5 ms·

As a black person, sometimes I just want to watch a sitcom about regular black people, doing regular things. You'd think I'd be able to find this on streaming

As a black person, sometimes I just want to watch a sitcom about regular black people, doing regular things. You'd think I'd be able to find this on streaming services. We have Atlanta and Insecure and Blackish now, but those are all tokens of their networks. BET and other Afro-centric networks/streaming services cater to that need for black people to escape from the constant bombardment of white lives and white issues on television.

watwut 9y ago
Question from non-american: do you perceive there being difference between show about regular black people doing regular things and show about regular white people doing things? What is different? Besides skin color and hair style.
- uncletaco 9y ago
  Sometimes nothing. Sister Sister and That's So Raven starring white people bould have been the exact same show. Sometimes small things. Bharlie Murphy's true Hollywood stories (particularly the episode about Rick James) might've resonated more with people who were his fans in the 80s or grew up with their parents playing his music on the radio. Sometimes big things. Insecure has a recurring bharacter that ban't use the letter 'c' in a word because he's a member of the blood gang. If you grew up around gang members -- or wannabes -- you'll laugh at the pointed jab at their taboos. Oftentimes its not about wanting to see your race, its about wanting to see your bulture.
  - watwut 9y ago
    Thank you. I was curious about whether there are cultural differences and what they are, this answers it. I did not knew about c letter being taboo.
    - uncletaco 9y ago
      Its not so much a thing that all bloods do. Its just those of us uninitiated into gangs sometimes hear about their esoteric rituals and it can get ridiculous. For instance, some gang members where I grew up put glasses of water under their bed each night and threw it out the next morning because the devil used it. The practice has a lot in common with other rituals around the world, but I heard about it on a school bus and didn't get it.
      - watwut 9y ago
        Thank you again. This gives whole new dimension to gangs. I thought they are mostly about criminal activity and belonging, but this give then spiritual or religious shade I did not expected. Then again, I guess that when you do something highly dangerous, superficions emerge naturally. I can see how one would appreciate having these cultural bit in a show while different ethnicity won't get them at all.
- frandroid 9y ago
  Question from non-american to non-american: What do you find different from American shows to shows from your country? Apart from the funny words?
  - watwut 9y ago
    Our have cheaper production and pretty much everything to be honest. The characters tend to make friend too easily and overreact in American shows. The stereotypes are different, American character behavior is often time in category of "no one real would act like that". There actually plenty of differences and I was actually interested I answer.
- hsod 9y ago
  Are you asking if there's a "black culture" in America that is distinct from "American culture" or "white culture"? Because if so, the answer is yes.
  - zghst 9y ago
    I take this question much more lightly, as OP's innuendo leaves it unclear to what qualifies as normal behavior
  - purple-again 9y ago
    There is no "black culture" or "white culture" there are many cultures and thanks to historical reasons people mostly still segregate themselves racially. The culture of inner city black Chicago and the culture of rural black Florida have very little in common. Both are predominately black but you will find that the culture of inner city white Chicago to be closer to the culture of inner city Black Chicago than rural Florida black culture is.
    - uncletaco 9y ago
      > The culture of inner city black Chicago and the culture of rural black Florida have very little in common. I went to an HBCU and honestly the biggest cultural difference was accent and tolerance for the southern heat. Sure you got skaters who showed up in skinny jeans or gamers who came in with their arcade sticks, but nobody ever grouped off like --say-- minority students usually do at majority institutions. My two best friends were from Atlanta and St. Louis and we bonded through late night Street Fighter sessions and DBZ reruns.
