Questions on Ethnicity Representation

How did Roots and The Cosby Show challenge previous stereotypical representations of black people in TV dramas?

For the first time on U.S. television some of the realities of slavery--brutality, rape, enforced de-culturation – were confronted over a protracted period, and through individual characters with whom, as they fought to escape or survive, the audience could identify. Against this historic first was the individualistic focus on screenwriter Alex Haley's determined family, presented as "immigrant-times-ten" fighting an exceptionally painful way over its generations toward the American Dream myth of all U.S. immigrants.

The Cosby Show (1984-92) was the next milestone. The fact it was popular with white audiences in the South, and in South Africa, was a favorite quick shot to try to debunk it. Some critics claimed it fed the mirage that racial injustice could be overcome through individual economic advance, others that it primly fostered Reaganite conservative family values. Both were indeed easily possible readings of the show within contemporary U.S. culture.

What does the article say about the representation of black policeman in programmes such as Miami Vice, NYPD Blue and Hawaii Five-O?

Miami Vice's tri-ethnic leads were less anchored in that tradition. NYPD Blue carried over some of that tradition as regarded the African American lieutenant's role, but actually starred two Latinos in the three key police roles in the second series (one was played by an Italian American, in a continuing variation on "blackface" seemingly popular with casting directors). A central issue, however, raised once more the question of "modern" racism. A repetitive feature of the show was the skill of the police detectives in pressuring people they considered guilty to sign confessions and not to avail themselves of their legal rights.

A vastly disproportionate number of prisoners, in relation to their percentage of the nation, are African Americans and Latinos. On NYPD Blue we see firm unity among white, black and Latino police professionals in defining aggressive detection and charge practices as legitimate and essential, even though it is procedures like those that, along with racially differential sentencing and parole procedures, have often helped create that huge imbalance in U.S. jails. A war is on, and hard-headed, loyal cops in the firing line, know it. Within the paradigm of "modern" racism, co-opting ethnic minority individuals into police work made a great deal of sense (the security industry was living proof). Any TV reference was extremely rare to the fierce racial tensions often seething between police officers.

One Tree Hill Credits

Link to the Old Opening of One Tree Hill that was played between series 1 and series 4.

Link to the Series 8 Episode 21 Opening of One Tree Hill as since the beginning of series 5, the artist singing the song changes every episode. 


           
GENERAL
The opening scene of series 1 introduces the actors that play the characters. They make this clear by showing a couple of different shots of the character in different scenes with their real name displayed at the same time. Below is an example of the character 'Peyton Sawyer's introduction where the writing displays that her real name is Hilarie Burton. 

                                                   
The opening scene also establishes the representation of 'Tree Hill' where the series is set. The following images create a calm, tranquil representation of the area and therefore creates a happy expectation of the drama for the viewer. 

MUSIC
The music used in the old opening was "I Don't Wanna Be" sung by Gavin DeGraw. This is important in this opening because every episode in the first 4 series is the same song sung by the same man. However, since the launch of series 5, every episode shown on air has featured the same song sung by a different artist every week. The change in artist reflects a change in the genre of the song, and also the style in which it is sung which varies from a light-hearted start to the episode, or produces a calm and maybe sad atmosphere for the viewer depending on the contents of the episode. For example, in an series 1-4, despite the fact that there were dramatic events taking place during the episode, they were still classed as drama because they were considered cheesy and as it was set in a school, they seemed more fictional and less significant to real life. Examples of these 'teen' issues included 'love-traingles', cheating in class, arguments with friends and keeping 'friends with benefits' pacts. This may have been a reason why until the end of series 4, every episode began with this more upbeat version of the song. However, series 5 was about the characters lives 4 years on where they had adapted to adulthood and their issues became more real and more significant. These issues included topics of love, marriage, babies and careers. The adaptation of 'I Don't Wanna Be' sung by Joshua Radin had an entirely different style and was significantly slower, therefore producing a different set mood for the audience as they prepared to be perhaps more effected by the contents of the episode.

VOICE OVER

Not often, but sometimes, the opening credits start with one of the characters vaguely introducing the program with what has happened previously. They only start with this when something important has happened that is crucial to know for the episode. This is often when the previous half of the episode has ended with "to be continued" or has ended with a major cliff-hanger. An example of this is the first 35 seconds of the following clip. Click HERE to see this example.

GRAPHICS
The lighting is one of the few uses of graphics in the opening credits. There are few graphics used as the drama wants to come off as a realistic following of the character's lives and would therefore not want lots of edits involved. Editors have given the opening scenes a hint of sun colour on the images so they avoid looking dull and boring. When the actors names appear on the screen they fade in by flashing and then dulling down so the reader can see it. As this is hard to explain, here are 5 screenshots of it happening in the opening credits of series 1.

REPRESENTATION
The genre of the TV drama seems quite clear by the opening credits. By showing that the majority of characters are young followed by the older ones (that happen to be less significant), viewers are clear that the TV drama is most likely to be targeted at teenagers as they can relate to the topics and issues that are hinted in the opening scenes. We know what kind of issues will be in the drama by the scenes shown at the start, such as the fact they play basketball (which is shown by a few male characters playing basketball on a court). We can also see that the series' will involve a range of different emotions as in the opening there is kissing which connotates topics of relationships, but also there characters may be perceived as angry with each other in the clips due their facial expressions or smug looks when both are in the scene. Overall, the choice to use the particular scenes that were used is important because the clips produce a certain mood and atmosphere which gives an overall impression of the entire TV drama.