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amusing and sometimes sophisticated comedy to that of a buffoon
(Henry Gates, Color Adjustment).
Once again archetypes arose in television further perpetuating unreal images of African
Americans. Sherryl Graves describes the varying types of racism in a 2006 article by examining
television portrayals. Graves states that “symbolic racism focuses on the modern.” She goes on
to describe the differences between symbolic and old fashioned racism “a visual comparison of
both types of racism is the old-fashioned racist image of 'Amos and Andy' opposed to the
symbolic racist image of the 'dangerous black male' on 'Cops' or on the news.” But what about
images like that of JJ on Good Times? It can be concluded that the representation is a
culmination of the modern and the old-fashioned. JJ is a character that mentions stealing and
theft, and in the same series parades around in a minstrel fashion. Herman Gray stated that “his
humor was tied to a long tradition of the kind of minstrel characters. J.J.'s function in it, was
essentially to deflate, to let off a lot of the build-up in the particular issues that the show tried to
address.” The show used the symbolic, modern, and old-fashioned forms of racism to preserve
age old tales of Black identity.
Later series such as The Cosby Show allowed for a new representation of Black life to be
displayed. The Huxtable family is one that has long been idolized as many desire similar
circumstances. However, even seemingly positive portrayals have remnants of problematic
racial imagery and misconstrued notions. The Huxtables for many African Americans were a
path to freedom. The notion of highlighting a wealthy, educated, and sophisticated Black family
was warped when paired with prime-time television. The Cosby Show was thought to have the
ability to diminish racist ideology. However, instead it enhanced concepts of respectability and