Healthy Change Provided by the Cosby Show - Essay Example

? The Cosby Show Analysis The Cosby Show provided a healthy change in the way mainstream society viewed African Americans. From a conflict perspective, The Cosby Show posed a direct challenge to entrenched racial stereotypes, female roles, and class distinction. The role of The Cosby Show posed a threat to elites who desired to have African Americans boxed into negative stereotypes. The Cosby Show would be best categorized under the conflict area of sociological theory (Collins, 2010). The sitcom challenged negative ideas of African Americans that have been embedded in American society for far too long. On the surface, The Cosby Show may have seemed like a simple television show, but the series had a far-reaching impact on American pop-culture and society. The show made people rethink how African Americans were perceived in the United States. Because of The Cosby Show, it was possible for other African American shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Family Matters to be successful on television. Even though African American shows like Good Times preceded The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby’s series was the first to present black people as having esteemed professions and living an upper-middle class life. In the show, Cosby’s character was Heathcliff Huxtable, a prominent obstetrician, and his wife, Clair Huxtable, was an attorney (Cosby). Even though the show premiered in the middle of the eighties, there was still widespread prejudice and racial fears of black people. In the minds of many Americans, professions such as a doctors and lawyers were traditionally reserved for whites. In previous years, not only were blacks not qualified for these jobs but also they were deemed inept and unable to be successful in these professions according to the widespread notion of racial superiority. The Cosby Show had proved this assertion wrong. Not only did the show have a positive, successful black male, but the inclusion of a professional, black woman on television was groundbreaking within its own right. In America’s history, black women could only attain jobs as wash-maids or domestic servants. To see a woman of color doing neither of those jobs and being a successful lawyer was also a monumental shift in the way black women have been categorized and stereotyped. For far too long, black women have had to face hurdles and obstacles of their own. Within the confines of America’s racial and patriarchal history, black women have had to carry the extra burdens of being black and female. Black women have had to contend with their own stereotypes, including the mammy role, the sensual mulatto woman, and the docile domestic servant. The image of Clair Huxtable contradicted assumed roles of not only black women but also women as a whole. The image of a black, professional woman who was not dependent on her husband challenged established racial bias and female and gender roles within American society. The show pushed back and made people question gender norms and racial categorization. The series defied not only established assumptions of gender but also of class. Because of America’s racial caste system, African Americans were thought to remain forever at the bottom of the social ladder. One of the main selling points for coming to America has been the typical rags to riches story, the idea of coming to the land of opportunity and moving beyond one’s social station. However, the reality was that where a person was born and what skin color he or she had determined a person’s social status in life and still does to this day. With the odds stacked against non-white people, however, there have been ethnic groups that have managed to move within the American class structure, including African Americans. The Cosby Show was an example of African Americans being able to become successful and not remaining at the bottom of the class scale as prescribed by many white Americans. The series also created conflict by defying who could rise above class and who could become wealthy. The Cosby Show revealed the fact that the notion of being in the upper class was not exclusively reserved for white people. The Cosby Show was ground-breaking for its time, because the series shattered stereotypes of African Americans in the minds of many Americans. For too long, perceptions of African Americans by American whites had been far from positive, dating all the way back to the founding of the United States. When slavery was legal, Africans were viewed as sub-human, inept, and far inferior when compared to Europeans. Following emancipation and the post civil rights era, blacks gained their freedom, yet they were limited by lack of opportunities and wide-spread discrimination by white communities. As a result of racial fears and long-standing prejudice, blacks had been subjected to harsh treatment and negative perceptions by whites. With the growing popularity of television throughout the sixties and seventies, some of these negative stereotypes had a chance to be challenged in nearly every American home in the nation. The post-civil right movement signified a changing society throughout the decades and The Cosby Show was an example of this transition in American history. The Cosby Show was a by-product of societal change, and such a show could only have been made possible in a post-civil rights America. A type of show that displayed African Americans being successful would not have been possible without the civil rights era and those who pushed for equality and social justice. The seventies projected the independence of black men and women in movies and television shows like Shaft and Foxy Brown along with the political presence of the black power movement. This black independence streak made it possible for African Americans to branch out in other forms of media and The Cosby Show was one such example. The Cosby Show was one agent of conflict against previously held assumptions and viewpoints of black people in the United States. The sitcom also sought to challenge and combat problems in the African community and the established roles imposed upon African Americans by elites. In American history, elites have dictated and imposed roles on the poor and less fortunate. Even in a post-reconstruction society, elites used their power and legislation to keep former slaves tied to the land, which prevented them from mobilizing in the society. Despite these attempts, there were African Americans who rose to middle class status despite societal obstacles. Throughout American history, black people were kept in poverty through discrimination and race laws, which restricted integration. Even in a post-civil rights era, there were still negative stereotypes attached to blacks that prevented them from gaining social status. Despite this, many African American families did indeed rise to middle class status. Cosby transmitted the worldview of a middle-class black family into the realm of television through The Cosby Show. The show brought to light another viewpoint of African Americans not previously seen in television during that decade. In that regard, The Cosby Show was not just a fantasy show, but a different insight into the lives of African Americans that did not fit into the convenient categories of American racial bias. The Cosby Show conflicted with American racial norms, because it successfully challenged and conflicted with previously held assumptions of black men and women in America. Any tool or medium that challenges established hierarchies and social norms is considered as a conflictive paradigm in the realm of any society, and The Cosby Show fits best in this category. The sitcom shattered stereotypes by highlighting positive black culture. In essence, the visual media of television made it possible for many whites to view African Americans in a different light, and it also gave African Americans, young people in particular, a positive uplift about black people which instilled in them that notion of what they could possibly achieve in the future. In a way, The Cosby Show made many whites challenge assumptions about African Americans by seeing another group of people with different shades of skin also having the same problems such as raising children and dealing with everyday family life. Visual media is a powerful tool and it was a massive shift in the minds of many whites to see a black family without the taint of American, racial prejudice. Since The Cosby Show premiered at a time when most Americans had a television in their homes, many people were exposed to this challenging of societal norms just when they were sitting on their sofas. Rather than forcing a message down someone’s throat, the casual and light-hearted nature of the show made it easier for someone who previously held negative views of African Americans to simply sit back and enjoy the show. Though The Cosby Show dealt with heavy issues, the comedic atmosphere of the show provided a soothing effect while still challenging stereotypes. The show also proved that the mainstream stereotyping of African Americans that have permeated American society for so long was simply wrong. In conclusion, The Cosby Show shattered the illusion concerning African Americans. The very nature of the show provided conflict, because it did not accept mainstream racial categories concerning African Americans along with class and gender distinctions. The Cosby Show broke so many barriers that it became possible for similar African American shows to follow. References Weinberger, Ed. Leeson, Michael. Cosby, Bill. (1984). The Cosby Show [Television Show]. New York: Viacom Enterprises. Collins, Randall. (2010). Conflict Theory. Retrieved from http://edu.learnsoc.org/Chapters/3%20theories%20of%20sociology/2%20conflict%20theory.htm Read More