Although I never really watched The Cosby Show, I enjoyed reading Jhally's "White Responses: The Emergence of "Enlightened Racism." One of the goals of the program was to show that black people can be just like white people. Well pardon my language, but no shit. I understand that some people are just never going to see it that way, and no amount of television portraying a wealthy, white-like black family is going to change their mind. But more importantly, I'm starting to wonder just how "white" the Huxtable's were made out to be.
Because I've never seen an entire episode of the show, this post is based entirely off the following BuzzFeed article: http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexnaidus/life-lessons-you-learned-from-the-cosby-show.
When I say I wonder just how "white" they were, I mean that there's clearly some inclusion of black stereotypes within the show. Whether this was done to remind viewers that the family really isn't white, I don't know. Perhaps it was done to personify the characters' backgrounds more? Whatever the case may be, even this BuzzFeed article about "life lessons" from The Cosby Show clearly include some stereotypes.
2. The Quote: One of the most common stereotypes of black people is that they speak "differently." The Huxtable's certainly don't - they sound like any other white person living in New York. But this GIF where the mother ends her sentence with "girl" is stereotypically a black "thing" to say. So was this done to remind viewers that she is black, or was it included to bring more dimension to the character?
3 and 4. Dancing: You don't see people suddenly dancing on Modern Family, but you sure do on The Cosby Show. Clearly no one in this scene is acting the part of a minstrel, but I think a "dance break" certainly relates back to that.
16. It's great that their daughter went to Princeton. Another common stereotype is that blacks are uneducated, so this certainly defies that. However, there's also that stereotype which assumes all black people are poor. This also defies that - $80,000 is a heck of a lot of money. But the mom saying "I want it now," isn't something you would see a white mother saying.
The Cosby Show was definitely a different approach when it came to an African American television show. The Huxtable's were given these "white" roles because it gave the viewers a feeling of comfort and allowed them to better relate themselves with the characters instead of feeling alienated. I think that playing down the traditional "black" roles in order to attract more viewers was done in a really savvy manner and it worked tremendously. Now incorporating stereotypes that African Americans share a different jargon or have a special interest in dancing can actually help the viewers become more accepting. Many people think that African Americans are hard to understand, but is something as simple as girl really all that hard to understand? I think it definitely gives the character more dimension and even if the show partakes in stereotypes they downplay them making the stereotypes less prominent.
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