Television: Laughing at Black Depictions in the 1992-1997 Sitcom Martin
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Color(ed) Television: Laughing at Black Depictions in the 1992-1997 Sitcom Martin Andrew LaSane Senior Seminar Professor Pfitzer December 11, 2009 Abstract Title: Color(ed) Television: Laughing at Black Depictions in the 1992-1997 Sitcom Martin This seminar paper focuses on 1990s television, more specifically comedic sitcoms of that era with predominantly Black casts and their effects on American television and American urban culture. Often criticized as racist and fosterers of stereotypes, Black sitcoms (post-Cosby) are rarely given credit for their contributions to television programming. “Martin,” the series created by comedian Martin Lawrence, was my primary source for analysis. The series aired from 1992-1997 on FOX and has recently been released in its entirety on DVD. The paper includes analysis of multiple episodes taken from the available media and concentrates on the dichotomies of race, gender, and class and how they were central to the success of not only “Martin,” but other Black sitcoms of the decade. This thesis paper looks beyond the comedic nature of this sitcom to see how its producers used Martin’s comedic talents as well as his personal life to create and sustain a controversial as well as revered American series. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my fellow Senior Seminar classmates, Elena, Rachel, Claire, Liz, Jordan, Emily, Gemma, Emma, Keke, and Krista for their support throughout the process of writing this paper and for keeping me entertained all semester long. I would also like to thank the Senior Seminar Class of 2009 for their insight and assistance in forcing me to think about this work in advance. Thank you to my mother for exposing me to the media at a young age that I love and that allowed me to write this thesis in the first place. Thanks to Professors Dan Nathan and Joshua Woodfork of the American Studies department here at Skidmore College for engaging in conversation with me about my topic and for reassuring me that it was worth writing. I express gratitude to Brett Ehrmann for writing his Honors Thesis at University of Michigan- Ann Arbor and for allowing me to have a copy for my own academic research. Lastly, a special thank you to Professor Gregory Pfitzer for being there every step of the way to encourage and to push a class of easily distracted undergraduate seniors to do great things. Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… i. Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………….. ii. Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………….iii. Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Introduction of Focus 4 Breaking Clarks Conventions 7 Chapter 2: Coogi Sweaters to Michigan Jerseys: From Cosby to Martin 8 Chapter 3: What’s Black Love Got to Do With It? 10 “It’s a man thing, Gina, it’s a man thing!” 12 Chapter 4: New Black Face? 16 “Forever Sheneneh” 18 “Mama Payne” 20 “Jerome’s in the House” 22 Chapter 5: Social Commentary 25 Chapter 6: Pause for audience reaction… 29 Chapter 7: The Black Experience 32 Conclusion 35 Bibliography 36 Appendix A 1 Introduction “Nothing shows a man’s character more than what he laughs at” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe What people find entertaining has deep implications for their culture. Studying television is a means to understanding the interests and ideas of society. Television is often a big part of childhood exposure to the world, especially before children are literate. Born in the 1980s, most of what I learned was from television programming of the 1990s. For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the “idiot-box.” More than just audio/visual stimulation, television is a reflection and refraction of society. Images on the screen are produced by people with their own intrinsic motives, and they target individuals with the same or similar interests. Sitcoms, or situational comedies, are the most engaging because they are on-going and focus on story and character progression. It is this dynamic, unpredictable nature that caught my interest then and now. In this paper I will research and analyze the components of Black sitcoms (i.e. those with black casts). More specifically, I will engage the show Martin regarding factors of audience, production, and content and the importance of these factors to American culture. Content will be one important aspect of my thesis paper, as I intend a media analysis. Martin was known for its autobiographical “in-group” humor (“in-group” referring to an audience that identifies with the “Black” narrative or experience.)1 Issues of gender inequality, Black professionalism, race relations and conflict, and the inability to “cross-over” are a few of the themes I will discuss in this paper.2 As one of the first sitcoms to feature a main character 1 Kristal Brent Zook, Color By Fox: the Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 5. 2 Robert F. Moss, “The Shrinking Life Span of the Black Sitcom,” New York Times, Feb 25, 2001 JSTOR, www.jstor.org 2 who also played the role of numerous personalities (all if which were important to the culture of the show and not merely cameos), Martin has proven to be a fruitful subject for study. Martin Lawrence’s multiple personalities add even more depth to the characters that he interacts with as well as his primary character. I will also discuss Lawrence’s personal struggles as they affected the outcome of the series. Television is a difficult media to discuss. I do not intend merely to voice my opinion on matters of racial identity, stereotypical portrayals, or program quality. In addition to scholarly references and contextual evidence from Martin, I will rely on viewer reflections. The responses and commentary used in this paper are from volunteer Skidmore College students who engaged in viewings of a selection of episodes. The participants were not of one particular race but were all between the ages of 17 and 22. It should be mentioned that Skidmore College is a liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York and while the student body is “diverse” in the sense that multiple races and geographic regions are represented, the culture of the college is peculiar to the school just as the culture of any distinct group would self-select into that group. Though I attempt to be unbiased in my approach to presenting this topic historically, I realize and embrace the fact that my own experiences and opinions as a Black male from South Carolina watching these types of shows as a youth and again today will inevitably influence the way I present this information. Ultimately, the aim is to uncover the underlying elements of Martin that made it such a commercial success (defined here as reaching syndication, lasting for five seasons, and warranting DVD release) and what the effects of such elements were on American culture in general and me in particular. I explore some of the following questions: 3 • Why is this show important to the culture? • Why did it last as long as it did? Would this show work in today’s television programming scheme? • What does the format of the show reflect about the producer/actors/broadcasting station? • Who is the target audience? • Does comedy make issues such as racism easier to approach or are they trivialized by it? • What makes Martin a uniquely American show? • Does it reflect American society of the 1990s or has it imposed its ideals on the society of today? These questions bring me to perhaps the most important question: why should anyone care about my paper? My topic is important to examine simply because race relations are important and television is embedded into our culture. By challenging depictions of Blacks on television I am implicitly also challenging depictions in other forms of media in the United States. How an individual or group is portrayed to the masses dictates how they perceive themselves and how they are perceived. This not only perpetuates stereotypes, it can also simultaneously denigrate those shown in the negative light. Television is the most universal form of media. Not everyone reads newspapers or listens to talk-radio because video is far more convenient technology, combining the sound and visuals of both. As I stated previously, television has also become a primary teaching tool for children. By analyzing racialized implications of Black sitcoms in the 1990s, I will get a better understanding of how and why these meanings are established and disseminated. Presenting this topic may change the way individuals view race and laughter in tomorrow’s media. If not, I hope this paper at least sparks a dialogue among readers about the role of television in creating racial identities in American culture. 4 Introduction of Focus “He was in control of every aspect of his show. There was no part of that show where somebody could say, ‘I’m responsible for this. [He] was in charge of everything, man.” - comedian Charlie Murphy on Lawrence3 Martin Fitzgerald Lawrence, named after both Martin Luther King Jr. and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1965. His parents divorced in 1973 and his mother raised him and his five brothers and sisters. Growing up in Maryland, Lawrence attended four separate high schools and fought in the Golden Gloves amateur boxing competition as a 90 lb fifteen year old. It was at Eleanor Roosevelt High School that he got his first comedic break. A class clown, Lawrence would often interrupt his art class with his antics. His teacher, Mrs. Henderson, bargained with him that if he allowed his classmates to finish their assignments without distraction, he would be allowed to tell jokes for the last five minutes of class.