According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, The Amos 'n Andy Show was “the first television series with an all-black cast” and the only such show for next twenty years (http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/A/htmlA/amosnandy/amosnandy.htm). We have talked a bit in class about the idea of representation, and I thought it would be useful/interesting to compare a clip of this show with a clip of an all-white show from the same time period. The Amos 'n Andy Show was first broadcast in 1951, and the following clip from Season 1, Episode 28 titled “The Rare Coin” aired sometime between November 22nd, 1951 and October 16th, 1952 according to IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043175/episodes).
“The Rare Coin”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz2xeKBYmVk&feature=PlayList&p=CFA5B3FC1B8FE0AF&index=0&playnext=1
Compare that to this clip from Hawkins Falls, which was a comedy-drama that ran from 1950-1955.
Hawkins Falls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OjPRQYNzsw
Of course, The Amos 'n Andy Show brings up a host of issues which we could object to, and which many have objected to in the past. I’m not particularly familiar with Hawkins Falls, but I would guess it probably isn’t problem free either. But just looking at the two clips as pure entertainment, what do you see? How are blackness and whiteness represented, either explicitly or implicitly? What is your reaction to each clip, and what/who are you reacting to? Now that we have at least a slight background in theorizing early TV through a racialized lens, what can be said regarding the representations in either clip? It might also be helpful to consider with ‘representations’ what is being re-presented, and who is presenting it to whom.
1 comment:
If you follow the rabbit hole on the two accounts that uploaded these videos, you'll see the Amos n' Andy clip was uploaded by NostalgiaMerchant who links to his website http://www.nostalgiamerchant.biz/ in the description and his profile. This site sells shows including Amos n' Andy which shows this kind of entertainment is still marketable. But it's not for laughing at portrayals of black people that are wildly inaccurate! Heavens no! It's for...nostalgia...of a time when it was acceptable to do that. The Hawkwins Falls clip is from an uploader that puts public domain clips online. Apparently the image of white life in Hawks Falls is not a very marketable thing, or maybe it is but the lawyers didn't secure the kind of rights early on that they felt the need to put on the Amos n' Andy TV show.
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