Kerry Washington's nomination for an Emmy sparked the author's interest in examining the portrayal of black women on television over the decades. Only a handful of shows have featured black women in leading roles. The author analyzes these shows, including Beulah, Julia, Get Christie Love, Scandal, and Deception, finding that the lack of diversity among directors and producers has impacted the portrayal and success of these shows. Interviews with black female filmmakers reveal that greater representation behind the scenes would allow for more authentic portrayals on screen.
Kerry Washington's nomination for an Emmy sparked the author's interest in examining the portrayal of black women on television over the decades. Only a handful of shows have featured black women in leading roles. The author analyzes these shows, including Beulah, Julia, Get Christie Love, Scandal, and Deception, finding that the lack of diversity among directors and producers has impacted the portrayal and success of these shows. Interviews with black female filmmakers reveal that greater representation behind the scenes would allow for more authentic portrayals on screen.
Kerry Washington's nomination for an Emmy sparked the author's interest in examining the portrayal of black women on television over the decades. Only a handful of shows have featured black women in leading roles. The author analyzes these shows, including Beulah, Julia, Get Christie Love, Scandal, and Deception, finding that the lack of diversity among directors and producers has impacted the portrayal and success of these shows. Interviews with black female filmmakers reveal that greater representation behind the scenes would allow for more authentic portrayals on screen.
The Real Scandal on TV: An Exploration of Black Women Behind the Scenes and on the Television Screen
The six members of my immediate family gathered in our small living room for a special occasion. The 65 th Annual Primetime Emmys. What is normally a mundane evening in our household became charged with excitement and anticipation for one important reason Kerry Washington was nominated for best lead actress in a drama series, Scandal -- the first black woman nominated in the category since 1995, the year I was born. The Emmy awards recognize televisions outstanding series, actors, and actresses. In the 65 years of the award shows existence, a black woman has never won the award for best lead actress in a drama series. That night could have been the night to change it all, and my family gathered anxiously to witness it live. Kerry Washington did not win the award, and her loss sparked several personal questions. Why did it take over 40 years for another black woman to be a lead on a major television network show? What does a deep look at the makeup of the production team reveal about the portrayal of these black leading ladies? Television became an integral part of American lives in the 1940s as radio networks transitioned to televised broadcasts. Three networks quickly took over broadcasting in America -- CBS, National Broadcasting Company, NBC, and American Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:49 PM Comment [1]: Love the anecuoteieally uiaws in the ieauei Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:49 PM Comment [2]: I like the questions, especially if you auuiess them latei on. Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:50 PM Comment [3]: I like the biief histoiy of television you pioviue Broadcasting Company. In the history of these networks, only five shows have featured black women as the leading actress. A deeper look at the shows Beulah, Julia, Get Christie Love, Scandal, and Deception reveal that the role Black women have in the production process plays a huge part in the reception and success of the show. In the evolution of TV, how have the few opportunities for Black women in the production process affected their portrayal on these major broadcasting networks? Directors, writers, and producers, making up the production team, play a large role in the complete conception of any television show. It wasnt until 1950 that NBC would air Beulah, the first major television network show with a black female lead. In his book Blacks and White TV, Fred MacDonald summizes Beulah as the trials and tribulations of the black maid for the white Henderson household, an accurate summation of the shows three seasons (21). Watching episodes of Beulah was a strange experience for me. I was transported back in time to the days of racial segregation and Jim Crow laws, and the first show to ever star a Black woman still painted her in the stereotypes of that time. She was simply the mammy. The mammy figure -- usually portrayed as a Black maid in a white household -- was a familiar stereotype. She emitted a certain human warmth that was sometimes difficult to discern beneath her aggressive self-confidence and implacable personality (21). Beulah, a portly, conscientious, and lovable stereotype of the black domestic, was the answer to all of the Henderson familys problems in times of crisis (21). While the show sometimes included her best friend Oriole and her romantic interest Bill, her life outside of the family was nearly nonexistent. According to the Classic TV Archive and the Internet Movie Database, all credited writers, directors, and producers of the show were men. Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:50 PM Comment [4]: Bo you neeu anothei question. You staiteu to answei it in the sentence befoie. Naybe show moie eviuence in oiuei to auuiess the question. Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:51 PM Comment [5]: Bo you go on to auuiess the poitiayal of all women in a business uominateu by men oi focus only on Black women. It'u be inteiesting to sneak it in biiefly; love this though! With a production team staffed completely by males, a true and authentic representation of the shows main character was missing. The success of Beulah and her stereotyped characterizations were short lived and the show ended in 1953. Fifteen years would pass before Diahann Carroll starred in Julia, the first show to portray a Black female lead in a non-stereotypical role. Julia followed the life of Julia Baker, a widowed single mother and nurse in a doctors office. In comparison to the characters seen in Beulah, Julia was the the most assimilated Black character ever to appear in the American mass media. Beyond the the stereotyped mammies and maids of early TV, she was everything that [they] are not (115). What Julia made up for in representation, it failed in creating a dialogue about social issues of the time. Hal Kanter, the shows creator, was heavily criticized: Kanter was criticized on many fronts for the shows inability to translate the complexities of black life on television. Julia could not have emerged at a less fortuitous time. With racial frustrations at a peak and with urban police often in a veritable state of war with inner-city rioters, the comfortable image of black success on Julia was in stark juxtaposition to the images seen on local and national newscasts In the words of Carroll, Julia Baker was a white Negro, the overly good, overly integrated fantasy projection of white writers acting, they felt, in a manner sensitive to decades of TV prejudice (Achem 116). Julia failed to make any progress on the representation of the black narrative: if there were racial references, they were one-line gags (MacDonald 116). Carroll even questioned whether the Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:52 PM Comment [6]: I ieally like this