- The fresh prince of bel air season 1 episode 8 skin#
- The fresh prince of bel air season 1 episode 8 tv#
Having a basic understanding on the history of blackness in America helps to grasp how blackness operates in The Fresh Prince. culture.” Contextualizing this notion historically allows me to make sense of The Fresh Prince’s intervention. In this essay, I am examining the societal pressures that led to the creation of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and investigate how the show managed to effectively refute a static representation of blackness in media.ĭarnell Hunt notes, “blackness has always played a fundamental role in U.S. As an African-American male and an American studies major, I selected to study The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air because I’ve witnessed and studied how television mediates social constructions of race and identity. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a 90s African-American sitcom that starred then-20-year-old Will Smith, as a teenager from a tough neighborhood in West Philadelphia, whose mother, who fearing her son’s safety and ability to grow in an underserviced black community, sends him to live with their wealthy relatives, the Banks, in Bel-Air, California. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air helped me to engage in important dialogues with my brothers and more importantly, through its portrayal of various black characters, the show made me feel comfortable with my own blackness. Although we had all known each other for a couple of years, it was the first time that I shared a similar struggle with the brotherhood. Many of us in the brotherhood grew up without a father, myself included, and because of that we empathized with Will, who at the end of the episode breaks down into tears because his father doesn’t want to be involved in his life. The episode that stuck with us most was “Papa’s Got a Brand New Excuse,” an episode where Will Smith’s father suddenly reappears in his life, and just as quickly as he reenters he leaves, leaving Will frustrated as he tries to rationalize why his father doesn’t want him. We each shared our favorite episodes and moments from the show, and then started talking about the deeper significance of some of the episodes. Every day, we’d sit together during lunch discussing a variety of things: girls, music, music, current events, everything.ĭuring one lunch period we spent our time talking about the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I say this because I witnessed first-hand how the show brought me and the brotherhood, my high school friend group of African-American and Latino boys, together. What amazed me most about the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and what inspired me to do a study on the 90s sit-com, was the potential of the show to be used as an outlet for discussions on race, class, and the black experience, amongst other things. What attracted me to The Fresh Prince was its humor and the way the show presented a multiplicity of black narratives that were relatable to me and other viewers that identified as black. Later, in my teens, the show would serve as a gateway into better understanding and appreciating my own blackness. At that moment, it almost felt destined that I should stumble upon The Fresh Prince. She told me that it was my eldest brother’s favorite show and that I was named Jeffrey after the British butler, Geoffrey, Patrick’s favorite character.
The fresh prince of bel air season 1 episode 8 tv#
My mother walked in and started laughing because she recognized the TV series. I recall one afternoon, flipping through the channels searching for something to watch and falling upon The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Cameroon was my roots – it was what made me the individual that I am – being African-American meant constructing a black identity that would allow me to be accepted in the African-American neighborhoods I inhabited. As I grew older, I kept trying to bridge the gap between my two black identities, African and African-American. At the time, I couldn’t understand why they taunted and isolated me from my 5-year-old perspective we were all black and it was that blackness that drew us together, despite our various ethnic backgrounds. Every day I was confronted with harsh name-calling by black boys and girls of the same age, at school and in our neighborhood, because of my black African identity. When my mother and I arrived in 1999, we settled in a predominantly African-American community in North Minneapolis. –Darnell Hunt īorn in Cameroon and then emigrating to the United States at the age of five, I’ve grown up confused about my African-American identity.
The fresh prince of bel air season 1 episode 8 skin#
culture, one dependent upon an institutionalized complex of prototypical signifiers: the African’s dark skin his coarse and curly hair her earthy and unrestrained culture his brute physicality. Blackness has always played a fundamental role in U.S.
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