African American Comedies Effect

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African American Comedies Effect on my Childhood and Growth When you’re bored, what do you do? I find that when boredom hits reading a book simply puts me to sleep. I find boredom cured by television; but as I’m sure you already know that even television can bore you to tears sometimes! I have found that I enjoy watching comedies to entertain me, but not pointless comedies with no plot; just jokes. I am enticed by comedies with a good plot and that teaches me more than just how to make someone laugh. I watch shows like The Cosby Show, Good Times, Living Single and The Jeffersons. These are just a few examples of comedies that entertained me while I was growing up while also educating me in strong life and family lessons. It is not a coincidence that all these shows are African American created and also starred by. It was not and is not uncommon for African American shows to portray a great sense of education, family, and love. There is a never ending negative aura surrounding African American shows; especially those that the cast is mostly or fully of Negro background. The stereotype is violence, drugs, foul language, rough behavior and mannerisms etc. African American comedies have indubitably impacted me in more ways than one. Whether through memorable running gags or episodes that touched base on poignant societal topics; African American comedies has had a major effect on my childhood and growth. Whether or not they have had a more positive or negative affect on my life at this point is a mystery. I hope that by exploring the comedies I have watched I will be able to solve this mystery. Let me first explore the possible negative effects. Some negative effects I found are due to poor morally connected content; content that is ... ... middle of paper ... ...ether it is on the dangers of violence within the community or the importance of getting educated about Hiv/Aids, these sitcoms have hit home on a variety of issues. I’m a proponent of utilizing programming that has strong ties to real life issues such as teen pregnancy, valuing your education, growing up without fathers, not having food to eat, homelessness etc… to educate viewers on what’s really happening in the world. I hope it will bring us closer to finding a method for curing the ills within our community. Bibliography Chitiga, Miriam Miranda. “Black Sitcoms: a Black Perspective.” Cercle.com. Cercles, 8 2003. 46-58. Web. August 2003. "Reports." State of the Media: U.S. TV Trends by Ethnicity. Nielson, 30 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2013. Williams, Lashaun. "Part of Our Culture." The Opinion Pages. The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

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