Thosae shows, while doing a great amount to increase the diversity of black images at the time they were out, also did something kind of bad.
In the black community there has always been a tendency to limit artistic expression (yes, it is a stretch to classify most of network television as artistic in any way, but you still get a glimmer every now and then) in favor of promoting a positive image.
Artists like Zora Neale Hurston were sharply criticised in their time for depicting portraits of black people, which while they may have been closest to people in their own lives, supposedly set us in a 'bad light'.
Granted, there is no short supply of 'negative' black images in music (MTV/BET/ even VH1 for cryin out loud!) at present, but I think that in the black middle class there is still this idea that only certain forms of expression by black artists, whatever their medium, are valid. Like if something shows blacks in a bad light, even if it reflects another aspect of the black community, it shouldn't be produced.
The Cosby show, in its very success, sort of added fuel to this fire- it made representations of poorer/less educated blacks in television and movies very taboo- regardless of the character and the context, those figures will almost automatically draw fire. Shows about blacks can't win- if they are about poor families they find themselves without an audience, regardless of the quality of the actual shows. (This analysis is for non reality tv shows only- that is something totally different and reflects more the attitudes of the music industry's attitudes towards who black people are (angry, slutty, etc.) )
I think that is a DANGEROUS habit- art is about humanity and when an artist is imposed with a moral or social agenda, as often as not the art suffers for it.
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Originally posted by Dionysus
Watch more tv? H*ll no! That's one of the worse things one can do, you know I believe Family Matters and The Cosby Show were the only shows that portrayed African Americans in a good light. And, those were sitcoms, in other words, false characters. Today, the reality shows with real people are in, and they are doing a very bad job smoothing race relations.
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