Not “Ghetto” Enough
Profunksticated admits to being part of the problem of perception in entertainment. I was a fan of VH1’s Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School Starring Mo’nique. My daughter and I discussed each week’s episode the way regular guys talk about their favorite NFL teams.
I’m just finding out that the blogosphere has been fanning the flames of a boycott against the former Video Hits One, the MTV sister network that once showed videos of easy listening and light rock artists when it debuted in the mid-1980s.
Today, reality is a VH1 staple. And apparently folks are upset because a VH1 executive, during one of those infamous closed-door meetings, squashed a proposed reality show featuring educated black women because the women weren’t "ghetto" enough, a la Charm School.
The show was to be called The Interracial Love Reality Show, featuring a white father of two sons seeking a black woman as a wife and mother to his boys. The following is a comment from posted by a VH1 employee claiming to have been present at said meeting:
"I am the employee that leaked the information about the reason Vh1 turned down this reality show Interracial Love. It was told to the creators that this was not something Vh1 was looking to do right now and it did not fit with their network. The truth is that we was told to tell the creators this however that is not what was said behind closed doors. The truth is that this show does not fit the mold just as they said however they left out the part what also was said.
This is word for word what was said, ‘This is not a good fit for us here at Vh1 we are not interested in showing this family or black women in the positive light this show wants to. It is our thoughts that the viewers are more interested in seeing black people in a ghetto role. This show will not sell. Black women are looked at as being ghetto and not educated so we need to pass on this project.’ "
Damn, that hurts!
Not to defend VH1, but a little perspective is in order. Stereotyping is the lifeblood of the entertainment industry. Film and TV execs, with good reason, believe the American public is more comfortable watching productions that reflect its perception of reality rather than reality itself. The name of the game is to attract eyeballs that VH1 can charge its advertisers.
In other words, yeah, it would be nice to see educated, cultured black women on TV, but such women aren’t seen as interesting. More interesting, or entertaining, is the unscripted ghetto acting of women like Larissa (Boots) from Charm School.
I also checked out the last season of Celebrity Fit Club. Do you think it was an accident that Dustin Diamond, the former Screech from Saved By the Bell, was the resident raging asshole on that show? If not for him, CFC would have been a boring model of cooperation, support and encouragement among the contestants. Having been in jounalism, I was told time and time again that the best newspaper stories had at their hearts some kind of conflict. Same with this reality TV genre.
And witness that TV staple, the situation comedy. Buffoonery abounds, as portrayed by the following well-known actors: Don Knotts as Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show), Richard Bonner as Herb Tarlek (WKRP in Cinncinati), Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker (All in the Family) and Homer Simpson as, well, Homer Simpson (The Simpsons). And all those characters were Caucasian. What if the Simpsons had been a black family? The show probably wouldn’t have lasted past the second episode due to the inevitable complaints that would emanate from the black community.
Remember Good Times? Jimmie Walker as J.J. was as buffoonish as they came, much to the consternation of co-stars Esther Rolle and John Amos, who felt that J.J. was a horrible black role model. But the audience tuned in to see J.J. anyway.
So if we hate the fact that professional black women aren’t viewed as entertaining enough, we only have ourselves to blame, myself included, for lapping up the dreck served up by Hollywood, and to a lesser extent, New York.
Forget a boycott. Progamming we find objectionable will be killed by nothing short of a complete overthrow of the United States of America, its Constitution (remember the First Amendment?) and its media. My advice to folks is this. If you don’t like a show or movie, simply don’t freakin’ watch.
Interracial Love Reality Show, I believe, would be a reality show more suited for PBS, if it ever went reality.
Peace out.
Okay you know I was crackin up at the last comment you made, talking about how basically the media and what sells AIN’T GONNA CHANGE. That’s soo true. My hubby is an advertising exec and I learned sooooo much about what really goes on from him, I almost couldn’t believe it.
There are lot’s of things we don’t watch, sh*t we didn’t even have cable until about 2 months ago (and that meant we only got about 5 channels).
I must admit tho, I did tune into a view RealVideo clips on my computer to watch Flava of Love (Something about New York’s ultra ghetta fab attitude had me stuck *shakin head*)
Comment by aly cat — September 6, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
I typed out a comment, but I don’t know what happened.
Comment by aly cat — September 6, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
thanks for coming through my spot.
so far as VH1 is concerned, let me add the following: seems like boycotting advertisers would work better than boycotting VH1. really, how can you boycott something that comes “free” or at least included in the cable you pay for? also, i agree: if there was no demand for low-acting black women, then there’d be no supply. finally, until they throw in boycotts of mtv, bet, and record companies who’ve been putting out videos of low-acting women for 25 years, i ain’t impressed with the boycott.
You’re welcome, Sistah Ant.
You’re right, I completed forgot the idea of boycotting advertisers, since they support the dreck. And yes, there definitely is a demand for low-acting black women. They all think they’re gonna become stars that way. And again, I have to look in the mirror at myself since I couldn’t wait to tune into Charm School. I probably watch it ‘cause it gave me a perverse sense of superiority e.g., “at least my wife, daughter and mother aren’t like that.”
Comment by Sistah Ant — September 7, 2007 @ 9:21 am
I think that VH1 and all the rest of these stations are pure crap. That said I believe that they could have put there little show about interracial love on if they just tweaked the title a bit to reflect what it really was about. A White man looking for a Black woman to raise his White kids and love hime etc. Why didn’t they just call it “Mammy of Love”, hell that would be the highest rated reality show to date.
I can’t see how you all can stomach to even watch a partial clip of that crud. I think it would be easier for me to watch a dog chew my leg off. But, hey the boycott on the show probably isn’t as good as a boycott on the advertisers, but if the ratings are so low aren’t the advertisers going to pull out anyway due to no one really seeing the ads? I am not sure since I don’t know diddly squat about advertising, or entertainment industries and all that. But you would think that staying away would drive the show away as well. One could only hope.
Interesting post and some nice tidbits about buffoonery. I do think that the buffoonery in the Black characters is a bit worse than that of the White characters just simply because there are so many heroes, professionals etc. to offset the White buffoons. But, in the Black roles either you are a buffoon, a mammy, uncle tom, thug or non descript Black. The last one is a Black person in a role where it wouldn’t make a difference whether he/she was White or Black because there is no discernable differences in the character to have you identify them with the Black community ie almost anything that Will Smith plays.
Yo, Sentinel, thanks for stopping by. Mammy of Love, indeed!
Your points are well taken here, especially the bit about the larger range of character types that white actors play as opposed to black actors. I remember reading years ago where Alan Alda’s Hawkeye Pierce (M*A*S*H), while portraying an authority-challenging prankster and alcoholic Army officer, was also shown performing heroics in the wartime operating room as a skilled surgeon.
By contrast, Sherman Helmsley’s George Jefferson (The Jeffersons) was a loud, obnoxious, in-your-face self-made successful businessman. But you almost never saw a serious George Jefferson working in any of his dry cleaning establishments. I guess dry cleaning isn’t as dramatic as medicine.
Peace
Comment by The Black Sentinel — September 16, 2007 @ 12:59 pm