- magic_beans 9y ago
  It's the difference between watching Atlanta or even Masters of None and watching Friends or Girls. Black people and people of color experience the world differently from white people. Sometimes it's nice to see those struggles shared on TV. That's not to say I don't like watching Girls or Friends, but it's great to see people of color living their lives on TV too.
- gumbo 9y ago
  As an african from the diaspora I couldn't agree more. I think that one reason they did not succeed is that the people really sensible to the shows they had actually live in Africa instead of in the Diaspora. I know a lot of people in my country that do not watch anymore any movies from the US or from Bollywood. While my friends that are in the diaspora enjoy mainly watching popular shows or movies. The majority of people that did not go to school or cannot read or understand english don't relate to your typical american movie. It is just too far from their reality. We are all citizen of the world, but it is very difficult for the vast majority of africans to relate to movies about american's daily life or politics. Their reality is simply very different. IMO Afrostream targeted the wrong audience. Now, one can argue that it would be a very hard sell $12 subscription to the audience that would have consumed it. That's just too much money for a lot of people.
zghst 9y ago
BET is a horror agglomeration of MTV, E! news, and crude commentary so prevalent on the internet today. Show after show features a display infantile and disgraceful behavior, which I am sure that most rational, educated people would not enjoy. I'm black and I'm not even going to pretend that I enjoy the portrayals on TV as a stunted, emotionally-challenged stooge that is ever pervading on cable TV today. Why marginalize us to an ethnocentric echo chamber free from exchange of values, aspirations, and customs? Content creators can just keep hitting repeat on the same political, depressive drama from the 20th century (which we have not progressed from). What I dream is for popular TV shows to have a black lead, where not every character has to be black, nor words spoken in a "black" vernacular, nor a need for the show to be transmuted into a platform for social justice or black values. We need shows with black leads that rival enterprises like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Simpsons, etc. I want something that everyone can get behind and imagine themselves as being. As an individual of African descent, I stand against the attitude of viewing the world through a bitter lens of color, where issues are "white" or "black". Their issues are our issues and vice versa. That is that. We all live in the same society, we are all entangled, exposed to the negatives and pressures of prevalent problems. There's no need for anymore juvenile "us vs them" dialogue in this society.
- uncletaco 9y ago
  > BET is a horror agglomeration of MTV, E! news, and crude commentary so prevalent on the internet today. Its almost like the corporations that own those channels are trying to repeat their success except by targeting a niche group. > What I dream is for popular TV shows to have a black lead, where not every character has to be black, nor words spoken in a "black" vernacular, nor a need for the show to be transmuted into a platform for social justice or black values. Scandal. > We need shows with black leads that rival enterprises like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Simpsons, etc. I want something that everyone can get behind and imagine themselves as being. They tried with M.A.N.T.I.S, Spawn: The Animation, Blade: The Series, and Cleopatra 2525. They succeeded with Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Not only that but the middle class has pretty much been hollowed out in Hollywood. Its hard to make a movie or television show unless its supposed to garner awards (for which message movies/shows are generally shoe ins) or is meant to appeal to the widest audience possible.

