Cosby & Class
Theme Music: "Lady of My Life" - MJ (Way before the Drama)
Peace,
Today's Mathematics is Knowledge Culture all being born to Power. In the NGE, we make sure that Knowledge is the foundation of our Culture, so that it can be quantified and qualified. Also, you have to look at the relationship between Knowledge and Culture, as Culture and it's various
mainifestations serve as the foundation for your viewpoint on life.
The other day, I watched a Cosby Show marathon on TV Land. As I'm watching, I'm thinking back to the whole brouhaha (?) over Cos and those bougie statements he made last year. In reality, his comments just underscored the rift between middle class and poor Black folks. Micheal Eric Dyson and others berated Cos for his statements, and him turning his back on those still in the "Ghe-to", as J.J. from Good Times would say.
If you look at the Cosby Show from a class perspective, you'll see some interesting things. Here's what I got out of it:
- While the show was kept up to date in an international sense (hence, the anti-apartheid sentiment), it was totally oblivious to the reality of the Black Community in America. No Black family in the 80's was out of the reach of the Crack epidemic, unemployment, or the rising incarceration rates of Black Men. It either happened to you, or it happened to a family member, b.u.t. no one was unscathed.
- Hip Hop played a very small role in the lives of the Huxtable children. Where the hell did they live in Brooklyn?
- Cos had a lot of love for Jazz, which isn't as bougie as it seems. To me, his musical and artistic taste had more to do with exposure than class.
- It didn't really seem as though they lived in Nueva York. The show was so general, they could have lived anywhere.
- The first 5 or 6 seasons of the show was like middle class heaven. It wasn't until the last few seasons that things started to change.
- All of Theo's friends at NYU were just like him. Whatever happened to diversity?
- All black families have some class mixing, b.u.t. with the Cos, that didn't happen until Cousin Pam came to live with them late in the game.
- Issues like Teen Pregnancy didn't come up until Pam got there, and even then it wasn't discussed in the context of the community.
- Religion wasn't discussed much, however you got the feeling that they were at least nominal Christians. It's interesting to see that no other religions or cultures were introduced to the mix. Speaking of which, all of the names of the children were straighter than 6:00. Cos was trying to paint a fantasy world like he came through the 70's with no black after- effects.
- Remember Theo's spin-off? It was him going into the hood to mentor and work with young boys. Cliff never showed that inclination.
- When Denise came back, you could tell that she was on some other sh!*,b.u.t. they didn't go into it. She was into organic foods and had locks down her back. The way they played it, she acted like a upper class black hippie.
- When Vanessa brought home the plumber, that was the first time you saw any class tension.
Peace,
Today's Mathematics is Knowledge Culture all being born to Power. In the NGE, we make sure that Knowledge is the foundation of our Culture, so that it can be quantified and qualified. Also, you have to look at the relationship between Knowledge and Culture, as Culture and it's various
mainifestations serve as the foundation for your viewpoint on life.
The other day, I watched a Cosby Show marathon on TV Land. As I'm watching, I'm thinking back to the whole brouhaha (?) over Cos and those bougie statements he made last year. In reality, his comments just underscored the rift between middle class and poor Black folks. Micheal Eric Dyson and others berated Cos for his statements, and him turning his back on those still in the "Ghe-to", as J.J. from Good Times would say.
If you look at the Cosby Show from a class perspective, you'll see some interesting things. Here's what I got out of it:
- While the show was kept up to date in an international sense (hence, the anti-apartheid sentiment), it was totally oblivious to the reality of the Black Community in America. No Black family in the 80's was out of the reach of the Crack epidemic, unemployment, or the rising incarceration rates of Black Men. It either happened to you, or it happened to a family member, b.u.t. no one was unscathed.
- Hip Hop played a very small role in the lives of the Huxtable children. Where the hell did they live in Brooklyn?
- Cos had a lot of love for Jazz, which isn't as bougie as it seems. To me, his musical and artistic taste had more to do with exposure than class.
- It didn't really seem as though they lived in Nueva York. The show was so general, they could have lived anywhere.
- The first 5 or 6 seasons of the show was like middle class heaven. It wasn't until the last few seasons that things started to change.
- All of Theo's friends at NYU were just like him. Whatever happened to diversity?
- All black families have some class mixing, b.u.t. with the Cos, that didn't happen until Cousin Pam came to live with them late in the game.
- Issues like Teen Pregnancy didn't come up until Pam got there, and even then it wasn't discussed in the context of the community.
- Religion wasn't discussed much, however you got the feeling that they were at least nominal Christians. It's interesting to see that no other religions or cultures were introduced to the mix. Speaking of which, all of the names of the children were straighter than 6:00. Cos was trying to paint a fantasy world like he came through the 70's with no black after- effects.
- Remember Theo's spin-off? It was him going into the hood to mentor and work with young boys. Cliff never showed that inclination.
- When Denise came back, you could tell that she was on some other sh!*,b.u.t. they didn't go into it. She was into organic foods and had locks down her back. The way they played it, she acted like a upper class black hippie.
- When Vanessa brought home the plumber, that was the first time you saw any class tension.
posted by I Majestic at 3:21 PM
2 Comments:
i never peeped that.
I do konw some folks who worked behind the scenes and cosby was adamant on a number of things like :
EVERYONE had to have a college degree even if you were the limo driver (read Carol's daughter book on this)
He kicked cockroach off the show because he refused to get a haircut.
-------
I can't front on cosby. he was trying to project an image. and i think he did a good job. since then, no other black comedy has come close to being that good (except Living Single which i think was dope). If you read his books you will see that his whole mission was to project a certain image and i think he was successful. of course, his image does not represent all of us, but then again 50 CEnt does not rep all of us either.
Peace Lord,
That is interesting. After reading your post I was thinking on how the rift between 'lower' and 'middle' black class happens in many organizations. I was thinking how it happened in the NOI and how some aspects of it effects even us within the Nation today.
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