Final paper

1) The representation of African American’s in television has increased greatly since the early 1950’s. Through the years that television has progressed, the view of ethnic and racial groups have improved. From their beginnings as stereotypical roles to primary characters in television, the representation of African Americans have transformed in almost every genre in television. Tracing the development of African Americans through television history helps us to understand the different ways a group of people are represented and how that representation changes as the years go by.

Although the early years of television in 1950’s saw some diversity and visibility of African Americans, they were always portrayed and subservient roles to white Anglo-Saxons. Most of this racial diversity stemmed from the legacy of radio where numerous ethnicities were portrayed in accents and dialects, many radio shows were transferred to television. Not only were black Americans portrayed in subservient roles, they also performed very stereotypical acts like the submissive Uncle Tom character, or the overweight black maid. “For most fictional programs of the 1950’s, black characters functioned to support white characters, offer comic relief at their own expense, and passively justify a segregated American society.” (Television and American Culture, Jason Mittel, pg 317) One example of this would be the television show Amos ‘n’ andy where the producers hired and all-black cast to portray the minstrel acts that the radio show had been known for. In the show, the characters were highly stereotypical in their antics; usually every character was either a crook or an out of work lazy man. It’s no surprise that many African American viewers took great offens...

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...because it is so widespread. A particularly important problem has to do with the fact that the concept of intertextuality appears to be infinitely expandable.” (Intertextuality Revisited: Dialogues and Negotiations in Media Studies, Gunhild Agger) Intertextuality describes how many shows are all interconnected with one another and go hand in hand with character development. LOST can draw many of its background from Gilligan’s Island and even from Lord of the flies; both groups are trapped on an island and while one is comedic, Lord of the Flies characters must face the savagery within themselves.

Character development and intertextuality both intrigue and inspire me to create characters of my own. I also enjoy seeing and making connections on my own. It may sound silly but I feel a sense of pride when I can say I get the reference when watching a television show.