Is media a reflection of culture or does it take a life of its own and define a culture?
In our readings about African-American stereotypes in the media, the answer seems to be both. Havens points to the international success of The Cosby Show as an example of how the economic progress of African-Americans led to the creation of a show about a black middle class family. Cosby paved the way for a new generation of situation comedies depicting African-American family life. This is an example of how the media reflected changes in our culture.
On the other hand, Havens also points out that Cosby, in turn, had the power to change cultural attitudes. For example, the critics worried that the wildly successful sitcom gave whites the mistaken impression that we no longer had to worry about racism. In addition, according to Havens, The Cosby Show gave hope to black South Africans that they too could achieve economic and social equality.
It seems to me that the way African-Americans are depicted on fictional television has changed over the years. In the beginning, it was a question of whether African-Americans were seen at all. Then there was a period when the majority of depictions of black people were negative and pandered to accepted stereotypes. Today, we have everything from Cliff Huxtable lecturing his son about personal responsibility to gun-toting gangsta rappers.
The images have changed and become more varied, but the central question remains the same: To what extent do media images of minorities impact their ability move up in society? Most interesting is the current debate raging within the African-American community itself: Is gangsta rap an empowering refection of inner city culture--or is it helping to lock this generation of poor African-Americans into a cycle of poverty?
If you are interested, here are two books about this issue:
Enough: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It by Juan Williams
Nuthin' But a "G" Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap
By Eithne Quinn
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One of the things that always stood about The Cosby Show for me was that race did not play as large of a role as in other African American series at the time, or even today. As Havens notes, "By avoiding much of the 'loud' humour that most African American sitcoms employ, where blackness becomes 'an object of derision and fascination' The Cosby Show also denied an integral part of black humour" (383). This is not to say that denying black humor made the show better, but we see how it played a role in reaching across so many cultural and socioeconomic boundaries to become very popular both domestically and internationally.
One of the major differences between Cosby and many of the black comedies that followed it, in my observation, was the dialogue. The Huxtables, from the eldest (Cliff) to the youngest (Rudy) all spoke with impeccable grammar. Theo and Denise might have used some teenage slang on occasion, but nothing too out of the ordinary for teens in America at that time. When I turn on the TV today and see black comedies, I hear some very eroded language, with characters who are supposed to be grown, educated adults saying "we was" this and "they be" that. Apart from teaching children bad grammar, is there any usefulness to this trend? Even Cosby himself pointedly noticed this when he appeared on camera at the 2003 Emmy Awards, remembered in this article from Newsweek:
"When Cosby went to collect a lifetime achievement award at this year’s Emmys, co-host Wanda Sykes asked him in all of her stereotypical finger-snapping, ghetto-girl glory how he managed to get where he did. 'I spoke English,' Cosby remarked."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3339663/
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