The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Communications FETISHIZING BLACKNESS: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSUMER CULTURE AND BLACK IDENTITY AS PORTRAYED ON BET A Thesis in Media Studies by Ashley Sims © 2009 Ashley Sims Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts August 2009 The thesis of Ashley Sims was reviewed and approved* by the following: Matthew P. McAllister Associate Professor of Communications Thesis Advisor Marie Hardin Associate Professor of Communications Ronald V. Bettig Associate Professor of Communications John S. Nichols Professor of Communications Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT This study examines three Black Entertainment Television (BET) shows – The Black Carpet, The Boot and Baldwin Hills – assessing their popularly mediated economic and consumptive representations of Black America in the context of socioeconomic realities being lived in Black America. Using a critical textual analysis of these programs the thesis explores the extent to which consumers are being sold a mediated version of the American dream and Black identity through commodity fetishism, and argues that this symbolic construction has a hegemonic function by deterring the Black consumer’s attention from real to imaginary economic lifestyles. This study finds that, although the three programs differ on their levels of ideological intensity and specific characteristics, on BET as a whole blackness is a fetishized commodity, conflating cultural and consumer identities, while at the same time concealing the significant inequalities that many members of their audience may be experiencing. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................vii Chapter 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................1 Socioeconomic Realities and Idealized Consumption in the Black Community..............2 Black Entertainment Television (BET) ..............................................................................10 Thesis Preview .....................................................................................................................22 Chapter 2 Commodity Fetishism, Black Identity & The Ideology of Consumption: A Theoretical Framework.........................................................................................................23 Consumer Culture ................................................................................................................23 Commodity Fetishism ..........................................................................................................25 Black Identity .......................................................................................................................35 Chapter 3 Methodology ...............................................................................................................50 Chapter 4 The Fetishism Phenomenon: An Analysis of BET’s The Black Carpet, The Boot & Baldwin Hills ...........................................................................................................57 The Black Carpet as a Vision of The Black Gilded Age ...................................................57 The Boot: A Metaphorical Marketplace .............................................................................65 Baldwin Hills: Not All Black People Live in the Ghetto ..................................................73 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................80 Chapter 5 Commodity Flow & The Persistence of Consumption on BET ..............................82 Promotional Content in Programming and Commercial Texts .........................................82 Network Promotions & Brand Identity ...............................................................................91 Constructing Identity Through Consumption and Fetishization in BET Commercials ..95 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................99 Chapter 6 Conclusion...................................................................................................................101 Research Questions ......................................................................................................101 References ....................................................................................................................................111 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1: Family net worth – mean and median in constant dollars: 2004............................6 Figure 4-1: Empress’s lips inflated by the supertext .................................................................73 Figure 5-1: Screen shot of musician Kanye West in front of GQ sponsored back signage. ....86 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1: Money income of households—percent distribution by income level, race, and Hispanic origin, in constant (2006) dollars: 2006...............................................................3 Table 5-1: Commodity flow: Commodities and brands mentioned or shown on the 7/24/08 episode of The Black Carpet (in order of first appearance) . ...............................87 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are so many people I would like to thank for their support and genuine belief in me. Thank you first and foremost to God for blessing me with the life circumstances and opportunities that have placed me in a position where I may contribute to society through my research. Thank you to Jennifer Proffitt, Betsy Hall, Dean Selden, John Sanchez, Jeanne Hall, Ron Bettig, Marie Hardin, Dean John Nichols – who is not only a great leader, but more importantly a committed advocate for every student – and many others from the Penn State College of Communications. I am especially appreciative to my amazing advisor Matt McAllister for his patience and constant guidance. I am lucky to have a great support network of cohorts and friends, old and new: Amy B., Amy L., Jenna, Meagan, Garove, Annie, Heather, Weirui, Murali, Shawnee, Melora, Rex, Stephanie and Tina. You all stuck close by my side through my unexpected challenges, and words cannot convey how much I appreciate you for that. Most importantly, I share this thesis and degree with the angels in my life: my big sister Jennifer Sims, Dr. Roy Kerry, Leslie Webb and last but not least, my mother and hero, Shirley Sims. 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION In modern consumer culture, mass-manufactured commodities take on culturally significant meanings. A product’s packaging, a day of shopping or even a much-hyped Super Bowl commercial are just a few examples of the consumerist phenomena that influence the creation of social meanings around commodities. As a result, we more often purchase products for their intangible qualities of social and identity-defining values than for their actual use-values (Andersen, 1995; McAllister, 2008). Commodities are fetishized in this sense: their meanings are elevated beyond their material characteristics, even to the point of having “magical” attributes (Williams, 1980). In order to understand if and how these fetishized messages are able to circulate through our complex culture, we must first attempt to understand the different sociocultural contexts of the receivers, or at least how commodity fetishism interacts with other forms of social identity creation. Therefore, academic scholarship must analyze key elements of identity such as age, gender, sexuality, class, race and ethnicity that also play critical roles in the cultural meanings of consumption. Some researchers have done this. They analyze contemporary consumption as a vehicle through which social inequalities, like race, class and gender are formed, experienced, imposed, and resisted (Chin, 2001; Belk, 1995; Carrier & Heyman, 1997). These scholars assert that cultures of consumption should be analyzed in their greater historical, economic, political and social contexts. This means taking into account the implications of things like historical power and oppression, for instance. These researchers ask a highly significant, but often-overlooked question: What is the relationship between specific versions of social inequality and 2 consumption? The purpose of my study is to ask and then expand on this same question in regards to images of African American consumption on the cable television network Black Entertainment Television (BET). This thesis examines if and how programming created for Black audiences distorts and/or ignores socioeconomic and historical circumstances in exchange for a mantra of consumption that is void of social context. By observing three shows on Black Entertainment Television (BET) - The Black Carpet, Baldwin Hills and The Boot - this research aims to determine if there exists a disconnect between the popularly mediated economic and consumptive representations of Black America, and the actual economic realities being lived in Black America. Using a critical textual analysis of this programming it will analyze the extent