Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for Blackness - Tapa blanda

In the past decade, the number of sitcoms featuring African-Americans has more than doubled. How do these shows relate to earlier television series featuring African-Americans? This text offers a look at the changing representations of blacks on American television. Starting with the portrayal of blacks on series like "The Jack Benny show" and "Amos 'n' Andy", Gray goes beyond issues of accuracy and negative stereotypes; instead, he details the ongoing dialogue between television shows and media coverage to show how claims on the meaning of blackness have changed through the years of the TV era. For example, Gray illustrates how "The Cosby show" - typically seen as a series designed in the Reagan era to make whites comfortable and to cater to neo-conservatives within the African-American community - actually enabled productions like "Frank's place", a show distinguished by its recognition of the perspectives of black Americans in New Orleans. Drawing on analyses of recent series like "A different world", "In living color", "Saturday night live", and "Roc", as well as critiques of news media and political campaigns, this text describes how the many dimensions of a production transform the popular culture that designs and watches it. The political stakes and agendas at play combine here to give a comprehensive look at the representations and meanings of "blackness" in the electronic media.