Exploring Representations of ‘Blackness’ in ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’.
(December 2020)
Introduction
This presentation looks into the context of 1990’s American ideals of ‘blackness’ and explores how ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ uses a variety of ‘blackness’ to explore the changing representations of black folk on television- from being thugs or ‘rags to riches’ stories, “Fresh Prince’ uses identities somewhere in the middle of these ideals.
This presentation also explores black ‘authenticity’ and how the show promoted values of what it meant to be ‘authentic’ in the context of the 90’s, where representations and black experiences were changing both on and off screen.
Blackness and Authenticity
‘Black authenticity’ is complex and cannot be defined easily. Theorist bel hooks implies there isn’t truly ‘blackness’ without ‘whiteness’, because ‘blackness’ is created in the white man’s image and that these images have “ideological intent” (hooks, 2014, p5) to “dehumanise and colonise” (hooks, 2014, p6) black people.
Jenny Nguyen suggests that ‘authenticity’ is a ‘commodity’ (Nguyen, 2014, p770-771), commodified images constructed to force a definition of ‘realness’ or what is ‘legitimately black’ in order to retain the structure of ‘othering’ black people.
‘Commodifying’ black identity thus keeps black people as objects, items to be viewed- as white people have a spectatorship mentality towards black people- suggested also by hooks. Both academics also suggest that black folk can reclaim their identities.
Black people “collectively changing the way they look at themselves” (hooks, 2014, p6) equals the subversion of the ‘power of the colonising image’ (hooks, 2014, p6).
This suggests that ‘black authenticity’ is the new way in which black people claim their identity, how ‘blackness’ is now unique and independently decided. This links to the characters of ‘The Fresh Prince’ and their unusually expansive representations of black folk throughout the series.
Background to Show
The ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ took a fresh perspective to the black family in 1990. It combined ideas of wealth, music and teenagerhood to churn out what would be a beloved sitcom for both the black and non-black communities.
It did this by taking characters familiar to TV audiences, the wealthy Father figure, strict Mother, troubling teenagers and an English butler but replaced the ‘normal’ white faces, with black actors.
The show became a mix of regular experience for a coming of age dramedy, with serious topics, such as racism and classism, unique to the black experience.
Where the show excelled was with its full-bodied representations of blackness and showed how, in the 90’s, ‘authenticity’ or “who counted as black” (Zook, 1999, p2) was shifting and blurry.
This was due to various socio-political changes (such as the 1960’s/70’s affirmative action and integration policies) affecting some black folk financially for the better and a small surge of wealthy black folk emerged through the 1980’s.
‘The Fresh Prince Project’ (Ep 1.)
The first episode = first look into Will and Phil’s turbulent relationship.
After Will embarrasses the Banks family at a formal meal they host for their upper-class friends/neighbours, Will is disgraced and receives a telling off from Uncle Phil.
Point 1- Uncle Phil
Uncle Phil is the shows’ representation of blackness that had the chance for success in the law industry, due to political changes of the 1960’s. Uncle Phil represents an era of black wealth with quasi-social inclusion (Zook, 1999, p2). We know Uncle Phil was also a political person due to his support of Malcom X and his line ‘I heard the Brother speak.’, exclaimed to Will in the first episode.
This seems to contradict the aura of Bel Air, a majority white Republican area, a joke in the first episode was that Uncle Phil had invited their neighbours ‘The Reagans’ for dinner.
But what we learn of Uncle Phil from this is that as a young man he was politically engaged, he became further educated through opportunities to go to university and stepped into a role that would later become well-paying and through this financial gain, he was awarded status and eventually- power.
A black man would have needed such power to move into an area such as Bel Air and to become part of the neighbourhood.
Bel Air represents all that is upper-class (Zook, 1999, p15): having a mansion for a home, a butler and children being in private schooling. The lavish lifestyle and frivolous attitude to wealth (Philip’s daughter Hilary enters her first scene of the show with the line ‘Daddy, I need $300’) supports the narrative of the Bank’s family being unique representatives of blackness. Uncle Phil’s life after the events of affirmative action seems to be of huge success, due to the opportunities he was able to attain.
