From BET to Beyond: Exploring Black Family Culture and Black Media Politics

Media and popular culture have long played a significant role in forming perceptions of and social attitudes about race, including the differences between Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, and White American family culture and structure. This has led to the historical portrayal of minority families, especially Black families, as poor and dysfunctional. Over time, the American media and entertainment industry has become more inclusive. Recent shifts in technology have accelerated the democratization of media production and cultural commentary, increasing the availability of opportunities for Black people within the entertainment industry.

In the status quo, major networks, independent media companies, and individual creators simultaneously contribute to the ever-expanding volume of Black American media, visual art, and popular culture. Black media and popular culture comprise a variety of genres and innovative multimedia formats including but not limited to web series, music videos, movies, television series, and short films. The increasing prevalence of Black media and cultural productions has led to a more diverse representation of Black family structures and social identities within the Black community. Black artists, critics, and creators are producing work that reflects a beautiful mosaic of perspectives on the Black living experience and the universal human condition.

Black American media has become (hyper)visible in American culture and across the world. This allows for unprecedented social discourse on identity politics and political discourse on Black social issues in government, academia, and beyond. Contemporary Black media engages in critical conversations about a range of intersectional issues of race, gender, class, and disability including sexuality, religiosity, addiction, mental health, and more. Despite the growing volume of Black media and improved media representation within the United States, certain Black characters, figures, films, and series maintain reliance on stereotypes and archetypes. This increases the importance of robust and nuanced engagement in terms of media commentary, analysis of the media production process, and consideration of additional other issues such as economic conditions or socio-political factors that influence media and popular culture.