Television and Black Paris: towards a reception theory for terrestrial TV programmes

Abstract

Black people – and, more generally, non-Europeans – are poorly represented on French television, which gives the impression that France is a white and non-multicultural society. When they are represented on television, black people appear in a caricatural and negative light, thus perpetuating colonial representations of ‘the Black’. The lack of televisual recognition of Blacks in France is experienced by black viewers as a ‘symbolic exclusion’, and heightens feelings of marginalization among black audiences. Given the preponderance of American television programmes broadcast in France, many black viewers inevitably choose black American role models in a bid to improve their self-image. This article considers this and other strategies of identification adopted by black French viewers as they attempt to negotiate the stereotypical identities assigned to them.