Point 2- Will
Of course, there was also the contradictory of extreme poverty and financial detriment to some black folk throughout these years too and changes to crime policies, such as the effect of the 1994 Crime Act. This saw many black people disproportionally jailed or targeted by police- causing many to turn to crime for their livelihood.
Will is example of this, living in Philadelphia. Will’s generation of black youth is used to ‘getting by’ on little to nothing so will have inert survivalist instincts and shared community values due to recognising themselves in each other- this links to the black experience. Will also represents the stereotype that it was the working-class black people (or impoverished) who were classed as the ‘authentic’ in the 1980/90s (Nguyen, 2014, p771).
Historically speaking, black men are represented as ‘thugs’ frequently and especially in 1980’s/90’s America where institutional racism (as mentioned before) began to affect black youth and their representation in the media- which 80s/90s (Willis, 2020, p1) TV sought to break with its family friendly ‘black shows’ and expansion of black identities in sitcoms like ‘The Fresh Prince’.
This explains Will’s connection to hip-hop culture, as the genre spoke the unheard voice of black folk (especially youth) at the time. Hip-hop’s contributions at this time served as provocative political commentary and was incredibly influential to the youth who consumed it. We see Will as an avid hip-hop fan and could infer his views on ‘blackness’ were incredibly positive due to ‘uplifting’ (Goodwill, 2019, p295) messages from rappers to young black men. However mainstream media in turn grouped together all black men as ‘degenerate thugs’ if they supported such music.
In the same scene in which we learn of ‘Uncle Phil’s’ connection to Malcom X, Will says to his uncle- “everyone wants me to change.”
Everyone could refer to wider society and how white patriarchal society has expected black folk to change (assimilate) to their standards in order to be taken seriously.
What we can see from Will in this scene is stubbornness and disrespect- negative stereotypes associated with teenagers and with black folk in America at the time, ‘disrespect’ being a large issue for law enforcement at the time who used the ‘attitude’ of black folk to warrant reason to arrest, detain or use brutality against them.
Again, hip-hop culture is a large influence on the show and on Will’s character, so the resistance black rappers (like ‘N.W.A’) had towards white society and racism was discussed in their music, therefore their messages easily spread amongst the youth in the easily digested form of rap.
Will is also our eyes in the show, so we have to recognise his perspective before assuming the Banks’ have simply neglected their ‘blackness’.
Will is shut down by Uncle Phil at the end of the argument, proclaiming to his Uncle ‘I can’t tell my side of the story?’, to which Phil replies ‘I know what you’re all about’.
This could suggest from Will’s actions throughout the first episode- his constant reference to popular (black) culture, his dress sense, his lingo and his style of talking- that he is portraying the stereotypical (link to hip-hop culture) version of blackness most associated with black youth at the time.
‘72 Hours’ (Ep 23.)
This episode is a perfect character study for Carlton. It involves him staying for the weekend in Compton and seeing how blackness is represented in the people he stays with and how he adapts to ‘survive’, note at the end of the episode Aunt Viv comes to ‘save her baby’ but Carlton insists he ‘was never in any real danger’- this is his confidence (OR arrogance) throughout the whole experience, whilst Will is fearful and cautious of how his cousin may or may not fit in with the men he stays with.
Point 3- Carlton
Carlton in Compton highlights the intertextual link of hip-hop and black culture, rap group ‘N.W.A’ originate from Compton and it is renowned for being an incredibly rough area.
We assume from this episode that Carlton will be ‘torn to shreds’ by the men he will stay with, due to the viewers assumptions of the ‘types’ who live in Compton ghettos.
What we witness is Carlton assimilating, by taking on an alter ego, whilst staying in Compton and is nicknamed ‘C-Note’ by the Compton ‘crew’ he stays with.
