Art & the Imitation of Life

While watching the documentary, A Century of Black Cinema, I began thinking about why I became interested in wanting to create shows for children. I was working on my master’s degree at the time (2003) and hoping to do my practicum with PBS. My focus, at that time, was on producing counter-narratives to what exists in mainstream media.

PBS’s programming consisted of long-running programs–Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, and Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood–and a few new spots like Arthur and Dragon Tales. Diversity existed on these shows, but there were no Black children as central characters. And that’s the void I wanted to fill. Of course, there is a choice of palpable, central Black characters, living and animated, on Nick Jr., Noggin, or the Disney Channel.

But time has changed a bit for me. I’m more concerned with the representation of adult characters. With or without cable, or even a TV, Blacks are invisible. If there is a presence, it embeds various stereotypes. Mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire, Coon, Buffoon. The bounty runeth over. Many producers, regardless of ethnicity, have various ways of explaining their irresponsibility away. Some are a little more careful about including a message. Hollywood Shuffle satirizes what Black actors endure to secure work in film.

We laugh, but it doesn’t remove the truth about our images (and lives) spiraling out of control. It seems as though we accept how we were socially constructed. In Popular Art and Racism: Embedding Racial Stereotypes in the American Mindset–Jim Crow and Popular Culture, author and professor, Ronald L. F. Davis, Ph. D. writes about how the idea of Blacks historically shaped popular culture. This has been lucrative for whites, and, sadly, we have picked up the torch and passed it along into today.

There is power in saying no, yet we refuse to. As I venture into producing new projects, I am refusing to embed the stereotype. And as I do so, I hope to gain a better understanding about the many reasons children’s programming seems to be more progressive than the ones for adults.

~ by akeela on July 4, 2009.