prior to the 90’s and those are only the ones we looked at.  The question at the top of my mind at the end of class is, what happened?

Growing up I watched the Cosby Show, My Wife and Kids, The Fresh Prince, The Bernie Mac Show, and the Steve Harvey Show but most of those ended either around the mid-1990’s or early 2000’s and since then their haven’t really been many good African American sitcoms on TV.  When I look at the current TV sitcoms they mostly feature all white casts with the occasional black support characters.  To me this is television going back to the assimilation style of television we discussed where blacks were featured as characters on television but they were part of white culture.  Top shows like The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, and Arrested Development have almost no black characters in any of the episodes (except for Barneys brother on HIMYM), and it makes me wonder where all the black television actors went.  Granted there are still black sitcoms but they are not on the major networks or featured in Prime Time. 

In my research I found that there are a few attempts being made to bring back black sitcom in the up and coming television premiers like NBC’s Guys with Kids which will star Temptestt Bledsoe (The Cosby Show) but most of the black actors are starring in shows with a predominantly white cast.  Why is it that the black sitcoms that were so popular before the 90’s been reduced to local broadcast networks like WCIU and UPN?