He dons dark sunglasses, a bright baggy shirt and a ‘black-cent’. He seems a caricature of blackness (‘He’s doing a bad impression of me” said by Will). ‘C-Note’ ‘mimics, performs and constructs’ blackness. (Zook, 1999, p20)
These are the signifiers that suggest Carltons representation of ‘blackness’ here are due to Carltons cluelessness about the reality of being a black person- using ideas of what ‘blackness’ is from the perspective of the privileged (mostly white) community he’s been brought up in.
Carltons new version of blackness, which should be representative of authentic due to his copying of the ‘real’ black men he stays with, seems unnatural on him and at a further look, seems an unnatural representation of blackness overall.
In the show it’s used as a comedic device to show the absolute opposite which Carlton is to the ‘normal’ black representation but it’s only able to be funny due to irony that Carlton, a black man, has to assimilate into black culture, rather than white. It’s an interesting parody and could suggest black people always have to assimilate into a culture due to not wanting to be the outsider, the ‘Other’.
‘Othering’ refers to a group being inferiorized by the dominant ideology (Nguyen, 2014, p771), the dominant Western ideology is made by, and in favour of, the White male and they create images of “black equalling inferior”, to retain dominance and control.
This episode, as a text, suggests Carltons privilege makes him the ‘Other’ in this situation. Carlton as the example of first-generation wealth would make him ignorant to the experiences of other black folk, the struggles of black people outside of his lifestyle.
This suggests that as he’s not part of the ‘shared experience of blackness’, he can’t be an authentic black man.
Instead, his version of blackness by dressing ‘like a black man’ suggests he is not only ignorant to the reality of being a black person in 90’s America but also he is naive in thinking that by dropping his eloquent speaking style, he now must be an authentic ‘thug’.
We know Carlton is the ‘odd one out’ in this episode due to him having to change his entire identity to be taken seriously by the black folk who surround him.
The episode tries to prove Carlton is an ‘authentic’ black man by his successful ‘trip’ to Compton but what Carlton’s representation in this episode suggests further is that mimicking a culture doesn’t mean you’re a part of it.
Conclusion
The representations of blackness in ‘The Fresh Prince’ are interesting due to the naturalisation of the versions.
· Uncle Phil’s wealth is treated as normally by the audience as it would if he were a white man. We know he worked hard for his life and fought for his rights as a younger black man.
· Though Carlton is treated as the kicking-post, the easy joke, he represents a new age of blackness, one with opportunity thanks to their parents’ generation. He also represents some negative traits, such as privilege, but why does the ‘black experience’ have to solely be unprivileged and impoverished?
· Will’s representation of a young black male, in some ways, rang true for audiences in the 90’s, a boy influenced by hip-hop culture and truly revelling in his blackness was a positive representation of the young black male in the media at the time.
Each character represents a valid and authentic version of blackness, as each character believes in their own authenticity. Neither of them enjoys having their blackness questioned and all have equal grounds to protect and support their blackness. I believe that the show transformed what it meant to be black in the 90’s and created a ‘spectrum’ of blackness so all identities could be explored by black folk in America and showed them these identities throughout the series run on TV.
References
Goodwill, J. (2019). Media Representations of Popular Culture Figures and the Construction of Black Masculinities. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. 20 (3), p295.
hooks, b (2014). Black looks: race and representation. New York: Routledge. p5-6.
Nguyen, J. (2014). Black Authenticity: Defining the Ideals and Expectations in the Construction of “Real” Blackness. Sociology Compass. 8 (6), p770-771.
Willis, K. (2020). AJC BLACK HISTORY MONTH TELEVISION: How'90s TV transformed black representation. The Atlanta Journal - Constitution. 1 (1), p1.
Zook, K. B (1999). Color by Fox: The Fox Network and the Revolution In Black Television... New
York: Oxford University Press. p2-20.
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