What wonderfully thoughtful replies!! It is quite refreshing to go on a greekchat line when members and sisterfriends are discussing more than 'how to be down'! I also love the fact that we can have a diversity of opinion without being disagreeable. Keep up the good work ladies!!
On BET & Cita (is that her name?) I must first say that I have not consistently watched BET in about 6 or 7 years so I cannot really speak on Cita (although I have seen commercials w/ her.) I can't remember who said it, but BET has long abandoned it's roots of providing postive A-A entertainment in chasing the almighty dollar. Some of you may not remember this , but when BET started in the 70s it showed a lot of old Black movies that were not getting play anywhere else. At that time, I thought the only way black people showed up in movies in the 40s and 50s was as maids and here BET was showing movies with ALL BLACK CASTS!! This little girl from Georgia was shocked! Somewhere along the line Bob Johnson decided that it was much more profitable for him to air infomercials and videos than movies such as the Emperor Jones. BET is still trying to pretend, however, by airing the shows that are worth anything at horrible times. BET Tonight w/ Tavis is on at 11:00 p.m. when most folks are watching their local news to get ready for tomorrow, Lead Story is on on Sunday mornings at 10:30 when most folks are getting ready for, or at church. The only thing that you can watch during 'prime time' is videos.
Now, as for the off-shoot topic of Cita's skin color... I think it is important that we ask the uncomfortable questions about body image, skin color, etc. to see what message we are sending young people, especially young girls. Whether we realize it or not, we are subconsciously effected by what we see in the media. Why do people like those ugly, loud (in my not so humble opinion) Versace shirts? Because a) they are expensive and b) someone on TV told them they were "in". As a young child, or even as a adult, if you are constantly told (by the media) that the way you look is not "in" then it has to do some damage to your psyche. Not only does it effect the ones that are not 'in' but it effects everyone. The people with the 'in' looks began to think that looks are going to open doors for them (and they sometimes do), that people with varied looks are not as smart, worthy, etc. Of course people do not say "how you look is not popular", but what they do is cast certain "types" in certain roles. Since Cita is an antimated character, I would love to know how BET made the decision on her 'look'. That includes everything from her dress, to her speech pattern to her skin color and hair style. I'm sure they told the animators that they wanted a street savy, hip hop around the way kinda girl with much attitude. They then had to match those adjectives with her discription. What does a girl like that wear? How does she sound? How does she style her hair? What does she look like (facial features, skin tone, size/weight)?
I don't know if there are any sociology majors on the list, but studies have been done that show that people will attribute other positive characterists (such as intelligence, how 'nice' they are, fun to be with, etc.) to people they deem attractive.
As African-American women who are offended by the notion that you have to look a certain way to be deemed attractive, we need to continue to discuss it these types of forums (and in Face 2 face conversations as well)so that men and women alike will know that it is NOT o.k. to say things like "she's pretty to be so dark." or "I don't like light skinned men" ('cause y'all know it's supposed to be 'in' to be a dark man right now!.) We also need to be conscience of the image that our children get from toys, their peers etc. and counterbalance that. And most importantly, we need to make sure that the people who are putting the images out there are held accountable. If that means sending letters to BET, their advertisers, etc. then that is what we need to do.
Sorry for the length (and any typos, misspelling,etc.), but this is a complex topic, that deserves mention.
[This message has been edited by Eclipse (edited May 15, 2000).]
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