Sitcoms' Impact on Society

Essay # 52963

African-American Studies
Communication > Television
Sociology > Media and Society

Analyzing the role of the sitcom in television over the years, focusing on the portrayal of African-Americans in the early 1980s.

2,012 words () | 0 sources | 2003 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper briefly looks at the sociological impact that TV sitcoms have had since their introduction to the screen. It focuses on the way that African-Americans have been portrayed in sitcoms, such as the 1980s shows, "Webster" and "Diff?rent Strokes", which presented highly similar concepts involving black youth adopted by affluent white families.

From the Paper:

"Sitcoms have, since the format originated, subconsciously represented the social ills of the times. In post-World War II America, women who had taken over traditionally male occupations were forced back into their abandoned housewife lifestyle. Correspondingly, in possibly the most popular television show of all time, I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball was weekly sent back home from the club by her husband, Ricky, preventing her from performing and entertaining there. Thus the problem with Webster and Diff?rent Strokes was not without precedent. Its main theme was also not without contemporaries. The Jeffersons, The Cosby Show, and most lately The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air have all dealt with the social phenomenon of affluent black families in primarily white situations. These shows all sought to, beyond just showing differences between black and white culture, provide rationalization for black ascendancy. Nathan Huggins, as quoted by Robin Coleman, explains in his book, Harlem Renaissance, "No matter how much one wanted to claim" that the society ought to be color-blind, since there were no differences among people, still no one felt the need to hold onto some claim of distinctive Negro character. Those qualities of American life which had germinated in black soil had to be explained.?"