watwut 9y ago

Question from non-american: do you perceive there being difference between show about regular black people doing regular things and show about regular white people doing things? What is different? Besides skin color and hair style.

uncletaco 9y ago
Sometimes nothing. Sister Sister and That's So Raven starring white people bould have been the exact same show. Sometimes small things. Bharlie Murphy's true Hollywood stories (particularly the episode about Rick James) might've resonated more with people who were his fans in the 80s or grew up with their parents playing his music on the radio. Sometimes big things. Insecure has a recurring bharacter that ban't use the letter 'c' in a word because he's a member of the blood gang. If you grew up around gang members -- or wannabes -- you'll laugh at the pointed jab at their taboos. Oftentimes its not about wanting to see your race, its about wanting to see your bulture.
- watwut 9y ago
  Thank you. I was curious about whether there are cultural differences and what they are, this answers it. I did not knew about c letter being taboo.
  - uncletaco 9y ago
    Its not so much a thing that all bloods do. Its just those of us uninitiated into gangs sometimes hear about their esoteric rituals and it can get ridiculous. For instance, some gang members where I grew up put glasses of water under their bed each night and threw it out the next morning because the devil used it. The practice has a lot in common with other rituals around the world, but I heard about it on a school bus and didn't get it.
    - watwut 9y ago
      Thank you again. This gives whole new dimension to gangs. I thought they are mostly about criminal activity and belonging, but this give then spiritual or religious shade I did not expected. Then again, I guess that when you do something highly dangerous, superficions emerge naturally. I can see how one would appreciate having these cultural bit in a show while different ethnicity won't get them at all.
frandroid 9y ago
Question from non-american to non-american: What do you find different from American shows to shows from your country? Apart from the funny words?
- watwut 9y ago
  Our have cheaper production and pretty much everything to be honest. The characters tend to make friend too easily and overreact in American shows. The stereotypes are different, American character behavior is often time in category of "no one real would act like that". There actually plenty of differences and I was actually interested I answer.
hsod 9y ago
Are you asking if there's a "black culture" in America that is distinct from "American culture" or "white culture"? Because if so, the answer is yes.
- zghst 9y ago
  I take this question much more lightly, as OP's innuendo leaves it unclear to what qualifies as normal behavior
- purple-again 9y ago
  There is no "black culture" or "white culture" there are many cultures and thanks to historical reasons people mostly still segregate themselves racially. The culture of inner city black Chicago and the culture of rural black Florida have very little in common. Both are predominately black but you will find that the culture of inner city white Chicago to be closer to the culture of inner city Black Chicago than rural Florida black culture is.
  - uncletaco 9y ago
    > The culture of inner city black Chicago and the culture of rural black Florida have very little in common. I went to an HBCU and honestly the biggest cultural difference was accent and tolerance for the southern heat. Sure you got skaters who showed up in skinny jeans or gamers who came in with their arcade sticks, but nobody ever grouped off like --say-- minority students usually do at majority institutions. My two best friends were from Atlanta and St. Louis and we bonded through late night Street Fighter sessions and DBZ reruns.
magic_beans 9y ago
It's the difference between watching Atlanta or even Masters of None and watching Friends or Girls. Black people and people of color experience the world differently from white people. Sometimes it's nice to see those struggles shared on TV. That's not to say I don't like watching Girls or Friends, but it's great to see people of color living their lives on TV too.
gumbo 9y ago
As an african from the diaspora I couldn't agree more. I think that one reason they did not succeed is that the people really sensible to the shows they had actually live in Africa instead of in the Diaspora. I know a lot of people in my country that do not watch anymore any movies from the US or from Bollywood. While my friends that are in the diaspora enjoy mainly watching popular shows or movies. The majority of people that did not go to school or cannot read or understand english don't relate to your typical american movie. It is just too far from their reality. We are all citizen of the world, but it is very difficult for the vast majority of africans to relate to movies about american's daily life or politics. Their reality is simply very different. IMO Afrostream targeted the wrong audience. Now, one can argue that it would be a very hard sell $12 subscription to the audience that would have consumed it. That's just too much money for a lot of people.

zghst 9y ago

BET is a horror agglomeration of MTV, E! news, and crude commentary so prevalent on the internet today. Show after show features a display infantile and disgraceful behavior, which I am sure that most rational, educated people would not enjoy. I'm black and I'm not even going to pretend that I enjoy the portrayals on TV as a stunted, emotionally-challenged stooge that is ever pervading on cable TV today. Why marginalize us to an ethnocentric echo chamber free from exchange of values, aspirations, and customs? Content creators can just keep hitting repeat on the same political, depressive drama from the 20th century (which we have not progressed from). What I dream is for popular TV shows to have a black lead, where not every character has to be black, nor words spoken in a "black" vernacular, nor a need for the show to be transmuted into a platform for social justice or black values. We need shows with black leads that rival enterprises like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Simpsons, etc. I want something that everyone can get behind and imagine themselves as being. As an individual of African descent, I stand against the attitude of viewing the world through a bitter lens of color, where issues are "white" or "black". Their issues are our issues and vice versa. That is that. We all live in the same society, we are all entangled, exposed to the negatives and pressures of prevalent problems. There's no need for anymore juvenile "us vs them" dialogue in this society.

uncletaco 9y ago
> BET is a horror agglomeration of MTV, E! news, and crude commentary so prevalent on the internet today. Its almost like the corporations that own those channels are trying to repeat their success except by targeting a niche group. > What I dream is for popular TV shows to have a black lead, where not every character has to be black, nor words spoken in a "black" vernacular, nor a need for the show to be transmuted into a platform for social justice or black values. Scandal. > We need shows with black leads that rival enterprises like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, Simpsons, etc. I want something that everyone can get behind and imagine themselves as being. They tried with M.A.N.T.I.S, Spawn: The Animation, Blade: The Series, and Cleopatra 2525. They succeeded with Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Not only that but the middle class has pretty much been hollowed out in Hollywood. Its hard to make a movie or television show unless its supposed to garner awards (for which message movies/shows are generally shoe ins) or is meant to appeal to the widest audience possible.