Cosby Shows

The article about the popularity of the Cosby Show examined the reasons behind the international success and analyzed the relations this type of show had to race and culture. The article discussed how the show was widely successful in many international countries. What the article got me thinking about was the comparison of the Cosby Show to today’s sitcoms. As I think about it, I can already recognize several modern day shows that are presently on TV that resemble the structure of the Cosby Show. I feel that these shows are common enough now a days that I feel most people are used to these shows and don’t even note the racial aspect unless it is directly mentioned in the show. Some other shows that mirror the Cosby setup are Everybody Hates Chris, Family Matters, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Smart Guy, Sister,Sister, and My Wife and Kids. I personally see the show My Wife and Kids as something that is strikingly similar to the Cosby Show. They share a similar middle class black family setup. The images I have found illustrate the “family portraits” that represent some of these shows.

While reading Robin R. Means Coleman's "Black Sitcom Portrayals," I could not help but to think about a video game that came out about three years ago. It is called Resident Evil 5 and I remember reading about it on multiple video game blogs. People were blogging about how they found the video game trailer very racist towards the black community. The trailer shows a black community as the bad guys, and it shows how they turn into zombies. On the other hand, the white people in the video game trailer are portrayed as the good army guys who are going to kill all the black people because they are bad zombies. This is not the first time people have been outraged about a video game. It is almost always on the same subject though…black people are being portrayed as the bad guys. It goes along with many stereotypes that are not only incorrect, but are also morally wrong.