Since its inception, Television as a medium has enjoyed a hand-in-hand relationship with social commentary. Though it is sometimes easily dismissed as mere entertainment, television programs have a surprising amount of sway in the point of views that we as a society so doggedly cling to. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a famed cultural critic and public intellectual, argues that the Black urban sitcoms of the 1970’s, specifically Good Times, represented both the greatest potential for representing Black life in television’s history and also the greatest failure. This is mainly because while the show was not only an extension of the American nuclear family in pursuit of the American Dream, but also an accurate depiction of Black family life and issues in an urban and for the most part poor area of an inner city, metropolitan area. However, that show’s particular failure stemmed from its devolution of one of the character’s role to something of a minstrel character, a buffoon that was a reminder of racist propaganda, as well as portrayal of the ghettos as a place where life was tough but manageable, which is incredibly false if one would ask any person that grew up in such conditions. By analyzing the “Vanessa’s Rich” episode of The Cosby Show, it is apparent that this more contemporary urban situational comedy does prove itself in myriad ways that it is capable of painting African Americans in a positive light, yet certain aspects of the show do tend to highlight what might be considered a “failure” in cultural and racial sensitivity.
Before going in an in-depth analysis of the television episode, the viewer must acquaint herself with the documentary in reference. In Marlon Riggs’ documentary Color Adjustment, the viewer is asked to reexamine and recognize the amount of racial subliminal subtexts were present through the popular shows of the time, such as Amos and Andy, The Nat King Cole Show, I Spy, Good Times, Roots, and The Cosby Show. The documentary outlines almost half a century’s worth of race relations by analyzing the racial myths and stereotypes perpetuated on prime time entertainment. To explain it in brevity, Color Adjustment attempts to show how African Americans were slowly allowed to join in the various portrayals of the American family and American Dream that were prevalent and central to the networks’ agenda of keeping viewers entertained in between commercials, only so far as their presence adhered to the strict ideals already in place of a wholesome, nuclear American family and their pursuit of the American Dream. However, one cannot overlook how prime time television networks managed to absorb and integrate divisive racial commentary and conflict into a more conventional and auspicious mode as a nightly sitcom.
To start, we should review the different aspects of the “Vanessa’s Rich” episode. Decrypting the visual and aural elements is necessary to understanding the points of both potential greatness and potential failure in The Cosby Show’s portrayal of the Black American family. With regards to form, the plotline of the episode rotates between Cliff’s problems with his television remote (as well as his contention with the cooking show that his wife insists on watching), Vanessa’s refusal to accept her social-economic status without a fight (literally), and Theo’s difficulties in teaching Rudy how to play checkers. This formula accomplishes a few things: first, that the show is foremost a comedy, so important socio-economic issues are sandwiched between more light-hearted vignettes about life with the Huxtable family; and second, that the television writers of that show exhibited an amazing skill of making a story about something boring and commonplace seem downright interesting compared to real life. On a side note, one interesting thing that separates sitcoms from other forms of drama and such on television is the way that the camera works during dialogue; most of the time, the camera cuts back and forth between the people on the screen, at a medium shot range, and never breaks the axis of action. However, there are rarely any establishing shots, mostly due to the back and forth nature of the comedic medium, but also to highlight the characters’ opposing views in light-hearted manner.
Aesthetically speaking, it is easy to say that this family is well off; The Cosby Show takes place in an upper-middle class neighborhood, with actual houses (contrary to the projects of other shows, like Good Times), nice cars, nice clothing, and—as the viewer learns—extremely expensive paintings. All these things are incredibly nice, yet the Huxtable family represented an ideal for the American people, an imaginary Middle; though it was an African American family, they were held as a racial norm, a class norm, an aspirational ideal of what the “good life” is, and how one could attain it: work hard; have the right values and morals; have the right kind of aspirations and desires and in the end, it will be all right. Before The Cosby Show, Americans were bombarded with mostly negative images of the black family, but this program represented a kind of hope that such a positive all-American family could diminish feelings of racism.
