Watching While Black: Centering the Television of Black Audiences

280 Pages·2013·2.263 MB·English

by  Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, Robin Means Coleman, Andre Cavalcante, Kristen J. Warner, Christine Acham, Devorah Heitner, TreaAndrea M. Russworm, Professor Jennifer Fuller, Kim M. LeDuff, Racquel Gates, Nghana Lewis, Mark D. Cunningham, Deborah Elizabeth Whaley, Reighan Gillam, Nsenga Burton, Timothy Havens, Eric Pierson

WATCHING
WHILE BLACK
This page intentionally left blank
WATCHING
WHILE BLACK
Centering the Television
of Black Audiences
edited by
beretta e. smith-shomade
rutgers university press
New Brunswick, New Jersey and London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Watching while black : centering the television of black audiences / edited by
Beretta E. Smith-Shomade.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8135-5387-0(hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8135-5386-3
(pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8135-5388-7(e-book)
1. African Americans on television. 2. African American television viewers.
3. Television broadcasting—Social aspects—United States. I. Smith-Shomade, Beretta E.,
1965–
PN1992.8.A34W38 2012
791.45(cid:2)08996073—dc23
2012005040
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
This collection copyright © 2012by Rutgers, The State University
Individual chapters copyright © 2012in the names of their authors
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permis-
sion from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 106 Somerset Street,
New Brunswick, NJ 08901. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by
U.S. copyright law.
Visit our website: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Teshome Gabriel
Thank you
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgments — ix
Introduction: I See Black People
beretta e. smith-shomade — 1
Part I Producing Blackness
1 The Importance of Roots
eric pierson — 19
2 Two Different Worlds: Television
as a Producer’s Medium
robin r. means coleman and
andre m. cavalcante — 33
3 A Black Cast Doesn’t Make a Black
Show: City of Angelsand the Plausible
Deniability of Color-blindness
kristen j. warner — 49
4 Blacks in the Future: Braving the
Frontier of the Web Series
christine acham — 63
Part II Blackness on Demand
5 “Regular Television Put to Shame by
Negro Production”: Picturing a Black
World on Black Journal
devorah heitner — 77
6 “HEY, HEY, HEY!” Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert
as Psychodynamic Postmodern Play
treaandrea m. russworm — 89
7 Gimme a Break!and the Limits of the
Modern Mammy
jennifer fuller — 105
vii
viii contents
8 Down in the Treme... Buck Jumping and Having Fun?:
The Impact of Depictions of Post-Katrina New Orleans
on Viewers’ Perceptions of the City
kim m. leduff — 121
Part III New Jack Black
9 Keepin’ It Reality Television
racquel gates — 141
10 Prioritized: The Hip Hop (Re)Construction of
Black Womanhood in Girlfriendsand The Game
nghana lewis — 157
11 Nigger, Coon, Boy, Punk, Homo, Faggot,
Black Man: Reconsidering Established
Interpretations of Masculinity, Race, and
Sexuality Through Noah’s Arc
mark d. cunningham — 172
12 Graphic Blackness/Anime Noir: Aaron McGruder’s
The Boondocksand the Adult Swim
deborah elizabeth whaley — 187
Part IV Worldwide Blackness
13 Resistance Televised: The TV da Gente Television
Network and Brazilian Racial Politics
reighan alexandra gillam — 207
14 South African Soapies: A “Rainbow Nation”
Realized?
nsenga k. burton — 220
15 Minority Television Trade as Cultural Journey:
The Case of New Zealand’s bro’Town
timothy havens — 232
Notes on Contributors — 247
Index — 251
Acknowledgments
The space between when you conceive a project and its fruition can sometimes
be a long one. Such is the case with this anthology.
I thank the two anonymous readers for their support and critical insights into
the workings of the articles and the book as a whole. Your critiques have made
the work much stronger. I appreciate my wonderful and patient press editors as
well, Leslie Mitchner and Lisa Boyajian, who persevered even when I made their
lives admittedly, a bit difficult. Thank you.
I thank my Tulane Sistah Circle writing group, Katie Acosta, Rebecca
Chaisson, and Nghana Lewis, for their support and encouragement, critique and
response. With hectic lives and even more hectic commitments, you find time to
share your wisdom and yourselves. For this, I’m very grateful.
I thank Bambi Haggins and Deborah Elizabeth Whaley for their constant
intellectual support and Oyinlola Longe for her hard work.
I thank Timothy Rodriguez for finding stills for the book and India Cooper
for her meticulous copyediting.
I thank my children and husband for their constant patience with and support
of me in doing “mommy’s work,” especially when I’m cranky in the morning
after staying up way too late. I especially appreciate my husband’s willingness to
continue membership in the honeydo club!
Finally, I offer many thanks to all of the smart, engaged and wonderful
contributors of this text. I appreciate each of you for not only the hard work and
necessary engagement with your chapters but for allowing me to ask, and ask,
and ask for more and for giving it back to me with such grace and good spirit.
I thank you all for your constant encouragement and for being stalwart in
your tasks.
In the process of putting this book together, we lost a most generous spirit
and guiding force for so many of us, Dr. Teshome Gabriel. While I will never be
able to replicate his mastery of touch and the word, I dedicate this book to him
to remember and constantly return to the magic that he shared and he was.
ix