Revisiting one of the greatest shows probably ever!

Just seconds before I go to post up this blog I see another well written one about the same subject. Damn!It probably outdoes my blog by miles but whatever, it goes to show how powerful this show has been for some. Anyways, here's my take on it...

It was my favourite after-school show. Quick witted humour, the "Carlton Dance" and a theme song more memorable than any national anthem, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was a hit. Watching and re-watching all 6 seasons throughout my life has had me in fits (even though I didn't understand a good chunk of the jokes till I was about 15). But this course has led me to rethink my interpretation of The Fresh Prince gaining a whole new understanding of the ways this show addresses racial issues.

A few weeks back we looked at institutional racism- this is when a number of  social institutions treat people negatively based on their race. Social institutions include governmental organisations, bankers and even schools. Immediately after learning about this concept and others, such as racial profiling, I thought back to season 1 episode 6 of The Fresh Prince to a scene that directly addresses this concept.

This clip is a clear demonstration of a social institution treating a group of people  negatively and unfairly based on their race. The officer speaks in quite a dismissive tone to Mr. & Mrs. Banks as he had no interest in helping them. The officer's prejudice stood in the way of him fulfilling his duty to provide proper service not only towards the worried parents but also to Will and Carlton for their previously mistaken arrest. The officer's attitude was much more pleasant towards the white man, Henry Firth (for a good 3 seconds until it totally backfired), he was willing to be of assistance and communicate what has been going on. The Banks family is seemingly undeserving of this standard  treatment. The idea of systems vs individualism comes into play here, because the family's individualism is overlooked and the operation that the policemen were running derives from their prejudice about the two teenagers; that they fit some sort of systematically formed racial profile suggesting that the two teens in the scene were the perpetrators.

The Fresh Prince places the Banks family in an upper-class social milieu displaying a black American experience that hadn't been represented on television yet. Comedy is the vehicle that drives the multiple narratives forward, it is the overwhelming racial tones that pull at the heart strings. Thanks to the lessons of this course I can sufficiently make sense of these rare impact scenes.