Black Women's Representation in Television: a Deep Dive into the History of Television and the 1990s Sitcom Living Single
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Throughout history, Black women have been ostracized from reputable representations of themselves in the media. Over time, scholars began to notice that these representations were doing much to harm the social and emotional wellbeing of Black femme audiences (Anderson and Merritt Williams 1983, Noble and Tynes 2016). To understand the depths of these issues and to present an answer to how television may rise to the occasion of presenting socially just representations of Black women, I answered the questions: How has the scientific and technological design of television systems changed? How has this evolution affected access to “socially just" representations on television? What is “The Television?” To answer the next four questions, I focused on the first network-television show ever created by a Black woman, Living Single, as I surmise that this show provides one model for “socially just” representations which Noble and Tynes seek for Black girls. Therefore I ask: How has Living Single influenced representation in the context of non-familial centered Black experiences? How did the creator of the show use humor to normalize the “Angry Black Woman” trope, mental health, and homosexuality in the narratives of everyday Black women in the 1990s through reflection politics, instead of condemnation politics? Finally, I answer how television has evolved in “socially just” representations. I conducted exhaustive research on the history of television and technology through a host of sources to better understand the accessibility of socially just representations of Black women, followed by a multi-episodic analysis of the 1990s television show Living Single, and an analysis of the legacy of this culturally significant show.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date modified | December 5, 2022 |
| Publication date | December 2, 2021; December 1, 2021 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Greene, Ramona N. |
|---|---|
| Author | Banks, Adam |
| Author | Jernigan, Harriet |
Subjects
| Subject | Living Single |
|---|---|
| Subject | Bowser, Yvette Lee |
| Subject | Television |
| Subject | Women, Black |
| Subject | Technology transfer |
| Genre | Text |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY).
Preferred citation
- Preferred citation
- Greene, R. (2021). Black Women's Representation in Television: a Deep Dive into the History of Television and the 1990s Sitcom Living Single. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/jb266xs7827
Collection
Stanford University, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Honors Theses
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- Contact
- ramona@stanford.edu
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