sentence. united states would ever accept shows that are about black people who are neither stereotypes nor supersades, programs that would show black people simply relating to each other (126). Watching episodes of Julia was interesting. The dated laugh track made me uncomfortable, but it was interesting to see where the producers decided to place the laughs, and which jokes were supposed to be the most humorous. I was intrigued by the show by the show not only as a historical piece for television, but also by Carrolls portrayal of a character that she wasnt a fan of. So far, the portrayal of black female leads on major broadcasting television networks were controlled solely by men, until Get Christie Love! made its way onto television screens. Teresa Graves portrayed Christie Love in ABCs Get Christie Love! The first police drama to star an African American woman followed the standard detective show formula, with each episode focusing on Christies new case to solve (Achman 171). Fast forward over 40 years, and Scandal makes its way to the small screen. Former White House Communications Director, Olivia Pope, portrayed by Kerry Washington, now runs a crisis management firm that solves the problems of Washington's elite in ABCs Scandal. Pope is a no nonsense, strong, independent Black woman, yet her major fault is her relationship with the married president of the United States. While Scandal ranks first in its 10 pm Thursday slot, and maintains a large fanbase, the show does have its failings. In a report by the Directors Guild of America, in its 2011-2012 season, Scandal hired women or minority directors for 67% of its episodes. Kerry Washingtons 2013 Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:52 PM Comment [7]: Aie you going to elaboiate. Emmy nomination created excited buzz in the media. If she took home the award, she would be the first black woman to win for best lead actress in a drama series ever. In response to Scandals success, NBC premiered Deception, starring Meagan Good as Joanna Locasta. After her childhood best friend is killed, Locasta, who is an LAPD officer, decides to go undercover to solve the murder. The show received poor ratings and was canceled after one season. A deeper look at these shows reveal that while more black women have roles in the production process, the number is still very small. A study by the Directors Guild of America shows that in the 2011-2012 season, four percent of episodes were directed by minority females. Interviews with Black female filmmakers and directors revealed that they have something to say about the lack of representation of Black women on the television screen. Their personal experience of working behind the scenes gave insight to the impact pre-production work has on a television show. Independent filmmaker Tchaiko Omawale spoke on the importance of diversity in the creation of art: If youre an artist, who you are and how you see the world comes out in what you do. So if you have a medium where its a majority of one type of person making that medium, youre gonna get that one type of persons perspective. I think its just really important to allow other voices to be present. Lena Waithe, writer for the television show Girlfriends and Black Youtube miniseries Hello Cupid!, expressed similar sentiments: If you dont have any people of color working on a show, and yet you have a person of color in the cast, its sort of doing a disservice to that character[...]I think that at the end of the day, we need--with our casts and our own screen talent-- a desire to have diversity, to really show we are a diverse country. But I feel like thats not always being reflected behind the scenes. The writers room and the crew and all of those things, thats really important. I think a big deal is having more executives of color. After exploring the production of these television shows and their varying success, I am still left with questions. What steps are being taken to increase the diversity on the TV screen? There is a domino effect -- Black womens role behind the scenes affects their portrayal on TV, but in turn how do these representations of Black women affect their personal lives? Exploring these television shows, and experiencing firsthand the writing and portrayal of the characters of the five major network television shows to feature black women, left me in a strange state. I was satisfied by the information that I gleaned from my research, yet there are still so many questions that need answers. Despite insufficient answers, the available information has shown that there is still progress to make.
Who is constantly in control of the narratives of black women on TV? Not black women ahhhh.
Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:53 PM Comment [8]: .. Not suie the best way to uo this Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:53 PM Comment [9]: Nice ieflection Revolution televised by Christie Achman
If nothing else she saw it as an opportunity to draw more African Americans into television production. pg 117
[Carroll] questioned whether the united states would ever accept shows that are about black people who are neither stereotypes nor supersades, programs that would show black people simply relating to each other. pg. 126
Get Christie Love first police drama to star an African American woman pg.171
Blacks and White TV by J. Fred MacDonald
The mammy figure--usually portrayed as a black maid in a white household--was a familiar stereotype. She emitted a certain human warmth that was sometimes difficult to discern beneath her aggressive self-confidence and implacable personality. In early television the black maid was a highly popular character. pg. 21
Julia Baker was the most assimilated black character ever to appear in the American mass media. Beyond the the stereotyped mammies and maids of early TV, she was everything that [they] are not. pg. 115
Julia made no pretense of dealing with contemporary social issues. pg. 115
If there were racial references, they were one-line gags. pg. 116
Julia could not have emerged at a less fortuitous time. With racial frustrations at a peak and with urban police often in a veritable state of war with inner-city rioters, the comfortable image of black success on Julia was in stark juxtaposition to the images seen on local and national newscasts...In the words of Carroll, Julia Baker was a white Negro, the overly good, overly integrated fantasy projection of white writers acting, they felt, in a manner sensitive to decades of TV prejudice. pg. 116
Format Introduce show- main plot Introduce main character/actress analyze the lead production team how it addresses race and representation of black women React react react what was watching an episode like
Each show has perpetuated some sort of black female stereotype Beulah- Mammy figure Julia- it completely ignored that she was black; not every black person has a struggle but it didnt try to make the black narrative different from any other show Get Christie Love-Blacksploitation Scandal-Jezebel mistress slut shaming
Joneka!! I absolutely love the questions you are exploring in this essay. You have a great structure to the essay, using relevant sources to back up your argument. Is this essay an exploratory essay? You are asking a lot of questions and asserting some very basic fundamentals but I would work on writing a conclusion making some sort of statement. Other than that, I have nothing to add! Keep up the good work :)
Eileen Jakeway 11/25/13 4:54 PM Comment [10]: Befinitely incoipoiate this iuea moie into the essay; it is veiy intiiguing.