Onyeise 1

Precious Onyeise

Professor Lawson

English 113B

26 Apr. 2017

Word Count 2,201

Colorism in Black Pop Culture: Light Skin vs Dark Skin

Colorism in black pop culture has been something a lot of people, especially in the black

community, witnessed throughout the years. Movies and T.V. sitcoms, such as Martin,

Empire, Fresh Prince of Bel Air and others have differentiated the meaning of being light

skin and dark skin. It's the creators of these shows that set us to believe what being light skin and

dark skin is. Although the issue has never been addresses, many critics, such as myself believe

that the media has given us the representation that being light skinned with nice curly hair is the

most beautiful a black woman can be.

The T.V show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air which revolves around a teenage boy who

moves in with his Auntie and Uncle from Philadelphia to Bel Air aired up to a number of six

season in total. There was controversial when the producers of the show decided that they were

going to replace dark skin Aunt Viv with light skin Aunt Viv. In the article by Awesome Luvis,

5 Reasons No One is Here for Aunt Vivian 2.0 talked about the comparison between the

characters and how the shows T.V. ratings changed. In the article, it quoted, We loved Aunt Viv

1.0, also known as Dark Aunt Viv. She was the truth. Fierce. Strong. FAHN. We loved her

FIERCELY. And they say if it aint broke, dont fix it. They fixed it and broke it!. Words like

fierce, strong, and fahn are personality traits that are believed to fall in the dark skin category.
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With that being said, producers of the show probably thought that their viewers couldn't handle

such a strong willed personality for the show. It seems that being casted a role as a dark skinned

actor or actress is too much for society to handle since they have such a strong-willed

personality. Critics were describing the light skin Aunt Viv as someone who was more soft with a

basic and boring personality. This may be another reason why producers and people behind the

camera barely cast their major roles for dark skin actresses. They feel like their personality may

come off as very strong and too much for the character that they are portraying. The

entertainment industry in general is based on how you look, how you dress and especially how

you act. We live in a world where unprofessionalism is defined by your attitude or how you

value things. There's a saying from Big Bill Bronzy that says, if you was white, youd be

alright, if you was brown, stick around. But as you is black, oh brother, Get back, get back, get

back,. For instance, there are many African Americans who work in the entertainment industry

that even judge other African-Americans based on their color of skin before hiring them. It's

most likely that if you're black in the entertainment industry, theyll only hire you if you're light

skin. This is because society thinks dark skinned people are ghetto and aren't professional

enough to handle working in Hollywood.

Colorism in general is an issue in the entertainment industry as well as colorism with

female actors. The Black T.V. sitcom, Martin is one of many T.V. shows that show the different

personalities between a dark skin and a light skin person. Many viewers who know the T.v show

and how the characters are would understand. Best friends, Gina Waters and Pamela James

have been criticized based on their personalities in the show. The character, Gina Waters, who is

the main supporting actress as well as the girlfriend to main character, Martin Payne, is light

skin. In the show the actress is obviously given a role where she is the girlfriend to Martin, who
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is a T.V. and radio show host. The show depicts comedy, friendship as well as their love for one

another. Gina is known to be very nice, a supporting girlfriend as well as someone who is always

getting job offers and promotions since she is a business marketer in her firm. As for the

character Pamela James, she is the best friend to Gina Waters as well as the one that Martin

always picks on. She is the assistant to Gina Waters so she barely gets as much exposure to

higher positions as her best friend does. Her personality in the show comes off as very strong,

will hearted and the one who always has an attitude. In the article, Why are there so few

Black Female Actresses, it said, Dark-skinned black women shared their feelings of rejection,

sexual objectification and marginalism. Unlike Gina, Pam's character is always in between

dating and relationships and its usually hard for her to find a man. Although she isn't sexually

objectified on the show, she is always picked on for not having a man because of her so called

attitude on the show. Although the silly friendship between Pam and Martin were all jokes and

laughs, it also showed a representation of colorism on a day to day basis towards dark skin

African Americans. It represented the dehumanization of an individual based on their skin color.

The Proud Family is another T.V. show that portrays colorism between light skin and dark

skin characters. The main character of the cartoon show is Penny Proud. The way she was

written on the show was very positive. For one she was light skin with a very bubbly personality.

She also lived in a suburban neighborhood with parents, Oscar and Trudy Proud, her grandma

better known as Suga Mama, their family pet, Puff and her twin baby sister and brother,

BeBe and CeCe. To add on, she was more of the leader of her posse which included her

friends. Her best friend was named DeJanay Jones. She was the supporting character on the

show as well as Pennys side kick. The way the writers portrayed her for the show was more

different. She grew up in a smaller house with eight to nine siblings, with her being the oldest.
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Her voice in the show was very projective and she was always seen chasing the man of her

dreams, Sticky, who is also a character on the show and also seen to never want De Janay. Its

very important to understand why producers and writers choose how they want to portray their

characters. It's about the ratings and what they feel the audience is used to. If you look at it this

way, the majority of dark skin huge families live in the projects and are under welfare. That's

obviously because they are not financially stable to take care of that many kids so they depend

on their older kids to watch over them. All of De Janays brothers and sisters in the show are at

least five to six years under her. Also, the way the show has her chasing after a guy that doesn't

want her, shows viewers that no one is going to ever want to date someone of that complexion.

