September marked the 30th anniversary of the debut of The Cosby Show. The show aired for eight years, and it received consistently high ratings amongst American viewers. The show is interesting because it signified a change in American culture regarding race relations: The Huxtables were an upper-middle class, African American family; however, most American households could relate to the familial situations in the sitcom. The show’s focus on a successful African American family was believed by many to help break the racial stereotype of the 80s, as it showed that the Huxtables (and, consequently, other African American families) could be just as intelligent and financially stable as any white family.
The North Carolina Public Radio commemorated the 30th anniversary with an interview of Duke African-American Studies Professor Mark Neal and St. Augustine’s University film chair Natalie Brown. They discussed the impact of the show on American culture and politics, claiming that the show’s impact was positive. It mattered that the Huxtables were an upper/middle class black family because when The Cosby Show first premiered, black families were not portrayed with socioeconomic statuses of this level. For lower/middle class African Americans, the Huxtables were the type of family which African American kids admired. In addition, the show subjected white America to black parenting.
I agree with Professor Neal and Professor Brown that The Cosby Show brought out the best in black culture after the Civil Rights Movement. I remember Cliff Huxtable introducing me to African American musicians such as BB King and Ray Charles. The radio interview also reminds listeners about sweatshirts which Theo Huxtable frequently wore from historically black colleges. The families’ classy home contained many African American paintings. Theo had an emblem of the anti-apartheid movement on his door, and Sandra names her kids Nelson and Winnie. These could serve as reminders of past civil rights issues, but the politics are seemingly subtle.
I often watched the show growing up, and I continuously admired the Huxtable family. They exhibited confidence and pride in their race. I think that Bill Cosby had an appeal on the show which successfully attracted all Americans, and he altered the common American assumption that African Americans had lesser jobs and education than whites. With the American public still tense from the effects of the Civil Rights Movement, television shows like The Cosby Show served as a way for people to experience other peoples’ lives, and in this case, it included an experience of black culture.
"The Cosby Show Turns 30: Do You Know The Huxtables?" Mawajdeh, Hady, and Frank Stasio. The State of Things. North Carolina Public Radio. WUNC, Chapel Hill. 10 Sept. 2014. Radio.
The Cosby show is an interesting example. You say that the show helped decrease stigma and racism. I would argue, however, that what the show essentially did was white wash a black family to make them more palpable to a white audience. I am not saying people of color do not or cannot occupy positions of power in society, but rather that the fact that the Cosby Show was so successful and there still aren't many shows featuring people of color shows what white audiences will and will not watch.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I do agree that representation is important in normalizing previously non-normative identities.
I do agree with Andrea about making the Cosby family appeal more to a white audience being a discrepancy between decreasing the stigma of racism while also making the show acceptable for a white audience, but I also agree that it was a good decision to show non-stereotypical positions of black families. I think it would be interesting to compare stigmas of racism and representation of black families and culture in The Cosby Show and shows such as The Jeffersons or Good Times that were closer representations of what typical black families were like.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to note that The Jeffersons went off of the air right as The Cosby Show began airing.
I agree that while the Cosby family may possibly have been made more "white" to appeal to white audiences, it was also necessary for the time.
ReplyDeleteThe alternative of portraying an African-American family as many white Americans already stereotypically viewed them would, in my opinion, have been harmful. In addition, just as you write, the show introduced viewers to many African-American cultural institutions, like HBCUs and African American artists; therefore, I do not actually believe that the family was overtly made "white."
Perhaps the opinion that they were made white says more about how viewers chose to portray them than they were actually portrayed: if an African-American family is portrayed as intelligent and well-off, does this really make them "white-washed"?