Discourse & Identity III (Discussion)

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Television on the study of race and ethnicity

  • Group 1: Sociologists Michael Omi and Howard Winant reject the idea of racial essentialism and propose an approach based instead on a racial formation. Explain these concepts and compare them to the "gender identity" approach we discussed last week. Is there anything in the Girlfriends episode we watched that helps explain these concepts?
  • Herman Gray identifies three African-American discourses in TV.
    1. Group 2: Explain what he means by the assimilationist category and why he puts Designing Women into it. Should the Girlfriends episode we watched be put in this category? Why or why not?
    2. Group 3: Explain what he means by the pluralist category and why he puts Girlfriends into it. Why or why not?
    3. Group 4: Explain what he means by the multiculturalist. Should the Girlfriends episode we watched be put in this category? Why or why not?

Beretta Smith-Shomade

Beretta Smith-Shomade (pronounced "show-ma-day") examines "four intertwined elements in [1990s] television comedy that define and give meaning to Black women's representation there: work roles, characterization, class, and identity" (48). Each group should consider one key aspect of these elements and discuss how Girlfriends illustrate that aspect (or doesn't).

  • Group 1: work and class.
  • Group 2: identity: language. How does the use of language define black characters? What differences do you hear in the Girlfriends characters?
  • Group 3: identity: skin shade. How does skin shade define black characters? Describe how this episode directly addresses this issue in the black community.
  • Group 4: identity: hair. How do hair styles define black characters? What hair-style differences do you see in the Girlfriends characters and what do they tell you about Toni, Maya, Joan, and Lynn?
  • All groups: characterization (i.e., conventional roles and stereotypes). Does Girlfriends rely on African-American stereotypes? E.g., "mammy," "sapphire," "tragic mulatto," etc.

Casts

Girlfriends

Fresh Off the Boat

  • Eddie Huang (Hudson Yang)
  • Louis Huang (Randall Park)
  • Jessica Huang (Constance Wu)
  • Emery Huang (Forrest Wheeler)
  • Evan Huang (Ian Chen)
  • Grandma Jenny Huang (Lucille Soong)

black-ish

  • Andre "Dre" Johnson Sr. (Anthony Anderson)
  • Dr. Rainbow "Bow" Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross)
  • Zoey Johnson (Yara Shahidi)
  • Andre ("Junior") Johnson Jr. (Marcus Scribner)
  • Jack Johnson (Miles Brown)
  • Diane Johnson (Marsai Martin)
  • Ruby Johnson (Jenifer Lewis)
  • Earl "Pops" Johnson (Laurence Fishburne)
  • Josh Oppenhol (Jeff Meacham)
  • Leslie Stevens (Peter Mackenzie)

All groups

  • We've looked at identity (gender and race/ethnicity) through the lenses of:
    1. Stereotyping of women, races, and ethnicities ("Images of women" and "Images of race/ethnicity")
    2. Gendered viewing and raced viewing
    3. Gender identity and the closely related concept of racial formation
    4. Third-wave feminism
  • Which of these approaches did you find the most useful way to analyze identity? Why? Which was the least useful? Why?

Bibliography

  1. Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Visual Storytelling and Screen Culture (NY: Routledge, 2018).
  2. Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, “Laughing Out Loud: Negras Negotiating Situation Comedy,” Shaded Lives: African-American Women and Television (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002), 24-68.

External links