Characters De Janay ad Pam both share traits not only because of the color of their skin but

as well as the category that writers and directors think best fits them. Which is not fair because

people who do have a dark skin complexion will start to get use to the categorizing and criticism

from people that characterize them on a day to day basis

It is very rare to find a leading role dark skin black actress because in the entertainment

industry, people are quick to judge and assume the sense of humor that most dark skins may

have. A lot of actresses that have leading roles in a T.V shows are usually fair or lighter skinned.

Actresses like, Taraji P. Henson or Kerry Washington have had their shows, Scandal and

Empire which has had incredible success in its ratings. There are also dark skinned actresses

such as Viola Davis and Gabrielle Union whose had incredible success on shows like, How To

Get Away With Murder and Being Mary Jane. In an interview from website Deadline.com,

when asked about various roles and characters in the show, How to Get Away With Murder,

Viola Davis had explained to them that, I don't see anyone on T.V like me in a role like this.

This is mainly because she is dark skinned and the character whom she plays, Annalise Keating
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is a very tough lawyer with a strong attitude. Many of the roles that are given to her, are very

tough and can also be portrayed by male actors. Similar to her is actress Gabrielle Union who

was earlier mentioned. Her T.V. show, Being Mary Jane describes her character, Mary Jane

with male like qualities. The show revolves around her being a successful business woman, the

breadwinner for her family, and also the one who struggles the most with her dating and sex life.

Many of the roles that are given to actresses like Kerry and Taraji are high class, easy

going roles. For instance, found on the Alterntet.com, Rosalind-Cummings Yeates article,

Runaway Hit Show Empire Upholds Light Skin vs. Dark Skin Divide talks about the

advanced roles given to the light skin actresses compared to the roles that are given to the dark

skin actresses on the show, Empire. It quoted that The series has been called out for a cast that

features only light-skinned people in the significant, power roles and relegating dark-skinned

people to subservient, minor roles. It seems like the only roles that best fit a dark-skinned

actress are the ones that can also be played by male actors or of course, minor roles. Two of the

dark-skinned actresses from the show, Empire both play minor roles behind light skin actress,

Taraji P. Henson. Actress, Gabourey Sidibes character, Becky, is the assistant to Lucious Lyon,

who is played by light skinned actor, Terrence Howard. Shes also plus-sized with a mop of a

bulky, blonde weave that oddly combines with her ebony skin. Although smart and quick-witted,

Becky is still treated horrible on the show with Lucius constantly screaming and yelling at her,

making her seem like shes mindless and worthless. The character, Porsha, played by actress

TaRhonda Jones, is Cookies assistant and is always treated with disrespect.

As a dark skin African American, being dehumanized from another race is one thing, but

when another African American is degrading you because of your skin color, its more offensive

than anything else. On the ForHarriet.com website it stated that, Colorism is the offspring of
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white supremacy, it has been raised within the black community. Colorism happens the most

within the black community. Matter in fact it started from the black community. Many African

Americans have set the standard of believing that being light skin is pretty and good looking. A

lot of African American males would rather have a light skin girlfriend or someone whose white

skin so that their offspring would have a light skin complexion. Pop culture in general has lead

us to believe that anything light skin or close to being white is seen as being beautiful. We live

in a world where mass media sells us the belief that white, and anything close to white, is right,

and black is not only wrong, it's unattractive and undesirable. It's like darker-skinned womens

identity are erased in the media. Their image and representation as being dark skinned is replaced

by the lighter ones with straight hair who society see as black and beautiful. Actress Thandie

Newton got the benefit of playing a brown-skinned Nigerian igbo woman in a film that she was

featured in. A lot of viewers were offended by the casting of this as well as other Nigerian

women whose complexion were nowhere near light skin. Her image as being a light skin woman

with good curly hair, is what society believes a black woman should look like.

Colorism is an issue that needs to be addressed in social media, since this generation

revolves around the internet and what we put on there. The entertainment industry in particular

needs to become open minded in what they decide to put on our T.V. screens. Everyday there are

more talented actresses from all over the world who want to change the representation of

beautiful, and it's not only being white with blonde hair or light skinned with nice curly hair.

Work Cited
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Cummings-Yeates, Rosalind. Runaway Hit Show Empire Upholds Light-Skin vs. Dark-Skin

Power Divide. Alternet.org. Independent Media Institute, March 21, 2015. Web.

D Alessandro, Anthony. Viola Davis Laments Hollywood Relegating Black Actresses To

Marginalized Roles. Deadline.com. Penske Business Media Institution, September 13,

2014. Web.

Emechebe, Ogechi. An Honest Response to Light Girls from A Brown-Skinned Sister.

ForHarriet.com. Taboola, N/A.Web.

Luvvie, Awesomely, 5 Reasons No One Is Here for Aunt Viv 2.0 From Fresh Prince

Awesomely Luvvie.com. N/A. January 26, 2013. Web.

Okereke, Kele. Why are there so few black female stars with darker skin? The Guardian.com.

Guardian News and Media Limited, November 3, 2013. Web.