Lost Blog iii

While racism and stereotyping are prevalent in society, they are also present in TV shows. A lot of the time, people find a show to be racist just by having a less diverse cast or excluding African Americans all together. Yet, there are many shows and even networks that do the opposite. Shows like The Boondocks and Martin have exclusively black casts. There is even a network just for “Black Entertainment” [BET].

The Boondocks is an animated show that plays on the idea of stereotypes in black culture. They show how horribly the black community is treated, how horribly they treat each other, and the rough lives they face, no matter their level of education. The show is filled with poor decisions, drugs, prostitution, and crime as if these are things that should be related to black culture. It is making a mockery of the stereotypes and issues associated with the community.

Martin has virtually no diversity in its cast. That doesn’t necessarily make it a racist show, but it can be viewed that way. While shows that don’t have a dominant African American cast member – such as the cast of Friends which inspired a boycott in 2003 for its lack of diversity – are often criticized and given a hard time, shows like Martin receive little to no criticism for have an exclusively racial cast.