Empire: The Black Family

FOX’s 2015 show, Empire, portrays a black family as they climb from poverty into the upper class, thus breaking the stereotype of the either very poor black family or the black family that achieves the american dream and creates a new genre in which a black family exists in both social stratas. The show, being presented in a nonlinear fashion, allows for the creators to jump back and forth between a poverty stricken and an upper class lifestyle, therefore reaching all subsets of viewers. Previously in the media, African Americans have been portrayed as either criminals, entertainers, or (in more contemporary cases) middle to upper class families; Empire breaks through this representation of the black community by mixing these three worlds and

Ostensibly, the medias res narration format of the show gave the creators an opportunity to switch back and forth between pre-wealth and post-wealth, therefore allowing people in lower classes to relate to the characters, people in upper classes to relate to the characters as well, and people in the middle classes to aspire to be the wealthy version of said characters. As Bustch states, “sitcom producer Lee Rich said ‘A television series, to be truly successful, has got to have people you can identify with, or dream about being’” (512). Rich’s theory proves that Empire, being a series portraying a black family when they were poor and rich, allows audiences to identify with one way they lived and dream about the other. Overall, Empire’s creators used racial profiling in the media to their advantage by playing on all facets of the African American social class stereotype to appeal to a larger

Looking back through the years, evidence shows that “blacks were largely absent or were relegated to two roles [within the media]: entertainer or servant” (Croteau and Hoynes 193). While the Lyon’s are not servants, they clearly are entertainers, and good ones at that. Empire’s pilot episode suggests that Luscious achieves his success through his musical talent. Later on in the episode, the audience learns that Luscious’ raps are not the only thing that brought the family into their wealth. Currently in media, “middle class blacks have become mainstream in prime time entertainment programs [...yet...] new coverage and documentaries about blacks [also] tend to focus on poor African Americans in the so-called underclass, mired in drug, crime, and violence” (Croteau and Hoynes 204). Therefore, Empire breaks out of traditional African American representations because the show portrays the Lyon family as having wealth, living in poverty, entertaining, and engaging in illegal activity, thus allowing the characters to be more diversity and have personal