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Deshaneir King

Ain’t No Good Times: A Response to the Documentary Film Color Adjustment

The creation of the television allowed for audiences to have a similar experience to that
of the theater from the comfort of their home. Advances in digital technology opened up the
area of access for the average American. Often, television is regarded as being detrimental to
children. Many claim that cartoons can lead to poor academic development. However, what is
often not examined is the ways in which television shapes and influences the psyches of adults
as well. Research has long demonstrated the influence of television on the attitudes and
opinions of viewers. This too suggests that the limited and often stereotyped portrayals of race
and ethnicity prove to have long lasting effects.

Prime-time television has often been used as a vehicle to perpetuate the ideology of the
perfect American family. This family often lacks awareness of social issues, and when people
of color are present their representation is skewed. Thus, when examining the quality and
quantity of representation of people of color over time one can find a correspondence to white’s
ethnic attitude. Prime-time television has been used to perpetuate the mythic image of the ideal
American family. African Americans were originally only represented in this family as a
servant. While Blacks could make a living from domestic work, this work was for those who
have continually oppressed them. The role of the housemaid was not one that was ideal.
However, television’s representation of the relationship between the domestic and their white
employers was often embellished. The Beulah Show played into this mythic imagery that had
long been used in film. The image of the boisterous, over the top, jolly, asexual servant echoed
of a similar Hollywood archetype. Beulah was a descendant of the mammy figure that