Undermining Traditional Black Stereotypes in "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"

Abstract

In this paper I will suggest that The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the African American sitcom aired in the 1990s, can be considered a vehicle through which the traditional representation of black characters in the last part of the twentieth century has been undermined, questioning the old stereotypes about African Americans, according to which a character had to be poor, ghettoised or a criminal in order to reliable. Moreover, having analysed the first season of the series, I will offer some observations related to the role of the main character, starred by the actor Will Smith, and his relation with the other members of the family, highlighting that the protagonist’s task to consider his relatives’ social status and behaviour as lack of Blackness is a strategy that allows the other black characters to subvert the traditional image of African Americans offered by American mass media all over the world. The aim of this approach can be considered a way to translate the new black socio-cultural environment of the last decades of the past century in the USA, allowing viewers of the countries where the sitcom was aired to meet and understand key aspects of the American black community of that period. In order to make the analysis clearer I have classified the examples taken by the various episodes according to the topic they presented or according to the characters involved in the circumstances. Moreover, I have specified the episodes taken into consideration through the abbreviation S for season and E for episode. While not exhaustive, this study offers a clarifying reading of the first season of the sitcom, suggesting possible explanations for the choices made by the producers of the series.