The music, dialogue, and effects are all there to provide an extra helping of Black culture with a side of socially acceptable things white people like. For instance, the jazz interludes that precede each cut to and from commercials are clearly a reference to African American culture, seeing as how Jazz (in all its forms) is credited almost exclusively to African American musicians in the early twentieth century. However, as opposed to rap music and b-boy culture that started around the same time that The Cosby Show aired, Jazz was socially acceptable by white people. At the same time, the dialogue appealed to all kinds of people; while Bill Cosby himself had, at times, a slight vernacular twinge of English that most African Americans could identify with, yet his television co-star wife had refined English that any white person outside of the Deep South would recognize as that of a college-educated woman. Lastly, the laugh track, which had become a core part of the American sitcom, is central to keeping the audience on point, by allowing viewers to know explicitly when something is “funny” in the context of the show. By analyzing the different ways that the programs on television seek to establish common ground for the consumer to attach themselves to, we realize that television does have a large amount of sway over the mindsets of our society as a whole. However, Henry Gates, Jr. does make a good point in Color Adjustment, in that images and sound are only one part in a larger formula for social behavior, and that they cannot be given this magnitude of importance; African Americans are not “free” if they control these images of the American family and pursuit of happiness, and more importantly, these images do not have the autonomy to liberate our culture from the transgressions of the past.
The greatest potential of The Cosby Show that is referenced in the episode, “Vanessa’s Rich,” is comprised of a few major tenets: the powerful seduction of the well-to-do Black family; the reaffirmation of the American Dream and hardcore middle class family; and a depiction of a city family that was nuclear and solid. For the first point, the Huxtable family is the family that almost everyone wishes they grew up in. Let’s be honest, if your family being “rich” is your largest concern, then I’m pretty sure almost everyone in America would be more than happy to switch places with you. This was especially potent during the 1980’s when the show was first aired, as the American economy was not doing too well; the worsening polarization between the rich and poor was becoming readily apparent, and many African Americans were experiencing especially trying economic times. This dream of the happy, the harmonious, and the successful Black family was really a watershed moment in American prime time network television. This television family was like a mythic sanctuary, a shield against social crisis and the troubles of the “real world.” Little things, like Rudy complimenting Theo on being a good teacher, or Vanessa stressing over the alleged importance of winning over the respect of two of the most popular girls in school, are really what make this show appealing to people of all races and creed, and all work together to promote a positive image of the African American family.
There are, however, some points of contention to the positive images of life in an African American family that The Cosby Show projects. For instance, the show suffers from the “buffoon” syndrome, where the main character acts outrageously on purpose, usually reinforcing bad Black stereotypes, to gain marginal comedic effect. Bill Cosby’s dancing and rhyming in “Vanessa’s Rich” are all charming on the surface, yet wholly unnecessary and somewhat detrimental to the pristine image that the show as a whole has projected. In addition, the two television shows that Cliff and Claire Huxtable fight over are extreme parodies of their respective genres as well as intrinsic Black culture and contribute to The Cosby Show’s failure to present African Americans in a sensitive way. With the cooking show, the emphasis on chicken and beans in conjunction with the announcer’s unintelligible Southern drawl would be considered crossing the line if the show had been produced by anyone other than an African American. Yet, the mother of the family, who is also a partner in a prestigious law firm, finds the show entertaining to watch; this is, at best, unrealistic, and at worst an example of The Cosby Show’s failure. On the other hand, the music show that Cliff would rather watch is also a poorly executed representation of Black culture. The show boasts the same Ebonics-laden voiceover as the other TV show, and is, at the very least, racially and culturally insensitive given the context in which this program operates. The greatest failure of The Cosby Show, as presented in the episode “Vanessa’s Rich,” is the show’s inability to escape from the use of a minstrel character and borderline insensitive characterizations that have plagued other contemporary African American entertainers.
In the end, the episode “Vanessa’s Rich” from The Cosby Show is representative of how the show itself is really a monument to how far African Americans have progressed in prime time network television. The image of a well-to-do Black family is a powerful and progressive idea, one that has entertained America for decades and is only now getting the respect cultural significance it deserves. Though there are a few shortcomings in the episode that could contribute to a sort of failure to accurately and fairly portray the modern African American family, the program does manage to present itself as a significant foray into our culture and society that paints the life in a Black family as positive and worthy of attaining the American Dream.
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