Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Black Women and the Changing Television Landscape assesses some of the television programs that shifted representations of Black women in television, including The Beulah Show, Julia, Good Times, and A Different World, among others. Through examining the work of skilled Black female actors as well as writers and producers over the course of history, Lisa M. Anderson argues that they have created shifts in the representations of Black femaleness, whether they were recognized as such at the time.
Beginning with the early days of television with Hattie McDaniel and concluding with today's dispersed television/streaming media world with Ava DuVernay, each program is situated in its social and political context and how it supported or opposed changes in television representation. This historical orientation of the book reveals how "progress" is non-linear, and how the reception of images shifts as social and political contexts change. Ultimately, this trajectory accounts for some of the significant changes in representation seen in the 2010s, notably the rise of several Black women "showrunners" as influential, and the ways in which Black women have made inroads into television production.
Synopsis
Black women's work in television has been, since the beginning, a negotiation. Black Women and the Changing Television Landscape explores the steps black women, as actors, directors, and producers, have taken to improve representations of black people on the small screen. Beginning with The Beulah Show, Anderson articulates the interrelationship between US culture and the televisual, demonstrating the conditions under which black women particularly, and black people generally, exist in popular culture.