Copyright by Brandi Naomi Blassingille 2014 The Thesis Committee for Brandi Naomi Blassingille Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Changing Faces on Children’s Cable Programming: The Emergence of Racial and Ethnic Minorities as Lead Characters on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel 1996-2005 APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Mary Beltrán Alisa Perren Changing Faces on Children’s Cable Programming: The Emergence of Racial and Ethnic Minorities as Lead Characters on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel 1996-2005 by Brandi Naomi Blassingille, B.S. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2014 Dedication In memory of my grandmother, Naomi Blassingille (1917-2002). Acknowledgements My sincerest gratitude to my thesis committee, Mary Beltrán and Alisa Perren, for the dedication of their time and knowledge of television and media studies to help advance my project. Their continued guidance throughout the research and writing process was invaluable. I am grateful for the continued love and support of my mother, Gloria Blassingille, and my aunt, Emma Douglas. I would also like to thank Alex Rodriguez, Carolyn Jones, Taylor Crowder, and Rafael Alvarez for being some of the best friends a girl could have and supporting me throughout my time in graduate school. v Abstract Changing Faces on Children’s Cable Programming: The Emergence of Racial and Ethnic Minorities as Lead Characters on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel 1996-2005 Brandi Naomi Blassingille, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisor: Mary Beltrán Although children’s programming has been considered to be at the forefront of incorporating racial and ethnic diversity, the roles on television for racial and ethnic minorities have continued to be limited or based on stereotypes, and sheer presence in numbers for non-whites is still lacking in comparison to white characters. Television programming during the 1990s and early 2000s became a key period in history for racial and ethnic representation, as programming as a whole reflected a greater non-white presence than ever before, with children’s programming as no exception. This thesis focuses on how race and ethnicity were depicted on the children’s cable networks Nickelodeon and Disney Channel during this time period. My study focuses on three programs, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo (Nickelodeon, 1996-1998), Taina (Nickelodeon, 2001-2002), and The Proud Family (Disney Channel, 2001-2005), all of which placed racial and ethnic minorities as lead characters, diverging from the standard in casting for children’s television programs. In observing whether these programs portrayed race in an assimilationist, color/culture conscious, or post-racial manner, my study provides insight into the overarching narrative constructed about race and ethnicity for youth viewing two of television’s most successful networks committed to programming for kids in this time period. vi Table of Contents Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Theoretical Perspectives .................................................................................3 Literature Review ............................................................................................4 Methodologies ..............................................................................................13 Chapter Breakdown .....................................................................................18 Chapter One: Shelby Who? Asian American Representation and the Post-Racial Narrative of Nickelodeon's Whodunit Series The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo .......................................................................................................................21 Introduction ...................................................................................................21 Nickelodeon: A Time When the Only Colors on the Screen were Green, Orange, and White ..............................................................................22 Looking for Shelby Woo ..............................................................................23 Girl Detective: The Premise Behind The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo .......27 Race and Ethnicity in The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo ..............................31 Conclusion ...................................................................................................45 Chapter Two: "I Know I Can't Wait to See My Name in Lights": Puerto Rican Representation and the Color/Culture Conscious Narrative of the Nickelodeon Television Series Taina .................................................................................48 Introduction ...................................................................................................48 The End of an Era?: Nickelodeon still slime green, but just a "very beautiful slime" green .........................................................................................50 Placing Latina/o Youth on the National Televisual Stage in the New Millennium ..............................................................................................................52 The Women Behind Taina: The Stories of Maria Perez-Brown and Christina Vidal ....................................................................................................57 The Premise Behind and Marketing of Taina ..............................................61 Race and Ethnicity in Taina .........................................................................74 Conclusion ...................................................................................................81 vii Chapter Three: "I'm Penny Proud, I'm Cute and I'm Loud, and I Got It Goin' On": African American Representation and the Color/Culture Conscious Narrative of the Disney Channel Series The Proud Family ..............................................84 Introduction ...................................................................................................84 Disney Channel Enters the Millennium: Tweens, Acquisitions, and the Expansion of the Children's Dream Machine ......................................86 The Marketing and Branding of Disney Channel's First Animated Original Series ...................................................................................................95 Race and Ethnicity in The Proud Family ...................................................101 Conclusion .................................................................................................112 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................115 Limitations and Possibilities for Related Future Research .........................121 Bibliography ........................................................................................................124 viii Introduction Since television’s inception, racial and ethnic minorities have continued to fight for a space on the screen. Throughout the years, there has been landmark progression in roles for racial and ethnic minorities, but it has remained common for programs to downplay non-white culture-specific traits and storylines or play into stereotypes when the minority experience is reflected (Rivadeneyra 2006, 393). There have been few lead characters of color on children’s programming and when they are present, these narratives have been mostly told with a white perspective in mind. Television networks Nickelodeon and Disney Channel rose to the forefront during the 1990s with an increase in racial and ethnic minority characters, choosing to provide children with programs that contained minorities as lead characters and telling stories from their points of view. Arguably, network executives had held off on programming that featured minority life, claiming that there was not a market for these programs (Seiter and Mayer 2004, 130), but as ratings reveal, audiences have been receptive to series with non-white leads. In observing the period when Nickelodeon and Disney Channel began to include programming that starred non-white lead characters, the Annenberg Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania found in their 1999 State of Children’s Television Report that 60% of programs incorporated some sort of ethnic diversity. Even though 40% of programming lacked any ethnic diversity, this is significant progress from decades past. During the late 1990s, there were more shows than ever airing on more venues than ever, with the largest increase in programming taking place on basic cable venues including 1 Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. With children spending an equal amount of time each year watching television as they spend in school, studies indicate that television programming can have an effect on children (Woodard 1999, 5). Researchers (Ryan 2010; Chandler 1997; Hobbs & RobbGrieco 2012) have transitioned from calling television viewers passive to active, which makes television not only entertainment for adolescents, but also a site to help configure kids’ own norms and behaviors. Due to decades of ongoing discrimination, misunderstanding, and stereotypes, it is important for children to see racial and ethnic minorities in a positive light. It is known that schools today are often as segregated as they were in 1968, so for many children in the United