Annotation of Nelson

Angela M.S. Nelson. “Black Situation Comedies and the Politics of Television Art.” Cultural Diversity and The U.S. Media. State University of New York Press, Albany, 1998. 79-87

Nelson argues that because American television programming is and always has been a result of contemporary American politics, the portrayal of African Americans on television is/has been a reflection of these racist politics and views. One of her claims is that “Blacks have appeared in the situation comedy [or sitcom] genre more than in any other television formula” (79). Therefore, she provides a timeline of Black sitcoms as examples of different ways Blacks have been portrayed. According to Nelson, the only reason that Black sitcoms are “Black” is because they have black performers even though the sitcoms do not necessarily “exhibit and African American worldview or a Black philosophy” (80). As evidence, Nelson describes the four time periods that scholar have developed to roughly describe black portrayal in television. Throughout the first three time periods, black portrayal was often a reflection of racist norms or expectations of white television executives and only in the last period did African Americans actually begin to play “rounder and fuller portrayals of Blacks” (85).

This article is useful to me because it clearly defines and categorizes the time periods of black television and the types of television and comedy. With these definitions and sub-categories, Nelson provides me with the jargon to make my claim about my primary source as well as a temporal framework with which to place it. Nelson’s primary argument is valid and sound because it is a sub argument of the more general argument that television is a reflection of current affairs and politics. Therefore to dispute Nelson’s argument, one would have to dispute that America’s current political environment effects television programming. Nelson’s more specific argument that black portray on television has been racist and indicative of a subservient black class is valid because again, to dispute this one would have to dispute the fact that blacks were societally discriminated against. With this as a historical given, Nelson’s article simply gives a technical breakdown and cited examples of otherwise obvious claims.

· Quotation: …“However, more often than not, the cultural contexts of Black Americans are not explicitly evident in Black sitcoms, except when there is an emphasis on Black music, art, and literature as references and the use of Black language and Black verbal art forms.” (80).

This passage illustrates how the common definition of black sitcoms is not actually reflective of “blackness” but rather a pseudo definition that relates more to the races of the actors than to the implications and portrayals within the actual show.

· Paraphrase: Most black sitcoms during the third period were merely a fusion of the hybrid minstrelsy–– portraying blacks as subservient to whites––of the first period and the forced” black power rhetoric” packaged into cultural assimilation that was reflective of the second period. [Original: “The majority of Black sitcoms during this period presented an assimilated hybrid minstrel style by carrying over some of the same aural and visual qualities of hybrid minstrelsy while at the same time appropriating Black power rhetoric (Reid, 1993.” (85)]

This supports the claim I will be making that throughout most of television history, portrayals of African Americans has been racist and indicative of a subservient expectation of black in acting roles. This quote demonstrated how the third period of black television was not a positive development but rather just a combination of the flaws of the first period with the overcompensation of the second period.