I never really looked at the Cosby Show as a sight of modern racism but as I was reading it all made sense. The Cosby Show connects a lot with abstract racism by this African American family being able to live in a wealthy, upper middle class New York neighborhood living the American Dream. Even though the show looked at past events like the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr, and the March on Washington it made where everything was fixed and there is no more racism. It does not matter what a person's race is anymore and through hard work and merit anyone can move up. We see that with Cliff and Lindy where Cliff is a doctor and Lindy is a lawyer. In reality not all blacks have the same opportunity as Cliff and Lindy did and blacks still do not have the opportunities because the system will not let them move up. By this some people are stuck because the neighborhoods do not have good schools, education is not pushed, and their neighborhood does not allow people to have access to jobs and job security. Instead the Cosby's are playing whiteness where their race is overlooked and people do not consider them as black but as white. In order to be taken seriously The Cosby Show has to perform like a white American family unlike The Jefferson's and All in the Family. The Cosby's were not even considered a black sitcom because as people watched the show their race was forgotten and people did not realize that this was a black American family. Now in order for a black sitcom to succeed it has to have white values. It shows that our world is not over race and it is a constant thing that we are reminded of every time we turn on the television.
The Cosby Show aired more than a decade ago, do you think black sitcoms and dramas have to portray whiteness in order to the television show to succeed?
Why do you think it was so easy for people to forget that the Cosby's were a black upper middle class family?
I agree with what you are saying and it reminds me a lot of the article we read called "The Possessive Investment in Whiteness" where certain systems make it harder for blacks to attain loans and other rights that white people have. I think that the reason the Cosby Show was successful during the 80s and 90s is because they did somewhat conform to whiteness, but the fact is that they were a black family on TV and that representation alone is good. I think it's going to take a lot more shows on TV that show blacks in all different areas of life. It is not fair that whites are represented on TV as all different types of people, but blacks on TV feel as though they have to play it safe to be successful. Hopefully this changes in the future of American TV.
ReplyDeleteI hope it changes as well. In television today when there are blacks on television shows there is only one or two black people on the show. Blacks are surrounded by all these other white actors. The roles blacks play are not as developed as much as a white person's character. In order for black shows to be successful it is not fair that they have to conform to whiteness. Hopefully in time in changes but right now on television there are not that many black television shows on primetime television like ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. Instead it is on WGCI and other television networks.
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